The Rise of Jamstack Sites: A Game-Changing Tutorial
The web development landscape has witnessed a significant shift with the emergence of Jamstack sites, characterized by JavaScript, API, and Markup. This architecture has given birth to a new generation of fast, secure, and scalable websites. In this tutorial, we’ll explore the world of Azure Static Web Apps, a relatively new player in the Jamstack ecosystem, and demonstrate how to deploy a site using GitHub Actions.
What is Azure Static Web Apps?
Azure Static Web Apps, launched in May 2021, offers a robust set of features, including globally distributed content, autoprovisioned preview environments, custom domain configuration, and free SSL certificates. What’s more, these features are available for free, making it an attractive option for developers.
Creating a Docusaurus Site
To get started, we’ll create a Docusaurus site, a popular static site generator. Run the following command in your terminal:
npx docusaurus init website
This will create a new site in the website directory. Commit and push the changes to your repository.
Setting Up Azure Static Web Apps
Next, we’ll create a Static Web App in Azure. Log in to the Azure Portal and click on “Create a resource.” Search for “Static Web App” and follow the creation wizard. You’ll need to create a resource group, choose the free plan, and connect your GitHub account.
Deploying with GitHub Actions
Once you’ve set up your Static Web App, Azure will create a GitHub Actions workflow to deploy your site. This workflow will build and deploy your site to Azure. You can monitor the deployment process in the Azure Portal.
Authentication Made Easy
One of the standout features of Azure Static Web Apps is its built-in authentication capabilities. We’ll add GitHub authentication to our site by modifying the index.js file. This will enable users to log in with their GitHub credentials.
Staging Environments
Another exciting feature of Azure Static Web Apps is its support for staging environments. By creating a new branch and pushing changes to GitHub, you can create a staging environment that mirrors your production site. This allows you to test changes before deploying them to production.
The Power of Azure Static Web Apps
In this tutorial, we’ve demonstrated the ease of deploying a Jamstack site using Azure Static Web Apps and GitHub Actions. We’ve also explored the built-in authentication and staging environment features. With Azure Static Web Apps, you can build fast, secure, and scalable websites without breaking the bank.