Rendering on the Modern Web
Abstract
Rendering on the Modern Web is an independent technical whitepaper examining the architecture and trade-offs of modern web rendering. The paper presents rendering as three independent decisions: when and where HTML is produced, how markup, data, and compute reach the user, and how static HTML becomes interactive. It covers client-side rendering (CSR), server-side rendering (SSR), static-site generation (SSG), incremental static regeneration (ISR), streaming SSR, partial prerendering, edge rendering, hydration architectures, islands, resumability, React Server Components, Jamstack, caching and data freshness, Core Web Vitals, SEO, accessibility, security, reliability, and operational considerations. The paper concludes with a practical rendering-strategy decision framework and a reproducible benchmark methodology for comparing rendering approaches across performance, JavaScript execution, cache behavior, freshness, build time, and infrastructure cost.