At Stackbit, we believe that the Jamstack can help make a better web for everyone because Jamstack sites are fast and secure. We want to make it easy for any developer to adopt the Jamstack for their next project. That's why one of the foundational elements that has defined Stackbit since day one has been the ability to generate a Jamstack site with just a few clicks. The basic steps are:
1. Choose a theme
We currently have eight themes to choose from, including our new, highly customizable theme called Starter. Plus, there are dozens of community themes available on GitHub, such as the popular Planty ecommerce theme by Snipcart, or even more on JamstackThemes.dev. You also have the ability to import a custom theme of your own (for details on how to configure that, you can check the docs)
2. Choose a static site generator (SSG)
All of our themes can be generaed using Gatsby, Hugo or Jekyll (with additional support coming very soon...but I won't spoil the surprise). This gives you options to choose the tool and language you prefer to use for developing your Jamstack site. (Not sure which one to choose? We have some advice here.)
3. Choose a headless content management system (CMS)
One of the powerful things about buildng a site through the Stackbit site builder is that it is pre-configured for content management through your choice of headless CMS, including Sanity, Contentful, DataCMS, Forestry and NetilfyCMS. We've even added a new option for using files in your GitHub repository that can still get the full inline content editing features in Stackbit. (More on that in an upcoming post!)
One you've made these three choices, you are ready to go. Stackbit will build the site, place the source in GitHub and deploy to Netlify. Within minutes your site is ready and deployed!
Let's be honest though, telling you about this is far less exciting than simply showing you...so let's see what this looks like in action.
Make the site your own
The really important thing you should know about your new Jamstack site is that the code is yours. The code ends up in a GitHub respository you own. You can edit and customize it as you wish. In fact, we've made it easy to get your site running on your local machine and start editing by providing the instructions in the project's README.md or via Stackbit's online editor. This gives you the ability to do things like:
- Add a favicon, analytics, social sharing and a sitemap
- Add site search using Algolia
- Add a mailing list form that connects to Mailchimp
- Customize how your form submissions are handled
...and anything else you can think of!
The best part is that everything I have described to you here is also available at no cost. Just head on over to the Stackbit Site Builder and start creating your Jamstack site! The Stackbit Site Builder created a CMS connected Jamstack site with just a few clicks and in just minutes. Let's explore how.
