Deployment Basics

Deployment is the process of making your web application accessible to users on the internet. For a front-end JavaScript application, this typically means placing your static files (HTML, CSS, bundled JavaScript, and images) onto a web server. There are many options for hosting static sites, ranging in complexity. A traditional approach is to get a Virtual Private Server (VPS) from a provider like DigitalOcean or Linode, set up a web server like Nginx or Apache, and manually upload your built files. This gives you full control but requires server management skills. A much simpler and more modern approach is to use a dedicated hosting platform for static and front-end applications, such as Netlify, Vercel, or GitHub Pages. These platforms are designed to make deployment incredibly easy. You typically connect your Git repository (e.g., on GitHub) to the platform. Whenever you push new code to your main branch, the platform automatically triggers a build process (running your `npm run build` command) and deploys the resulting static files to their global Content Delivery Network (CDN). This provides a seamless CI/CD workflow, fast load times for your users, and handles details like SSL certificates automatically. For full-stack applications with a Node.js backend, you would deploy the backend to a platform like Heroku, Render, or a VPS, and often host the front-end separately.