Off with their heads!

Curiouser and curiouser: Rolley dives down the rabbit hole of content management systems.

Firstly, what is headless CMS? 

Since their increase in popularity in the early 2000s, Content Management Systems (CMS) are now extremely common in the web-developing world, with some of the more well-known platforms being Wordpress, Drupal and Joomla. But why is Rolley head over heels for headless CMS?

In contrast to a traditional CMS, a headless CMS doesn’t have a way of rendering your content by default i.e. it doesn’t have a standard front-end built in, it’s up to the developer to display the content where and how it’s needed, whether that’s within an app, game, website etc. A headless CMS allows clients to control their content and data, but with a more tailored and unique experience for them and more flexibility for the developer.

Why would you use headless CMS and what are the benefits?

Unlike traditional CMS solutions, a headless CMS separates the back-end from the front-end of the website. This paves the way for more scalable solutions that can adapt to new technologies, as well as making it easier for content editors to publish content across multiple channels. 

It can also make life much easier for the developer too. Unlike a traditional CMS which forces developers to shoe-horn content into a website template, a headless CMS provides a standardised way of retrieving data so a developer can use whatever they are most comfortable with to work with (framework, stack, language etc). Headless CMS is easy for developers to learn, allowing them flexibility and to best use their existing tools and knowledge for the job at hand.

There are a few minor limitations to headless CMS, one being the ecosystem behind it e.g. there are nowhere near as many plugins as traditional CMS. There tend to also be fewer developers familiar with headless CMS. However, as it is easy and intuitive to learn, this certainly is not something to lose our heads over. At Rolley we have been leaning towards an exciting headless CMS platform that is certainly making waves in the web developing world called Directus.

Why ‘we’re all mad here’ about Directus?

Directus has certainly turned our heads when it comes to CMS, it is incredibly simple and intuitive to use with a fantastic user interface. 99% of the time it does pretty much what we need it to do straight out the box. It’s exciting that they are continuing to grow and expand their platforms e.g. the addition of real-time data capability has just landed, and we hope to see more of this in the future.

It’s also brilliant they have a very active community that also continues to grow, and it’s great to be able to speak to talented and enthusiastic members of the community.

In short, the mad hatters at Rolley reckon Directus is 100% heading in the right direction.