Strattic FAQ

Static site generator plugins (like Simply Static and WP Static Site Generator) will help you create a static site, but they don’t take into consideration all the functionality that’s included out-of-the-box with Strattic.

Easy migration and setup

Not everyone will feel comfortable with the setup instructions provided by static site generator plugins, and it’s hard to track if anything breaks along the way (for example, image files can get left behind or CSS might not render properly, and that’s hard to troubleshoot).

Strattic provides free migration and then you continue using WordPress like you always have.

CDN included

A CDN (Content Delivery Network) is a way to serve your site’s static assets (images, CSS, Javascript) from a location closest to your user so that the site loads faster.

Static generator plugins don’t use a CDN to serve your content, so you’d need to procure and configure a separate solution for your site.

Strattic sites are delivered via Amazon’s Cloudfront CDN for fastest load times in any location.

Multiple publishing options to speed up the publishing process

It’s easy to control what you publish with Strattic, since you have multiple publishing options.

The options include:

• Full Publish – Publishes your entire site
• Quick Publish – A Quick Publish only updates your static site with the latest content that has been published or updated since the last publish.
• Selective Publish – Selective publishing lets you update individual posts or pages on your site! It’s the perfect way to fix typos and update content quickly.

Choosing the most appropriate of these options will allow you to update your static site with speed.

Preview/staging static site

Unlike other static headless stacks, you can preview your site using WordPress’s native preview function, as well as Strattic’s “Preview site” – an additional static site to preview any new features or changes before deploying to your live production site, i.e. two previews for your viewing pleasure.

Redirects through headers instead of meta-tags

Static site generator plugins typically use meta-tag redirects on the static site output instead of real 301 and 302 redirects. This is because an .htaccess file isn’t created for the static site, so the only way to handle redirects is in the meta tags.

Strattic includes support for standard 301 and 302 redirects.

Support for WordPress contact form plugins

Contact forms created with WordPress plugins need special support and won’t work with a static generator plugin because they have a dynamic function that must communicate with the site’s database and static sites don’t have a database.

You could use paid third party contact form services, but you may have difficulty customizing the design to match your site.

Strattic supports WordPress contact form plugins Gravity Forms , Contact Form 7 and Elementor Forms with plans to add support for more form plugins over time.

Support for site search

Native WordPress search won’t work with a static generator plugin because it is dynamic functionality which must query the database to produce the search results. You could use a paid third party tool but they can get expensive quickly, depending on how big your site is. They can also be complicated to implement.

Strattic includes support for site search.

Incremental deployment to static

Static site generators republish the entire site every time a change is made, no matter how small. It cannot deploy static copies of specific pages only, such as recently added posts or pages.

Strattic first publishes any new or edited pages so that you can see your changes without waiting for the whole site to finish publishing.

Security included

In a static site generating configuration, your original WordPress websites is the weakest link from a security point of view. And in this scenario, it is still exposed to all the bots and other malicious attackers scouring the web for WordPress websites with known vulnerabilities. You still have to deal with brute force attack attempts, keeping your plugins and software updated at all times, and more.

Strattic handles this security for you by putting your WordPress installation on a secure staging area that only authenticated users are allowed to access. In addition, the WordPress site goes completely offline when not in use.

Team Management

Each member of your team can be assigned a specific role within your Strattic account, so you can manage who can add/edit/delete sites, view technical credentials and manage billing.

Furthermore, you can control which WordPress users have access to publish to your live and preview static environments.

404 pages work as expected

If a visitor gets to a page on the static generated site that has been deleted or they typed in the url wrong, they could end up at a 404 Page Not Found error. With static site generators, this page is the default page generated by your server, not the nice one from your theme.

Strattic handles 404 pages properly so they work as expected.

Password protected pages

You can use WordPress’ built-in feature to password protect your static posts or pages on Strattic. You don’t need to install any extra plugins for this method, and it only takes a few clicks.

Access to APIs

For more customized workflows, enterprise customers can use our API to perform publishes.

Support included 🙂

The issue with any plugin that is not using the Freemium model (where the most basic product is free but additional functionality requires upgrading to a paid version) is that support for the plugin can get spotty. And hey, it’s free, so there’s not a whole lot that you can do if you don’t get support responses quickly or at all.

At Strattic, we’re here to help you along the way.