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Syntax - Tasty Web Development Treats

Headless CMS Break Down & Roundup

Jun 3, 2020 · 1 hr 1 min
0:00-1:01:54

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In this episode of Syntax, Scott and Wes talk about headless content management systems — why you might want to use one, things you should take into account, and more!

Sanity - Sponsor

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Freshbooks - Sponsor

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Show Notes

02:38 - What and why

  • A headless CMS doesn’t mean you have to use a static site generator
  • A headless CMS has an API:
    • REST
    • GraphQL
    • GROQ
  • A headless CMS can pipe its content into:
    • Static Site on build - like Gatsby
    • An app on run/refresh
    • An existing website - widget
  • What makes a CMS? Do you need a UI?
  • What is the threshold?
  • Is a hotdog a sandwich?
  • Things to think about when choosing an API
    • Auth - Rules + roles + levels
  • How easy is it to create new data types?
    • Is it code or UI?
    • Can my mom use it?
  • Can you create one-off content types? (e.g. settings pages)
  • Custom workflows
    • dRafts, revisions, roll backs
  • How are images handled? Do you need another service for that?
  • Pre-determined UI
    • Is custom UI possible?
    • Two-way relationships?
    • Tags?
  • Data validation?
    • UI + API?
  • Hosting?
  • Pricing?
  • Content movability?
    • Can you get your data out?
    • Schemas
    • Users
    • Revisions
  • CORS or realtime API?
  • APIs
    • Can you insert data via the API? (or just pull)
    • Node API
    • Importing data

24:37 - Hosted

36:59 - Self-Hosted

44:33 - API (BYOUI)

47:37 - Git Based

50:30 - Other

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