Next.js

Worth stating plainly: this site is built with Next.js, and so are several other sites in my stack. A glowing review here is the least credible page on the site unless that conflict is acknowledged upfront. The scores are still the scores. As for what it delivers: fast, SEO-friendly, flexible across layout and CMS structure, and responsive. Authored directly through Claude Code during build, which removes most of the friction around component work. In six to seven months of real use, nothing broke and nothing required attention from a security standpoint.

Friction scores 2, and that is the honest centre of this entry. The technical prerequisite is steep. Working at any kind of speed depends on having an AI pair. Without one, the learning curve is real and the speed advantage that makes this appealing disappears. This is the best available tool for building a modern site if you can write code. It is not an option if you cannot, and describing it otherwise would be misleading.

The security case is worth noting separately. No plugin ecosystem means a narrow attack surface, and that compounds over a multi-year horizon in ways that plugin-heavy platforms cannot match. The assessment from use: very hard to breach.