I'm about to start creating a music project website for a friend. It should be pretty simple for now: no dynamic content (tour dates, etc.), and nothing more than a few embedded sample songs or SoundCloud links. I'm not expecting to use anything more than vanilla JavaScript and Bootstrap or Foundation for a responsive grid.
Is this enough however? Can I simply upload HTML, CSS, and JS files to a host and be done with it, or should I take the time to program a backend server in Node or PHP?
Best Answer
If you don't know whether you need server-side code, you probably don’t*
*Caveat: Server-side code is essential for security, when you want to internally control access to content, data, or functionality. (It does not necessarily need to be your server, see last paragraph.)
Ask yourself what problem using server-side technologies would solve. If you can’t think of any (and in your case, I can’t either) then you don't need them.
Be aware that a lot more than you might think is possible using just client-side code. JavaScript frameworks like AngularJS or ReactJS can let you integrate with third party, dynamic content through API’s using Ajax. (This includes hooking into an API that could handle its own security.)