Drupal as a headless CMS: benefits and challenges
Traditional CMS systems have been around since the early days of web development. Those platforms were then developed to store and present content - such as text, images, and videos. This approach bundles everything in one big silo: content, HTML, CSS, and so on. This made it impossible to reuse the content in that silo, since it was stuck in specific code snippets. Now that organisations no longer simply post content on web pages, there’s a need for a more flexible solution. Headless is the answer!
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A headless CMS is any type of backend content management system where the content repository (the body) is separated or disconnected from the presentation layer (the head). The focus with a headless CMS is therefore exclusively on the content. Content stored in a headless CMS is delivered via APIs to different platforms and channels.
With a headless CMS you are no longer dependent on the built-in solution of the CMS. Instead, you can choose - or program - a presentation layer that best suits your content. But before you decide to use a headless CMS, you should know the benefits and challenges of such a system. Here they are!
Advantage 1: Efficient Content Management
When the content in your CMS is tied to the presentation layer, each channel may display a different version of the content. If you want to adjust your content (e.g., correct a mistake or update information), you must do it separately for each channel. In a headless CMS, content management is centralized, making it much more efficient — you only need one version for all channels. This facilitates the management of a multi-site brand platform without any hassle.
Advantage 2: Greater Freedom of Choice
In a traditional online project, the choice of CMS often dictates the entire tech stack of the website. With headless, it's different. Developers can add functionalities over time because content and presentation are decoupled — whether they program these functionalities themselves or simply add an extra module.
Advantage 3: Easier Upgrades
Upgrading a website built with a headless CMS is much easier. Less development is done on top of the CMS itself, so developers need to worry less about integrations and features. Thanks to its robust open-source community, Drupal is a safe long-term choice.
Advantage 4: Scalability
A headless CMS requires less computing power than a traditional CMS because the two layers are not intertwined. This makes the website more efficient and cheaper to host, and your project much more flexible and scalable. Thus, it's the ideal solution for an extensive enterprise website.
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With a traditional CMS, you are supported by the developer in setting up the code. A headless CMS gives you more agility and freedom, but that also means you probably need to write more code yourself for a website that is truly tailored to your organisation.
The structure of headless means that you don't have to opt for an all-in-one solution. You can rely on different service providers for different services. This way, you build an architecture that fits your project like a glove. But it also means that you must have knowledge of all these different services, and the integrations quickly lead to additional complexity. Moreover, each service has its costs. In some cases, headless can be more expensive than a traditional CMS.
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Now you know what headless exactly entails. But how does Drupal work as a headless CMS? Well, headless Drupal — also known as Decoupled Drupal — uses Drupal as the backend repository for content. The frontend is built in different technologies (usually JavaScript or PHP) and communicates with Drupal via an API.
There are several reasons why Drupal is a popular choice for headless:
It's easy to distribute content through Drupal to websites, mobile apps, IoT devices, kiosk displays, etc.
Drupal is a solid tool for content creation and data storage, yet can be easily paired with a frontend technology that provides an elegant UX
Drupal has fantastic out-of-the-box functionality and a strong focus on APIs
Drupal experts are hard to find (although we have over 130 at iO). Therefore, it is a good idea to have the frontend done by a separate team that specialises in a different technology.