Why We Still Server-Render
After three years of building both SPAs and traditional sites, here's why we default to server-rendered HTML for marketing work.
The single-page app pattern made sense when servers were slow and JavaScript was the only way to get an interactive experience without a full page reload. Neither of those constraints holds anymore. Modern PHP can render a marketing page in under 50ms. Modern browsers can do view transitions with two lines of CSS.
The case for server-rendering is simple: it's the path of least resistance for the things we actually care about — fast first paint, good SEO, accessibility, and the ability for non-engineers to ship content without involving a build pipeline.
We still build SPAs when the product genuinely is an app. But for a marketing site? Server-rendered, every time.