Headless { Creator Podcast }

Headless { Creator Podcast }

By Headless CreatorTechnology
Download on the App Store

Headless { Creator Podcast } episodes

  • E11 | A Conversation about Rich Text Fields, HTML, JSON and Markdown | Chris Towler

    In this episode, I have a great conversation with Chris Towler, a nano tech engineer and front end developer, all about Rich Text Fields, HTML, JSON and Markdown and how and when to use them in Contentful.

    *******************************

    Questions Asked

    *******************************

    • Tell us about your background.
    • What is nano scale technology?
    • What got you interested in programming?
    • How did you get into Contenful?
    • Please define JSON?
    • What does "stringify" mean from a development's perspective?
    • Why is it important to stringify data?
    • What is HTML formatting?
    • What is markdown and how is it different than HTML?
    • Why would people use markdown over HTML in their textfield?
    • Explain the difference between a rich text field, a long text field and a short text field in Contentful?
    • What are validation values differences between the 3 types of text fields?
    • Give us the details of a Rich Text Field in Contentful.
    • What are node types in the RTF field?
    • Why is it important to have the formating separate from the content itself in a RTF field?
    • How are node types in Rich Text Fields rendered into HTML?
    • Can you extend the native Rich Text Fields to add your own formatting options for authors?
    • Tell us about how you use custom content types to extend the formatting options of a Rich Text Field?
    • How can custom content types to extend the RTF field help design systems?
    • Can you limit the formatting capabilities an author has in a Rich Text Field?
    • What's the difference between a link, embedded and inline entry in Rich Text Fields?
    • Tell us about content previews and how they can be used to see what the content in an RTF field looks like?
    • What are some best practices for pasting content into an RTF from Microsoft Word or Google Docs?
    • Should we only use Contentful's RTFs over the long text fields?

      • *******************************

      Reference Links

      *******************************

      • Chris Towler’s Website (https://www.christowler.nyc/)
      • Chris Towler’s Twitter (https://twitter.com/heyitstowler)
        • 39 min
      • E10 | Migrating from Wordpress to Contentful | Ben Greenberg

        In this episode, I chat all about migrating from Wordpress into Contentful with my guest Ben Greenberg, a former Lyft and AirBnB engineer who migrated his own website, GlowyStuff.com, from Wordpress into Contentful.

        *******************************

        Questions Asked

        *******************************

        • Tell us about your background.
        • What kind of projects did you work on while at Lyft and AirBnB?
        • What made you switch from backend development to frontend development?
        • What's frontend tech stack do you work with?
        • What kind of Javascript frameworks are you using on the front end?
        • What's the difference between a traditional CMS and a headless CMS?
        • Tell us about someo of the available Wordpress migration tools out there?
        • What has been your biggest pain point in the migration from Wordpress to Contentful?
        • Are you running the old site and new site concurrently?
        • Are you merging content from the old site to the new one?
        • Are you migrating any content models from Wordpress?
        • Is building content models like building a DB schema?
        • Tell us about your Wordpress techstack?
        • What is your front end framework in your new site?
        • Where are you hosting your site now?
        • Why are you using the GraphQL API over the REST api of Contentful?
        • Tell us about your Contentful architecture.
        • Tell us about your taxonomies in Contentful that you had to create from Wordpress.
        • Are you also migrating your tags from Wordpress?
        • What was your content modeling process?
        • Tell us the difference between Rich Text Fields in Wordpress vs. Contentful.
        • Are your media assets stored in Contentful?
        • How are you duplicating your Wordpress plugins functionality in Contentful?
        • Will you be replacing Wordpress plugins with Contentful applications from the marketplace?
        • Do you have a QA mirgration plan?
        • What did Wordpress have that Contentful is missing?
        • What would you have done differently in this migration from Wordpress to Contentful?
        • How many content types do you have currently?
        • Are you using contentful-migration tool?

          • *******************************

          Reference Links

          *******************************

          • Contentful Schema Diff (https://www.npmjs.com/package/contentful-schema-diff)
          • Ben Greenberg Email ([email protected])
            • 34 min
          • E9 | Three Architectures for Designing Scalable Contentful Apps | Diego Aguilar

            In this episode, my guest Diego Aguilar, a software engineer focused on Cloud development, AWS and JAMstack, and I chat all about how to build scalable Contentful applications using three specific architectures: Cache, Event Driven and Batch-Sync.

            *******************************

            Questions Asked

            *******************************

            • Tell us about your background.
            • What kind of projects do you work on?
            • Tell us about the tech hub in Mexico where you reside.
            • Tell us about your work with Contentful.
            • What is an architecture?
            • Who's usually involved in designing an architecture for the app?
            • Explain what a Technical Architect does.
            • What about having a Content Architect?
            • Why do we need an architecture?
            • What are some of the challenges of using an architecture when building an app?
            • Are there standards one can follow when implementing an app architecture?
            • What are some of the attributes of an architecture?
            • Can you explain what "Worse is Better" is?
            • What's the difference between serverless and cloud based architectures?
            • Is LAMBDA an example of a serverless application?
            • What is a Cache in an app architecture?
            • What is an Event?
            • What is a Batch?
            • What are the 3 types of architectures?
            • What is the Cache Architecture?
            • When is a Cache Architecture not a good idea to use?
            • What is the tech stack for the Cache Architecture?
            • What is an Event Driven Architecture?
            • What's a good example of an Event Driven Architecture?
            • Can we mix architectures?
            • When is an Event Driven Architecture not a good idea to use?
            • Is an Event Driven Architecture synchronous or async?
            • What's the tech stack used to create Event Driven Architecture?
            • What is a Batch Sync Architecture?
            • When is a Batch Sync Architecture not a good idea to use?
            • What's the tech stack for a Batch Sync Architecture?
            • How important is logging for all three architectures?
            • Where can people learn more about technical architectures?

              • *******************************

              Reference Links

              *******************************

              • Fundamentals of Software Architecture (https://www.amazon.com/Fundamentals-Software-Architecture-Comprehensive-Characteristics/dp/1492043451)
              • 12 Factor App Manifesto (https://12factor.net/)
              • The Rise of Worse (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worse_is_better)
              • Diego's Email ([email protected])
                • 27 min
              • E8 | A Conversation about Vue.JS | Robert Mion

                In today’s episode, I have a great conversation all about Vue.JS with my guest Robert Mion, a designer, writer, coder and Vue JS expert who teaches web development in virtual 1 on 1 sessions.

                *******************************

                Questions Asked

                *******************************

                • Tell us about your background.
                • What attracted you to front end development instead of backend development?
                • What is Vue.js?
                • How does Vue.JS compare to JQuery?
                • What attracted you to Vue?
                • Explain what is the MVC, Model View Controller, paradigm?
                • What's the minimum knowledge you need to have before you jump into Vue.JS?
                • Why choose Vue over React?
                • Explain the difference between a library and a framework
                • Is Vue a framework or library?
                • What are some of the challenges with Vue.JS?
                • What are some good resources for Vue?
                • Isn't there a documentary about Vue.JS?
                • What is the virtual DOM in Vue.js?
                • What is the difference between the virtual DOM and the real DOM?
                • Explain the life cycle of a Vue app?
                • What is one way data flow?
                • What is two way data binding?
                • What is reactivity?
                • Can you use GraphQL with Vue.JS?
                • Does Vue work with REST APIs?
                • What are components in Vue and how does data flow between them?
                • What's the parent child relationship between components like?
                • What is a slot?
                • What is a scope slot?
                • What is Vuex?
                • Can you use Vuex to transfer the state of a web app to its companion mobile app?
                • What are mixins?
                • What are filetrs in Vue.js?
                • What are directives in Vue.js?
                • Can you create your own filters?
                  • 37 min
                • E7 | A Conversation about ReactJS | Johan Li

                  In this episode, I have a conversation with Johan Li, a Senior Developer at Collegial, all about React JS and how developers can use it to speed up their front end development.

                  *******************************

                  Questions Asked

                  *******************************

                  • Tell us about your background.
                  • How did you get into React?
                  • What is React?
                  • What is the difference between a framework and a library?
                  • What does it mean when a framework is opinionated?
                  • Is React opinionated?
                  • Explain the difference between Vue, Angular and React.
                  • Why choose react over Vue or Angular?
                  • What about React Native and React VR?
                  • What's the minimum knowledge a web developer needs to get into React VR?
                  • Does React support TypeScript?
                  • What are some of React's challenges?
                  • What are isomorphic apps?
                  • What is Next.JS?
                  • How do you implement Next.JS in your React project?
                  • What are React components?
                  • Explain the React component lifecycle.
                  • What is state in React?
                  • What's the difference between stateless and statefull components?
                  • What kind of support does React offer for APIs?
                  • Does React support GraphQL?
                  • What is JSX?
                  • Can you use JSX to create components?
                  • What is Babel?
                  • What is the DOM?
                  • What is the Virtual DOM and what is the difference between it and the DOM?
                  • Is the virtual DOM ever out of sync with the real DOM?
                  • What are events in React?
                  • What are handlers in React?
                  • What is Redux?
                  • What is a React router?
                    • 28 min
                  • E6 | Content Modeling Best Practices | Raul Salido

                    In this episode, Marcelo Lewin, a Certified Contentful Professional and Senior Content Architect, has a conversation all about Content Modeling with Raul Salido, a Solution Delivery Manager based in San Francisco at Contentful. Raul and Marcelo get into the details of content modeling including design and development, structured vs unstructured content, how to create scalable content, how to best model for a developer friendly experience and more!

                    *******************************

                    Questions Asked

                    *******************************

                    • Tell us about your background.
                    • What is Content Modeling?
                    • What does it mean to have a blueprint?
                    • Why is it hard for people to grasp content modeling?
                    • Do people sometimes mix up design with content modeling?
                    • What's the difference between structured and unstructured content?
                    • Is structured content self describing?
                    • Are there any best practices for content modeling?
                    • What does it mean to create a scalable content model?
                    • What's the difference between Content, Layout, Design and Context.
                    • What does it mean to have Single Source of Truth?
                    • What is COPE?
                    • How is Single Source of Truth implemented in Contentful?
                    • Any tips for brainstorming the content model?
                    • Can you provide tips for creating scalable content?
                    • When should we use a reference field vs. a regular field?
                    • When can you use a boolean field type in Contentful?
                    • Rich Text Fields vs Long Text Fields with Markdown? Which to use?
                    • What's the maximum depth for embedded reference fields in Contentful?
                    • Any new Contentful authoring features you can share with us?
                    • What is micro copy?
                    • What are your thoughts on using micro copy to store tool tips in Contentful?
                    • Should we use the media field type or build our own custom content media type?
                    • How do make the content model developer friendly?
                      • 49 min
                    • E5 | A Conversation about Node.JS | Roman Hood

                      Today I’m having a conversation with Roman Hood, a self taught developer with over 10 years of experience developing web applications. Roman and I chat all about Node.JS and how to get started developing applications with it.

                      *******************************

                      Questions Asked

                      *******************************

                      • Tell us about your background. Why NodeJS?
                      • What did you have to learn to get comfortable with Node?
                      • How important is knowing Javascript really well to harness the power of NodeJS?
                      • What are the difference object models between Javascript on the front end and the back end?
                      • Is the Window object accessible inside of NodeJS?
                      • Do computers come with Node already installed?
                      • What is Node repl?
                      • What's the difference between Javascript and ES6?
                      • Does Node support ES6 fully?
                      • Explain Typescript and its relationship with Node JS?
                      • Why is Type checking so important?
                      • What are the pros and cons of Node JS?
                      • Explain how Node supports events and what events are?
                      • What's the difference between AJAX, JQuery and Node JS?
                      • Is AJAX more focused on the client side?
                      • What is Express?
                      • How do you deploy your Node app?
                      • What would you change about Node?

                        • *******************************

                        Reference Links

                        *******************************

                        • NodeJS Download (https://nodejs.org/en/)
                          • 30 min
                        • E4 | A Conversation about Gatsby and Static Site Generators | Nikan Shahidi

                          My special guest is Nikan Shahidi, the founder of Webstacks, a digital agency who specializes in various web technologies including Contentful and Gatsby.js.  In this episode, Nikan and Marcelo chat all about Static Site Generators (SSGs) and more specifically, dig into the details of Gatsby.js

                          *******************************

                          Questions Asked

                          *******************************

                          • Tell us about your background.
                          • What language did you first code in?
                          • Tell us about your firm, WebStacks.
                          • Are you guys Certified Contentful Professionals?
                          • What are SSGs?
                          • Are SSGs dynamically generated on request or pre-generated during build time?
                          • Explain the 3 different delivery architectures Contentful recommends.
                          • What are the positives and negatives dynamic on server and dynamic on client architectures?
                          • What are some drawbacks to having an SSG site?
                          • How do SSG sites handle personalization?
                          • What about having a dynamic on client and SSG hybrid site?
                          • What other SSG exists today?
                          • Is VUE is considered an SSG framework?
                          • What do developers need to know to start creating with Gatsby JS?
                          • Where can you host an SSG site?
                          • Explain the workflow from content creation to content publishing using an SSG site.
                          • Explain webhooks and how they work with Netlify.
                          • How is GitHub used with SSGs?
                          • Can you use Contentful UI Extensions to trigger builds?
                          • Can you use Zappier to trigger builds?
                          • What if users need to publish constantly, are SSGs still the right way to go?
                          • Explain the relationship between GraphQL and Gatsby?
                          • Explain how templates work in GatsbyJS.
                          • What are source plug-ins?
                          • What are transformer plug-ins?
                          • Is there a marketplace for these types of plug-ins?

                            • *******************************

                            Reference Links

                            *******************************

                            • Webstacks (https://www.webstacks.com/)
                            • GatsbyJS (https://www.gatsbyjs.org/)
                            • Contentful Resource Center (https://www.contentful.com/resources/)
                            • GraphQL (https://graphql.org/)
                            • VueJS (https://vuejs.org/)
                            • ReactJS (https://reactjs.org/)
                              • 16 min
                            • E3 | A Conversation about Contentful and Ruby | Teemu Tammela

                              In this episode, I have a conversation with Teemu Tammela, a software developer, Contentful Certified Professional and creator and co-host DJ of AuralCandy.net Premium House Music Podcast.  Our topic today is all about creating a website that runs on Contentful and Ruby.


                              The following questions were asked:

                              • Tell us about yourself.
                              • Tell us about your podcast website.
                              • What does it mean to be a Certified Contentful Professional?
                              • Why did you switch from PHP to Contentful and Ruby?
                              • Why did you go with a CMS versus custom PHP?
                              • Why did you choose Ruby as your language of choice?
                              • Can you compare and contrast Ruby and PHP?
                              • Is Ruby a friendly language for people just starting to do web development?
                              • What is Ruby on Rails?
                              • Are there other frameworks developers can choose for Ruby?
                              • What is the difference between the Sinatra and Ruby Frameworks?
                              • A developer will either use Ruby or Sinatra, not both correct?
                              • How is Rails opinonated versus Sinatra?
                              • What is Padrino?
                              • Why did you use Padrino on top of Sinatra?
                              • What are the template helpers in Padrino?
                              • What is Grunt?
                              • Does the Contentful Ruby SDK support the full CMAPI?
                              • Does the Contentful Ruby SDK support the CDAPI or Image API?
                              • Are there any features you'd like to see Contentful add to their Ruby SDK?
                              • Would you ever considering switching to a Javascript based framework?
                              • Tell us about your content model in Contenfful for your podcast site.
                              • Can you tell us more about the 4 content types you created and why?
                              • What are some hosting solutions for Contentful and Ruby driven sites?
                              • Describe your backend architecture? Is it SSG driven?
                              • Do you use Git?
                              • Any tips for scaling Contentful applications?
                                • 27 min
                              • E2 | A Conversation about APIs, Decoupling and Scalability | Matthew Foyle

                                In this episode, I chat with Matthew Foyle, a Senior Solutions Engineer at Algolia, which offers a Search API, all about APIs, decoupling your apps by using APIs and how to scale with REST and GraphQL.  We also touch upon the Contentful APIs and how they can be used for decoupling your front end from your back end.


                                The following questions were asked:

                                • Tell us a bit about yourself.
                                • What caught your interest in the technical side of things?
                                • Tell us about Algolia.
                                • Can Algolia combine various content resources into one for indexing purposes?
                                • What is an API?
                                • What is JSON and why is it important?
                                • What is the JSON schema?
                                • Does GraphQL rely on.a schema?
                                • What did people do before APIs?
                                • What does decoupling mean?
                                • What is synchronous vs asynchronous?
                                • Can you provide an example of an async operation?
                                • What are some examples of async operations in Contentful?
                                • What does Headless and API-First in Contentful mean?
                                • Should we develop our apps with an API first mentality?
                                • What are some drawbacks to using APIs?
                                • Define REST and GraphQL.  What are they?
                                • What is HATEOAS?
                                • What are some drawbacks to using REST?
                                • Tell us what GraphQL is and how it works?
                                • Compare and contrast REST and GraphQL.
                                • What is introspection in GraphQL?
                                • What's the future for API consumption and development?
                                • If you use external APIs in your code, where does your intellectual property start and end?


                                  • The following links were mentioned:

                                  GraphQL Documentary

                                  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=783ccP__No8

                                  Matthew’s Twitter Account:

                                  https://twitter.com/MatthewFoyle

                                  Algolia’s Website:

                                  https://www.algolia.com/

                                  Contentful’s APIs:

                                  https://www.contentful.com/developers/docs/references/

                                  39 min

                                About Headless { Creator Podcast }

                                From the publisher's feed

                                Interviews with content creators, developers and other professionals who use a headless CMS for omni-channel content delivery. New episodes every Thursday.