Headless CMS - why we will use WordPress very differently in the future

31 Dec

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Headless CMS - why we will use WordPress very differently in the future

• Lesezeit: 4 Min. Headless CMS – warum wir WordPress in Zukunft ganz anders nutzen werden

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Whether you like WordPress or not: With a market share of over 60 percent, the content management system has become an integral part of the online world.And probably not much will change that too.However, the way in which WordPress websites develop in the future could change dramatically.

Why classic editorial systems will soon have had its day

Websites are only a medium of many.They have become increasingly complex, which is why the demands on modern content management systems are also increasing.In addition, different apps for a wide range of devices have been added.It is an advantage if you can use an editorial system to maintain your content, which it then outputs on different channels.

For example, if you want to write a news contribution and publish both on your website and on an app, you save a lot of time if changes are made only once and then adopted on all other portals.

With WordPress, such a concept could already be realized.But even if you do not want to use apps, such a solution could offer attractive advantages.Before that, however, the concept should be considered again in more detail.

WordPress as Headless CMS: A database for many channels.(Graphics: Timo Höhn)

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What is a headless CMS?

The advantage of an editorial system such as WordPress is that users can create texts without knowledge of HTML and edit content.A graphical user interface is available for this.These texts and images are saved in a MySQL database and then visually presented using the programming language.

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This means that WordPress consists of these three components:

A database for all texts and pictures,

A graphical user interface for editors and copywriters as well

PHP templates that create pages stored in the database that can then be viewed in the classic way over the browser.

A "headless" CMS only uses the first two components and hands over the visual implementation or rendering to another technology.For the editor: Inside everything would stay the same.Only the browser would have to be very different in the background to make everything visible.

Web techniques in change

The combination of PHP and MySQL has turned out to be very robust and reliable.Modern web development hugs a completely different trend: JavaScript.The Google and Facebook frameworks, which have created new options as part of the development of websites and web apps with React and Angular.This includes in particular the single-page apps.With such applications, when changing to a new side of the browser, no longer has to be reloaded.

But what happens to the widespread combination of PHP and MySQL if JavaScript websites should prevail?Since WordPress does not want to lose his supremacy, there is already a practical basis for this.As a headless CMS, the editorial system could continue to be used in the background, while for example a JavaScript-based framework is responsible for the presentation.

The WordPress Rest API

With the versatile interface, information from posts, pages and media can be queried from the WordPress database.For this purpose, the domain only has to be supplemented and requested by corresponding parameters.About https: // of your side.de/wp-json/wp/v2/posts you can see all your blog posts, for example.

(Screenshot: Timo Höhn)

So sehen die Blogartikel im JSON Format aus. Posts steht dabei für die Postings (Beiträge). Es gibt aber noch viele andere Parameter, mit denen Inhalte abgefragt werden können. Außerdem bietet WordPress auch die Möglichkeit, individuelle Ergebnisse (Endpunkte) anzuzeigen, etwa für eigens erstellte Beitragstypen. Headless CMS – warum wir WordPress in Zukunft ganz anders nutzen werden

Naked data

In our example, all blog posts with the associated metadata are output in JSON format.The raw information is structured in such a way that they are transformed into classic HTML, for example, with a JavaScript framework and designed with CSS.

The frontend (i.e. the front visible part of the website) is then clearly separated from the backend (the user interface for WordPress editors).

Advantages of a headless CMS

What are the advantages of such a solution?

Speed (especially on mobile devices)

Pleasure of a source on several channels

Better protection of the editorial system against hacking attacks

Disadvantages of a headless CMS

The content can no longer be tested and adapted so easily using a preview function.

The design of a reasonable layout is hardly possible without programming knowledge.

The development of such a website is more complex and therefore usually more expensive.

If "headless" solutions should actually prevail, it will take a while by then.If you don't have to play several channels at the same time, there are currently not enough reasons to change.

In the end, however, the question arises as to why you should put on WordPress for such a solution.With its REST-API, the system offers a comfortable solution that can be used without having to develop something comparable yourself.It also offers a lot of scope for individual adjustments.Here, however, you should check in advance whether it really meets your own requirements.The biggest advantage, however, should certainly be that the editor: do not have to think into a new system inside and website texts can be inserted as usual.

Timo Höhn

Timo Höhn works for text and value.As a web designer from Wiesbaden, he helps self -employed and entrepreneurs: inside, to regularly win new customers with search engine -optimized websites.