Astro is a return to the fundamentals of the web

Summary

After migrating several projects from WordPress to Astro, I've become a massive fan of this framework.What is Astro?Astro is a web framework that came out in 2021 and immediately felt different. While most JavaScript frameworks started with building complex applications and then tried to adapt to simpler sites, Astro went the opposite direction. It was built from day one for content-focused websites.The philosophy is refreshingly simple. Astro believes in being content-driven and server-first, shipping zero JavaScript by default (yes, really), while still being easy to use with excellent tooling. It's like someone finally asked, "What if we built a framework specifically for the types of websites most of us actually make?"Island architectureAstro introduced something called "Island Architecture," and once you understand it, you'll wonder why we've been doing things any other way.Traditional frameworks hydrate entire pages with JavaScript. Even if you've got a simple blog post with one interactive widget, the whole page gets the JavaScript treatment. Astro flips this on its head. Your pages are static HTML by default, and only the bits that need interactivity become JavaScript "islands."Picture a blog post with thousands of words of content. In Astro, all that text stays as pure HTML. Only your comment section or image carousel loads JavaScript. Everything else remains lightning fast. It's brilliantly simple.Real performance, real impactAstro sites are fast, we're talking 40% faster load times compared to traditional React frameworks. But here's the thing, this isn't just about impressing other developers. These performance gains translate directly to better search rankings, happier users, and yes, more conversions. On slower devices or dodgy mobile connections, the difference is even more dramatic.Developer experience that actually deliversThe developer experience in Astro feels like someone actually thought about how we work. Setting up a new project is straightfor...