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!

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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

• Sanity

Prismic

Contentful

Dato CMS

Storyblok

8Base

Agility CMS

• Seems to be making a big corporate play

36:59 - Self-Hosted

• WordPress
  • WordPress REST API
  • GraphQL API
  • WP GraphQL

Advanced Custom Fields for custom UI

Most things in WordPress are custom post types and taxonomies, so data from plugins can often be surfaced

The theme UI from plugins is often lost

Drupal

• contentacms.org

Craft CMS

Ghost

Strapi

Keystone

Joomla (JK!)

44:33 - API (BYOUI)

• Hasura

Prisma

Firebase

47:37 - Git Based

• Netlify

Forestry

50:30 - Other

Google Sheets

• Sheety

Airtable

Tina CMS

• Not a CMS

Markdown under the hood

Notion

Links

• https://twitter.com/wesbos/status/1254772936935739393
• Pixel & Tonic
• GraphCool
• GraphCMS
• Sapper

××× SIIIIICK ××× PIIIICKS ×××

• Scott: DEWALT Random Orbit Sander

Wes: Shelf Brackets

Shameless Plugs

• Scott: New course on Sapper - Sign up for the year and save 25%!
• Wes: Wes’ YouTube Channel

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