Headless CMS Notes

Headless CMS Learning Objectives

• What is a Headless CMS? A content management system that separates the front end (presentation layer) from the back end (content management layer), allowing content to be managed in one place and used anywhere.
• Traditional CMS Front end and back end are tightly integrated.
• Diving into Headless CMS
• Benefits of Headless CMS
• Use cases of Headless CMS
• Popular Headless DMS platforms
• Considerations and Challenges

Topics to Cover

What is a Headless CMS

A headless CMS is a content management system that separates the front end (the layer where content is presented, like a website) from the back end (the layer where the content is managed).

A headless CMS allows you to manage content in one place while being able to use the content anywhere that you want.

Traditional CMS’s

A traditional CMS is where the front end and the back end are tightly integrated. Changes made in the back end directly affect what is being displayed on the front end.

Some examples of these are systems like WordPress, Drupal and Joomla.

Traditional CMSs had limitations that led to the creation of the headless CMS.

• Developers are often restricted by the CMS’s templates and themes and are not easy to edit to your liking if you are not well versed with the languages and setups of these CMSs.
• Delivering content to multiple platforms can be challenging due to the tight coupling between the front and back end, and often results in a developer having to create and maintain multiple types of backends to get the desired outcome.
• The tight integration can sometimes lead to performance issues, especially when there is high traffic as it is difficult to scale these systems.

Traditional vs Headless CMS

Diving into Headless CMS

A headless CMS is essentially just a backend content repository that stores and manages your content but does not restrict you to how the content is displayed. It exposes content through APIs which allows developers to choose any frontend architecture that they want to create and display the information.

Headless CMSs are not a replacement for a frontend framework, rather it is a tool that you would use in combination with a frontend framework.

The core of a headless CMS is where all the content is stored in a structured manner. The structure is often defined through content models, which restrict types of content and their associated fields.

For example, a blog post content type might have fields for the title, author, content body and images associated with the blog post.

API

The API is the bridge between the content store and the front-end application. It exposes the content in a machine-readable format (typically JSON or XML) through HTTP requests.

Two main types of APIs would be used in a headless CMS.

RESTful APIs

RESTful APIs are the most common type of API used by headless CMSs. They follow a set of architectural principles that make them predictable and easy to use. They use standard HTTP methods (GET, POST, DELETE, PATCH, PUT) to perform operations on resources.

GraphQL

GraphQL is a query language. It allows clients to request specific data, reducing the amount of data transferred and improving performance.

One of the benefits of a headless CMS is the API-first architecture. This allows you to use frontend frameworks that support SSR (Server-Side Rendering), which lets you request the data, and compile and display the data on the server before it gets sent to the client. This allows for faster load times and enables you to create cache rules.

Benefits of a Headless CMS

Omnichannel Delivery

Omnichannel delivery essentially means that content can be published to various different places, such as mobile apps, voice assistants, etc. The content can be used anywhere due to its API-first architecture.

Technology Flexibility

Using a headless CMS allows a developer to use any frontend framework that they want. This allows modern and performant web development.

Improved Developer Experience

Developers can use their preferred tools, workflows and programming languages to complete the task, which can lead to increased productivity and satisfaction. With the API-first architecture, it allows for easy adoption into a development team.

Scalability and Performance

Using a decoupled architecture often leads to better scalability and performance. The front and back end can be scaled independently. You can also have different teams managing the front end and back end separately.

Use Cases for Headless CMS

Headless CMSs are being implemented across various aspects of IT. A headless CMS-based product can power a product catalogue. This offers a customised shopping experience but also enables an entire store to have access to the backend while a specific team manages the front end.

Headless CMSs have been used to integrate IoT (Internet of Things) devices, which allows for delivering information and updates to connected devices, such as smart home appliances or sensors.

Probably one of the more popular use cases for headless CMS is in Single-Page Applications (SPAs). It allows developers to quickly manage content while allowing the freedom to create highly interactive and dynamic user experiences.

Popular Headless CMS Platforms

• Contentful is a popular cloud-based Headless CMS known for its robust API and content modelling capabilities.
• Contentstack is a more enterprise-focused platform.
• Strapi is an open-source, Node.JS based CMS that offers high levels of customisation.
• Sanity is a flexible platform with a focus on structured content and real-time collaboration.
• Payload is a CMS that has a high level of integration with NextJS.
• NuxtContent is a git-based CMS for Nuxt projects.

Challenges and Considerations

• You will often need to develop a frontend from scratch which requires you to understand how to program and how to use frontend frameworks. Unlike a traditional CMS, where you are often given templates, plugins, themes and extensions to aid you in creating a website.
• With so many Headless CMSs out there, you need to consider various factors to pick the right CMS. The various Headless CMS platforms each have their challenges, positives and ways of doing things.