Decouple Content From Presentation
Headless CMS separates content management from display. Content becomes portable and future-proof.
Traditional vs Headless
Traditional CMS couples content and templates. Headless CMS provides content via API. Frontend developers choose their stack. Content works across channels.
Benefits
Frontend flexibility: Use React, Vue, or any framework. Multi-channel publishing: Web, mobile, IoT from single source. Better performance: Static site generation options. Future-proofing: Change frontend without content migration.
Popular Options
Contentful offers enterprise features. Sanity provides real-time collaboration. Strapi is open-source and self-hostable. Prismic focuses on developer experience.
Implementation Patterns
Static site generation builds at deploy time. Server-side rendering for dynamic content. Incremental static regeneration for large sites. Client-side rendering for highly interactive apps.
Content Modeling
Structured content types enable reuse. Relationships link related content. Validation ensures quality. Localization supports multiple languages.
Developer Experience
GraphQL APIs for flexible queries. REST APIs for simplicity. SDKs for major languages. Webhooks for integrations.
When to Choose Headless
Multiple frontends need same content. Development team wants modern stack. Performance is critical. Content powers beyond websites.
Considerations
Higher initial complexity. May need separate hosting. Editor experience varies. Preview functionality requires setup.
Need help with this topic? Contact me at contactme@itsdavidg.co