Rebuilding with Astro

We recently transitioned our website to the Astro web framework as we prepare for content expansion. At Chrono, our website is a core product. An efficient development workflow and maintenance are essential. Additionally, the website must be static and servable from any HTTP server or CDN, while supporting dynamic interactivity where needed.

While our previous framework was excellent for general-purpose frontend development, we wanted something leaner — one that prioritized content over application code. Astro, which has emerged as a popular framework for building content-driven websites, proved to be exactly what we needed. Its content-first approach and built-in features aligned with our requirements.

A Skeptic Turned Believer

At first, I was skeptical about Astro. Having extensively worked with Jekyll, Hugo, and Next.js, I initially questioned how Astro could offer more. But what I discovered was a framework that builds on familiar conventions while adding its own thoughtful innovations.

Astro scales gracefully with your needs. It can be as simple as a basic Markdown renderer, but when you need additional functionality such as reusable components, it offers a component system built on familiar conventions. For teams invested in React or similar libraries, Astro provides official integrations that directly incorporate these components into your project.

Flexibility Without Complexity

Astro takes the best ideas from existing static site generators and builds on them. It maintains the simplicity of static site generation while providing a clear path to add interactivity where needed.

The development experience is fast and efficient, with first-class support for developer favorites like TypeScript, a fast hot-reloading development server, and a streamlined build process. Astro integrations and Vite plugins give you the flexibility to extend the framework as needed, without compromising the simplicity of the static generation model.

Looking Ahead

Rebuilding the Chrono website with Astro simplified our content workflow and codebase maintenance. If you are building a content-driven website and want the best mix of static performance, dynamic flexibility, and powerful tooling, Astro is worth looking at.