Headless CMS and Content as a Service
Content Management Systems (CMS) were developed in the times when users browsed the internet using desktop browsers. It goes without saying that as the internet becomes more intrinsic, so is the explosion of content creation.
In the past, the traditional CMS, also known as the monolithic CMS, has been the go-to when it comes to handling content. However, technology continues to advance and as it shifts away from desktop and page-centric browsing to become more mobile, this traditional monolithic CMS starts to suffer from technical debt.
To make things work seamlessly, one of the ways found to solve technical difficulties for managing content online is to add an API to a monolithic CMS.
However, as clearly experienced by website owners and managers, later on, this is just a band-aid repair. Indeed, the quick fix barely does anything to repair the central problem, specifically the tremendous underlying technical complexity of a CMS initially designed for a past area.
As such, this has complicated the way people build content-rich websites and web applications.
What makes a CMS Headless
To better understand Headless CMS, it is a good idea to consider its components. What is considered as the head is the presentation layer while the body is the content.
The CMS acts as a specialized database, with an interface that allows editors to create and nurture content that can be used and re-used by all types of clients. It allows developers to build clients on basically any tool.
The client connects to the CMS API, fetches the content it needs and the client takes care of the presentation layer.
Most pure-play Headless CMS is 'cloud native'. They are only available as cloud services, not as software. Most of them are proprietary and behind some sort of paywall. The different packages you can choose from are very technical, non-transparent, and do change quite often.
A lot of these services start with good FREE tiers but are closing down on these FREE tiers as soon as they get some traction. The content-as-a-service approach simplifies scaling, monitoring, backups, etc - while sacrificing flexibility and control.
The idea behind Headless CMS pretty much scales down to avoiding coding in the CMS, and use an API instead - this combination gets you off the block pretty fast, at least from the perspective of producing and delivering raw content.
The Headless CMS battlefield
Contentful - Contentful is recognized as a pioneer in the Headless CMS industry. Contentful offers a matured REST API with a matching development kits for just about any language. Watch out for the pricing model as it can quickly become expensive for high traffic solutions.
Sanity - A newcomer to the cloud-native Headless Space. The UI (Content Studio) is open sourced, and with that piece of software that you can self-host, you have a have a collaborative editing environment in React. The data is stored in real-time in a Hosted back-end and can be queried through GROQ (Graph Oriented Query Language) and soon GraphQL.
Directus - Open source, API-driven content management system, that can be self-hosted or hosted by Directus.
and many more that are popping up every month, even week.
WebriQ Studio
At WebriQ, we have been developing and deploying website creation programs for over two years now.
With the newly launched Webriq Studio, you are now able to build, develop, update and manage hunderds of sites without too much stress.
This technology is great for creating beautiful landing pages and microsites that will perfectly suit your business needs.
You can freely choose site components; change the look, feel, and design of the site elements; and manage your content in one place without too much trouble. Whenever you want to change the layout and appearance of your website, you can easily do so through the W-Studio environment and through the help of our professional team of web designers and developers.
We give you a full and satisfying service, ensuring that you achieve your website and business goals.
Seeing and using is believing
We have worked very hard in the last months, to give writers, editors, and basically, anyone that is involved in updating and managing content on a website the chance to experience a Content Management System (CMS) that will serve your needs efficiently.
Discover the Webriq Studio now and receive access to an excellent microsite and landing page builder.
You will receive an email with all the access details and you can then start creating and managing your website, as well as updating and publishing content on your pages. All this without the stress of breaking the code or breaking the bank.