Eleventy adoption guide: Overview, examples, and alternatives

Eleventy, also known as 11ty, is a popular static site generator praised for its simplicity, developer-friendly approach, and flexibility, making it a preferred choice among frontend developers. Created by Zach Leatherman in 2018, Eleventy transforms templates and data files into static HTML pages, supporting multiple template languages such as Markdown, Handlebars, and Liquid, which gives developers the freedom to choose languages that fit their skills or project needs. It excels in performance by eliminating server-side processing, resulting in fast load times and improved SEO, and follows a "zero-config" approach that simplifies the setup process. While Eleventy is ideal for content-driven websites or blogs, it is less suited for single-page applications due to client-side JavaScript bundle requirements. Compared to Next.js, Eleventy shines in simplicity and static site generation, while Next.js offers broader features like server-side rendering and incremental static generation, making it suitable for more dynamic applications. Ultimately, the choice between Eleventy and other frameworks depends on the project's complexity and specific requirements.