As developers, we have a bad habit of over-engineering everything.

When I decided to build jsonexlab.com to sell my focused Notion templates, my first instinct was to spin up a Next.js app. I thought: "I'll need a database for the products, i18n for the languages, and a CMS for the blog."

But then I looked at the requirements. I wasn't building a complex SaaS with user authentication. I was building a static catalog of digital products.

So, I did something crazy. I deleted the Node.js setup, opened PowerShell, and wrote a script to generate raw HTML. Here is how I did it, and why it works.

The "No Framework" Stack

  • Hosting: Cloudflare Pages (Free tier, unlimited bandwidth).
  • Generation: PowerShell scripts.
  • Styles: Plain CSS.
  • Payments: Suby (Crypto).
  • Email: Web3Forms + Make.com + Brevo.

The result? A site with 500+ pages in 28 languages, zero hydration errors, zero JS bundles, and load times measured in milliseconds.

The Challenge: Translating 28 Languages

I wanted to sell my templates in Europe, Asia, and South America. That meant 28 different languages.

Doing this manually in React would have been a nightmare of JSON translation files. Instead, I wrote a PowerShell script that took my base English HTML file and applied a dictionary of translations to it.

Here is a simplified version of how the localization script works:

 powershell $translations = @{ "es" = @{ "You might also like" = "También te puede gustar"; "Get PDF" = "Obtener PDF"; } "de" = @{ "You might also like" = "Das könnte dir auch gefallen"; "Get PDF" = "PDF erhalten"; } } foreach ($lang in $translations.Keys) { $html = [System.IO.File]::ReadAllText("base-template.html") foreach ($key in $translations[$lang].Keys) { $html = $html -replace [regex]::Escape($key), $translations[$lang][$key] } # Save to /es/index.html, /de/index.html, etc. [System.IO.File]::WriteAllText("$lang/index.html", $html) } To make Google happy, I also had to inject proper hreflang tags for all 28 languages into every single page. A simple loop handled that too. The Real Challenge: Keeping Track of 30 Products While the technical generation was fast, the business side was a mess. I had 30 different products: Debt Simulators, Freelancer Invoices, ADHD Planners. I was losing my mind trying to remember which product was linked to which blog post, or which language version needed updating. I realized I was trying to build a system for my system. So, I built a simple Notion dashboard (ironically, using the same "anti-bloat" philosophy I sell). I tracked: Product Status: (Draft, Finished, Live) The Link Tree: (Which blog post links to which product) The Tech Checklist: (Does it have an OG image? Is it in the sitemap?) The Results Speed: Because it's just static HTML, Cloudflare serves it instantly. No React hydration, no API calls, no database queries. Cost: $0/month. SEO: Because I control the raw HTML, I could perfectly inject JSON-LD schema (Product, BreadcrumbList, BlogPosting) without fighting a framework. When Should You Do This? If you are building a complex app with user accounts and real-time data, do not use PowerShell. Use Next.js, Remix, or whatever makes you happy. But if you are building a content site, a landing page, or a digital product catalog, try going back to basics. Write a script that generates raw HTML. You might be surprised at how fast and simple it is.