meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
Syntax - Tasty Web Development Treats

Hasty Treat - What is a Headless CMS?

Syntax - Tasty Web Development Treats

Wes Bos

Tech News, Technology, News

4.9 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 1 July 2019

⏱️ 17 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In this Hasty Treat, Scott and Wes talk about headless CMSs - why to use them, how they work, pros and cons, examples and more! Sentry - Sponsor If you want to know what’s happening with your errors, track them with Sentry. Sentry is open-source error tracking that helps developers monitor and fix crashes in real time. Cut your time on error resolution from five hours to five minutes. It works with any language and integrates with dozens of other services. Syntax listeners can get two months for free by visiting Sentry and using the coupon code “tastytreat”. Show Notes 2:11 - What is a headless CMS? It’s a system or CMS that has no front-end (aka head) Allows you to use front-end specific tech (static generators/front-end frameworks) instead of the back-end to generate pages 4:37 - Some examples Can be used with any type of website that can consume an API WordPress API + Gatsby Hosted Service + React App 7:06 - Why? Separation of concerns - your data is in a single spot, and can be pulled into any app, website, marketing micro site, etc. Keeps ergonomics of WordPress or $CMSHERE, while developers get to use what they like Optimizes for performance with static builds Hide the implementation details and back-end from view 10:19 - Live vs statically-generated website Syntax 120 - Gatsby vs Next 10:55 - How? Connects to API via normal fetch calls/GraphQL/whatever you use Needs to host your back-end either as a service or on a host Needs to host your front-end either on the same server as your back-end or on something specialized like Netlify Links WordPress Sanity.io React Syntax 120 - Gatsby vs Next Netlify GraphQL Cobalt Gatsby.js Drupal Next.js Nginx Tweet us your tasty treats! Scott’s Instagram LevelUpTutorials Instagram Wes’ Instagram Wes’ Twitter Wes’ Facebook Scott’s Twitter Make sure to include @SyntaxFM in your tweets

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Monday, Monday, Monday,

0:02.0

Open wide Dev fans.

0:04.0

Get ready to stuff your face

0:06.0

with JavaScript, CSS, node modules, barbecue tips,

0:09.0

get workflows,

0:10.0

break dancing, soft skills, web development,

0:12.0

the hastiest, the craziest, the craziest development the hastiest the craziest the tastiest web development treats coming in hot here is

0:18.1

Wes Barracuda bars and Scott El Toroloko Tolinsky.

0:25.0

Welcome to Syntax in this Monday,

0:29.0

hasty treat we're going to be talking all about.

0:31.6

What is a headless CMS? Because this is one of those things that you might think, well, I know what a headless CMS is. Or maybe you're like, I've heard this thing over and over and over again,

0:42.6

and I really just don't get what it is or why

0:44.8

you'd want to use it.

0:45.8

So we're going to go over what does it mean?

0:48.0

We're going to give you some examples.

0:49.3

We're going to talk a little bit about the why you might want to use it.

0:51.9

We're going to be talking about static generation

0:54.0

versus live sites and how we can even do a headless site at all. My name is Scott Flensky. I'm a developer from

1:00.6

Denver, Colorado. With me as always is Wes Boss.

1:03.3

Hey everybody.

1:04.3

Hey, Wes, this episode is sponsored by Century.

1:06.9

Now Century is a long time sponsor of Syntax

...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Wes Bos, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Wes Bos and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.

Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.