5 steps guide for smooth Headless CMS development

Today, the business world has become multichannel where traditional web-based Content Management Systems or CMS are insufficient for growth. If a company needs to deliver high-quality content and create a better online experience, Headless CMS is the best option they have got.

Over the period, Headless CMS has gained popularity among businesses across the globe. As per a report by Research and Markets, the global Headless CMS software market shall witness an excellent growth of 22.6% CAGR during the forecast period of 2020 to 2027. During this tenure the market shall grow from US$ 328.5 million in 2019 to US$ 1,628.6 million by the end of 2027, says the report. Moreover, Google search trends suggest that the Headless CMS has become one of the most widely sought keywords in the past five years.

According to the trends and Headless CMS definition, the adoption rate of new CMS is quite high. However, there might be some companies that are still using their traditional CMS for publishing the content on their websites. But, what if the website somehow becomes an afterthought and the business gets caught up between rocks and hard places? Keeping traditional CMS for multichannel publishing may not be a viable option. And this is the sole reason for introducing Headless CMS as the prime content management system.

So if an organization decides to opt for Headless CMS as its content management system, what advantages does it leverage? How can the company develop a unique, user-friendly, and effective website? Having a roadmap for an application programming interface is always a plus for developers.

Step by Step Guide for Headless CMS Development

Content Schema Configuration

The first step to build an instance on any website, whether its JSON configuration or building an entire website, is content field configuration. In some platforms, the content feeding happens manually and dynamically updates with each publish. Therefore, the developers have to tell the system which content needs to be fed into the system. To do so, a developer might choose any option among the following three:

Single Page with View

A page on the website is similar to the pages of a book. The page schema denotes a set of single pages of content. These pages have multiple linking on a website and can have different parents. This is a perfect solution for the one-off landing page or main pages that require a specific design and content structure, such as a homepage, landing page, or any other page with a unique design.

Page Group with View

The page groups are the pages that will automatically create new pages with the same template for each content entry. Every content here is routed to a single page parent, such as articles to a category page or team members to a team page. The option, allows the developers to share a single template as a headless code between all the created pages in the group.

Headless Data Schema

Headless data schemas are arguably the most potent content structures that can be used in the back-end of a platform. Data entries usually represent free-form data that can render CMS framework. What makes Headless Data schema so impactful is the excellent use of relational or miscellaneous content.

According to the definition of a software developer, the data entries can also be accessed with JSON or relational fields in the content sets. The Headless data schemas are an easy way to develop and manage relationships such as one-to-one or one-to-many between content within the platform.

Since all the three options of content schema configuration are now clear let’s move to the next step.

Build the View

Once the first step of CMS website development is complete, the next stage for the developers is to build the views in the CMS framework. This step accomplishes in tandem with step one to avoid time and resources. Furthermore, developers can develop their views either by using the IDE or using Headless UI. This Headless UI integrates with the browser itself, using the headless programming language of developers’ choice.

Content Population

As soon as the content loads and views are built, developers are ready to preview how the website looks in a staging environment also known as  Headlessness Mode.

SEO Review

Using Headless CMS for website development allows the developers to leverage the benefits of automated SEO functionalities. Unlike SEO configuration with a purely Headless CMS, web engines automatically generate meta titles and descriptions. These are pre-populated, so the businesses are never without content in these fields. Nevertheless, reviews and changes are possible as the requirement arises.

Preview in Staging Environment

In Headless CMS, each instance comes with a staging environment for the developers to preview the look and functionality of the website. As with any build process, it’s crucial to preview a site’s functionality thoroughly before launch.

Once all the steps are complete, the final step is the launching of the website. To do so, the definition of the software developer has to configure the domain and ensure that the https is enabled. Finally, all a developer has to do is press the launch button and check the newly launched website.

Conclusion

The CMS is gaining popularity among businesses owing to its language, platform, and channel flexibility, and a growing number of Headless CMS use cases. With the changing dynamics of the business world, static websites have become highly obsolete. Headless CMS provides a 360-degree solution to the challenges CMS developers and business owners face while using traditional CMS. The Headless CMS allows the developers to build a Content Management system similar to software deployed by any JAVA or .NET developer making the headless website more flexible.

Are you looking for an expert to guide you with the migration from traditional to Headless CMS or looking for headless development or content-managed hosting?  Let’s connect. We can help you hire CMS developers having expertise in Headless programming and CMS website development.