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Why I Switched Everything to Astro
engineering

Why I Switched Everything to Astro

After years of Next.js, here's why Astro 5 changed how I think about building websites.

· 1 min read
Astro Web Performance

Astro’s island architecture is genuinely one of the best ideas in frontend development. You get the DX of React but ship HTML. Here’s what I’ve learned building with it.

The Zero-JS Default

The most radical thing about Astro is that JavaScript is opt-in. Components only ship JS when you explicitly say so with client:load, client:visible, etc.

For a content-heavy site, this means:

  • Instant page loads
  • No hydration cost
  • Better SEO out of the box

View Transitions

Astro 5’s built-in View Transitions API support is incredible. One import and your site feels like an SPA without the downsides.

Content Collections

Type-safe markdown with Zod schemas. No more wondering if your frontmatter is correct.

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