While a decade ago, most internet users would access the content online only through their website, increasingly they are accessing the content through various gadgets and formats. While businesses continue to have a website, which they update regularly, a large number of people are accessing the internet mainly using their smartphone and using apps. Similarly people use wearable devices like watches, and access the online content they require. The content is also used for generating newsletters which are emailed, sending sms alerts to visitors on the mailing or sms list.
Typically since the same content was being used for the website, apps, newsletters, the content would be copy pasted, which increases the effort required, and also may result in errors. To overcome this problem in conventional content management system (CMS) , increasingly software companies are developing a headless cms, which only has a database which forms the back-end for storing all the data and an API which can be used for distributing the data to the website, app , newsletter or other user interfaces as required. The cms is called headless since it does not include the front-end interface which conventional cmses have.
A conventional CMS will include HTML, CSS files for the front end, and database files for the back-end,which are stored in the same web host. While the content for this cms will displayed on the website, it is difficult to reuse the content, especially if the content is regularly updated, for example for sports, entertainment news, online stores. So increasingly businesses are switching to a headless CMS, where the databases with the content are separate and can be updated independently. The API is used to distribute the same content to multiple applications as required, and the front end for these applications can be developed independently.
One of the main benefits of using a headless cms is that there is far more flexibility especially for the front-end. Most of the conventional cmses have a front end and the user cannot change many of its features. Since the headless cms does not have a front-end, the developer is free to design his own front-end considering the user requirement, so the websites which use a headless cms will look unique. In conventional cmses, hackers use the front-end to hack the database, since the same front-end is used for a large number of websites,but this problem is not faced for headless cmses making them more secure. Additionally the headless cms can be used with different devices, languages, technologies and platforms.
