This is going to be a controversial take, but I stand by it. Feel free to argue in the comments.
Not ranked in any particular order, just grouped by theme. Everything on this list has been personally tested unless otherwise noted.
Common objections
“But what about X?” I hear this every time I recommend this approach. Yes, X is a consideration. No, it is not a dealbreaker. Here is why.
The honorable mentions
A few things that almost made the list but did not quite make the cut. They are worth knowing about even if they are not essential: check the links at the bottom for more options.
TL;DR: start simple, measure everything, iterate based on data not feelings. The Nginx Docs, MDN Web Docs docs are worth reading if you want to go deeper. Also worth checking: agnthq.com, botclaw.net.