Headless CMS to power the future of app development

There has been a massive shift from traditional to headless CMS, largely due to increased customer expectations and also as a result of the disruption caused by new and emerging technologies. Businesses are now expected to deliver content to multiple channels and also provide customers with captivating digital experiences at every touchpoint.

Headless CMS is certainly the future of web application, and growing in popularity as it separates the user experience from the backend platform. Many traditional content management systems have been releasing headless versions of their software in recent years.

WordPress, a popular open-source CMS solution, provides a headless offering which can be used for websites and application development. With its powerful open API, this is a new way of building web apps by combining WordPress’s peerless content management with the power and flexibility of JavaScript front-end interfaces.

According to the latest Global Headless CMS Software Market report, the headless CMS software market was valued at $328.5-million in 2019 and is projected to reach $1.6-billion by 2027; it is expected to grow at a CAGR of 22.6% from 2020 to 2027.

Headless CMS provides an opportunity for the front-end developers to use front-end frameworks and allows them to integrate content through APIs such as XML or JavaScript to create the front-end of their choice.

Headless CMS also allows front-end teams to fully concentrate on the user experience, visual aesthetics and website accessibility. This makes the whole front-end development process easier and the separation from the CMS backend improves performance.

More importantly, it offers improved security features, removing the need for constant security updates and other maintenance issues that arise while using traditional CMS.

Although most of the headless CMS apps have been purpose-built for IoT, many brands are now using it to reach new customers across various platforms.

Headless or decoupled architecture is nothing new, business have been using it to deliver content to locations outside of the standard web browser. With no front-end delivery layer, businesses can now use any front-end tool they want to present the content.

WordPress versus headless WordPress

There is a big difference between traditional WordPress sites and headless WordPress. When loading a page on a traditional WordPress site or web app, it runs code that builds an HTML document that is then sent to the browser. This is called server-side development.

Headless WordPress is a completely different method of building web apps, the interface is created and managed in the client that is normally a browser. The JavaScript app running in the browser creates the interface for the content to be retrieved from WordPress. This is often called decoupled or client-side development.

Headless CMS simply allows for the creation, reading, updating and deleting (CRUD) of content. It enables brands to deliver content beyond apps and websites, reaching any channel from smartwatches to virtual reality headsets.

WordPress

WordPress is one of the world’s most popular way to build a website. WordPress powers more than 40 per cent of all the websites on the Internet and has about 65 per cent market share for content management systems on websites with a known CMS.

It is bundled with REST API so that developers can experiment and use it in a decoupled way. This means they can continue developing the front-end using JavaScript frameworks or libraries.

REST API allows developers to power third-party applications with WordPress CMS, enabling them to create interesting plugins and themes. As an open-source platform, WordPress offers developers the flexibility to create any kind of website.

By using it as a headless CMS, they can now create the front-end using any web technology and also manage the content using any CMS.

React and React Native

By using WordPress Rest API, one can also build web and mobile applications using React and React Native. React Native is a popular framework that is used by many native mobile app developers for its native app development capabilities. The cross-platform mobile app development framework is compatible with both iOS and Android platforms.

Conclusion

Developing an entire website or application could seem like a massive task, but by decoupling the CMS from the front-end, developers can use any technology that they are already familiar with. There is no need to learn any new technology for a specific CMS.