Yeah, this would be the way. This hypothetical restaurant would probably only need the following pages:
- Home page
- About Us
- Menu
- [Maybe 1 or 2 info pages]
- A contact page (with or without a form)
That's something that can be easily done with static HTML and CSS, and hosted on just about any random shared hosting service you can imagine. Assuming it doesn't become a major viral hit, it'd probably use a couple of megabytes of space on the hard drive and under a hundred megs of bandwidth.
Maybe up that number a tiny bit if Bob decides he wants to run a blog on the domain and you decide to just do the whole thing in WordPress or Drupal or whatever else.
Either way, a site that small could be built like its 1980 and it'd be perfectly fine.
I've made several "Bob's Restaurant" websites for clients. Early on I thought just that. "This can be statically implemented using the core web technologies HTML and CSS" - It wowed the client visually at first and they signed off on the product agreeing that the simple site was enough for them. Then the client wanted their Facebook, Google Maps, and Instagram integrated throughout the site over time. Now the site has JavaScript in its stack and external code running on it via APIs.
Early on the client wanted to make changes to the menu, and have a feed of events from their Google calendar. I implemented a Google Calendar feed script. Enter the world of dates in JS and learning how to use OAuth to hook into their feed. The client was getting confused as to why all this work had to be done for such simple little features and there was extra cost associated, and at the same time requested that they can CRUD menu items. I told them we need a CMS for that. They didn't like hearing the was more time and cost associated. By this time the statically implemented, elegantly designed Home | Menu | About site delivered the purpose of a visual mockup rather than a website that will help the business retain and add growth.
It could be said that this story is one of not planning and getting the spec right with the client, which in part is true. The part that was wrong is that the site could be this simple CSS HTML static site when in fact, even for a small business lacked the features and flexibility needed. Initially, the client and I decided that we would have me make the changes and updates to the static food and drink menu pages. This turned out to be very inefficient for both parties. Small businesses often don't want to pay hourly rates to have minor updates done on their website, which was the case because I don't work for free.
In the end the HTML/CSS site had a CMS, Database, and multiple external services. I learned from this moving forward and came up with the right stack for the scale of business I work with. However, in the late 2010's I noticed more small businesses opting into products like Squarespace and Wix, and selling clients with certain small businesses (nick nack shops and local bars restaurants) on custom site builds was getting harder.
Back to the original post. I get the point of the blog was to make a statement against unneeded complexity. Sure, however, it's important to remember that the work of producing digital products is inherently technical and complex. Developers should strive to be a smart programmer and spend time picking the right tools for the job.
- Home page - About Us - Menu - [Maybe 1 or 2 info pages] - A contact page (with or without a form)
That's something that can be easily done with static HTML and CSS, and hosted on just about any random shared hosting service you can imagine. Assuming it doesn't become a major viral hit, it'd probably use a couple of megabytes of space on the hard drive and under a hundred megs of bandwidth.
Maybe up that number a tiny bit if Bob decides he wants to run a blog on the domain and you decide to just do the whole thing in WordPress or Drupal or whatever else.
Either way, a site that small could be built like its 1980 and it'd be perfectly fine.