Headless CMS for dummies
Tags: headlesscms, webdev, contectmanagement, cms
Published: 2024-02-13 13:42:54

Hi, I’m Jhanavi. I recently wrote about my experience ‘[switching from a traditional CMS to a headless CMS](https://dev.to/jhanawee/why-i-decided-to-go-headless-2bam)’. However, I realized many non-tech people may find this term completely foreign. It seems there is a gap between the tech world and non-tech world in understanding content management systems. So, in this blog, I’ll briefly explain the concept of a headless CMS in simple terms, with no technical background required. 

To understand what a Headless CMS is. Let’s quickly catch you up with what a traditional CMS is and what are its drawbacks. 

Traditional content management systems combine the front-end website with the back-end database in a monolithic architecture (Like one big sandwich🥪)


![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/cmraylg2t67n3cot47ts.png)

As the volume of the content on the website increases, performance and scalability challenges emerge from built-in UI components not designed for high traffic. More resources are required for maintenance, upgrades, and security, as these self-hosted systems are susceptible to attacks. 

With the growth of the business, more features should be added, which means adding different plugins. Developers face vendor lock-in, having to learn proprietary languages and frameworks tied to each platform. Core templates, workflows and APIs are rigid and hard to customize. Plugins can temporarily add features but negatively impact performance and introduce security risks. Ultimately, monolithic CMS architectures have limitations in flexibility, scalability, and security. A traditional CMS has limited options to serve content outside of one application (mobiles, tablets, and desktops), which makes omnichannel almost impossible with them.

Now that we have run through the issues of using a traditional CMS, let's understand what a Headless CMS is. 

Starting off with why it’s called headless. A headless CMS is a backend-only content management system built purely as a content repository. Content is stored in the cloud and retrieved via APIs to any device — whether a customer website, mobile app, smartwatch or IoT device in a responsive, fast-loading way. This separation of data (Body) from presentation (Head) is why it's called “headless” CMS - the content data is like a body without a head. 


![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/3u4vm4pvfi8l6vmnxf8u.png)

Content marketing adoption is rising, with 82% of companies now leveraging it. Having an effective CMS is crucial for managing all this content. Part of the headless CMS appeal is meeting the new standard of building branded sites optimized for speed and search - critical capabilities for growing businesses. A headless CMS allows developers to build websites with the flexibility of using their preferred modern frameworks like Next.js, Nuxt.js, Gatsby, etc. 

It allows marketing teams to integrate platforms like Google Tag Manager, Typeform and HubSpot into their websites for functionality like tracking and form management. It also empowers marketers to customize the CMS and independently release on-brand, SEO-optimized, fast-loading pages.

Additionally, if website traffic spikes, only the front end and APIs need to scale rather than the full system. Headless solutions and hosting providers can easily handle such flexible scaling.

If you're wondering which headless CMS to choose, I’ve got you covered. 

[Garchi CMS](https://garchi.co.uk/) is a great minimalist option without all the tech jargon. 

What makes it different?

Garchi's philosophy is simple - enhance your tech stack, don't dictate it. Be agile, not fixed. Simplify, don't overcomplicate.  Integrate Garchi CMS into your stack in just a few lines of code, with no deviation from your structure or style required. Remove it with the same ease when needed. As a startup with evolving needs, Garchi CMS integrates with your backend like Firebase or SQL, complementing existing components and moulding to your changing landscape.

What are you waiting for, it’s time to go headless! But if you have more questions, please comment below. I'm happy to convince you further about the shift.