The focus of Ultrastatix reflects its immense respect for substantive content on the web and recognition that technologies for dynamic sites are inappropriate for primarily content-oriented sites. Ultrastatix was formed partially in response to years spent building and maintaining dynamic “web applications” that were actually relatively simple content-oriented websites. The sites worked, for the most part, but they would have worked much better as static sites.
In some cases, the platform that the sites were built on was approaching end of life, and the site would have to be rebuilt completely or bear the consequences of unsupported software. The owners of these sites didn’t want to “upgrade,” and they certainly didn’t want to pay for it. They were happy with their existing site, or at least how it appeared to them on the front end. Content-oriented sites should never reach such a crossroads. Their owners should not be forced into expensive upgrades because those upgrades apply only to the intricately intertwined software that is necessary for dynamic sites, but not for static sites.
The Internet has come to be known as a place of interactivity, with social media and e-commerce leading the way. There is no doubt an important place for such two way communication: who can deny the convenience and empowerment of online shopping in particular. But there remains a very important place for straightforward content presented clearly and without distraction. The technology used to produce and maintain dynamic websites is completely unnecessary in the case of content-oriented sites, and in fact can be a major hindrance to their success.
So why not just spread the word about static sites? Why is it necessary to provide a service for their creation and maintenance if they’re so “simple”? Because while the software that powers the live version of static sites is relatively simple compared to that of their distant dynamic cousins, the process that generates and places them on a web server is somewhat “technical” and oriented to web developers, and no hosting service offers a one-click install of a static site like many do for WordPress or other popular content management systems. While owners of static sites can modify their own content by editing plain text files, there is no administrative “interface” of any sort. And so there is generally a need to work with a web developer to set up and help maintain static sites.
That sounds a little like dependency, though, right? Possibly, but think of the dependencies involved with dynamic sites: not only are you dependent on hundreds or thousands of software developers to keep the code running the site secure and functional, you’re also dependent on agencies or freelance web developers to come to the rescue when things go wrong. This can get expensive, and in the meantime your SEO and reputation could suffer. There will always be some level of dependency when it comes to creating or maintaining any website, even if you are an accomplished web developer. Static sites are no exception.