Headless CMS with Gatsby, React and WordPress Technology

The term JAMstack sounds a little strange, especially considering it’s now a
common phrase used around the web. “JAMstack” simply stands for JavaScript, API & Markup.

Overview

Here in this document, we will explain what GatsbyJS is and why your business
should think about adopting it to improve your website performance.

In the current era, users are no longer as patient as they used to be when it
comes to the web. Users now demand fast, responsive web experiences which are
putting pressure on businesses to deliver and a first-class, high-end
experience.

Trying to navigate the plethora of options and then still choose the
correct Technology is a task in its own right. It is vital that we choose the
correct technology moving forward as this allows us to keep up with the fast
changes of the web development space. Choosing a technology that is agile,
scalable and fast is the ultimate priority, that’s why after much research we
use GatsbyJS.

But do I need it?

If you or your organisation has brought up any of the following points then you
should continue reading as there is a strong possibility that the flexibility of
Gatsby can help to solve these:

• You are looking to increase your front-end performance
• You are looking to reduce website build times by a significant amount
• You are looking for a web solution that will have strong Core Web Vitals and subsequently better Google Page speed scores.
• You are looking for a Web Solution that will give your users an enhanced user experience across multiple devices.
• You don’t want to rebuild the entire web solution you currently have but need to deliver a really fast experience for your users.

If any of the above are reasons that resonate with you and your current
situation within your organisation then let us run you through why Gatsby is the
Technology you should adopt to take your Web solution to a new level.

A Trip down memory lane.

Before we deep dive into the nitty-gritty of why you and your organisation
should consider Gatsby Technology, let’s recap on how we got to today’s version
of the web.

Where it all began.

The first edition of the web was just plain old hard coded static HTML files
that were loaded onto a web server. Connections to these were done through
telephone lines and were painfully slow (cue the nostalgic sound of dial-up
internet). Pages these days were simple and not as personalised as what we would see today.

As Technology moved on so did the need to introduce a technology that would make the Web more accessible. Introduce the CMS (Content Management System). The CMS allowed more control and efficiency over content publishing and thus grew the Web to a much wider audience.

The dawn of web applications.

As technology advanced and so did our internet browsers. We started to see
multiple web applications which would run in the browser and source data from
APIs. This new era allowed for smooth page transitions and a much nicer user
experience.

Even though this improved the functionality for users, there will still be some
major drawbacks. Search engines had some difficulty indexing very complicated
websites. These Web applications also required a lot more code to run as they
had more functionality which was becoming standard across multiple applications. This was all well and good to increase the user experience, however, one of the major drawbacks was an increase in page load times.

As the modern web has always been a mobile-first approach, the increase in the
page load times associated with these web applications had a very negative
effect on the overall user experience. As previously mentioned in the current
era, users demand better, faster experiences which often drives businesses to
deliver these and thus change their Technology stack.

Well let us introduce you to Gatsby…

Gatsby and helping businesses deliver a fast, optimal web solution.

With users expecting more and more from their web experience over the years.
Platforms like WordPress which power the majority of the internet, have had to
adapt and allow these experiences to be made accessible for your average users
to publish and create these great user experiences. With it being an easy to use
platform and there being an endless amount of third-party plugins to choose
from, this ease of use does not come without a price.

The addition of too many of these third-party plugins has left organisations
with sub-optimal websites with website speeds very below par due to the bloat
that is often associated with these add-ons. With multiple organisations not
having the luxury of choosing a new platform, Gatsby provides an alternative
solution for decision-makers facing the challenges stated above.

Gatsby can help deliver a solution to create a clean high-speed output for the
future while not having to bear the expense of rebuilding the whole platform.

To summarise Gatsby provides a solution to give the end user a lightning-fast
page speed experience.

Benefits of Gatsby.

How exactly does Gatsby achieve this fast user experience we have been talking
so much about, well here now we will walk you through a few of the main points
and how they translate to a sleek, fast user experience.

• Lightning-fast speeds as a front end solution
• CMS agnostic making it adaptable
• Enhanced and improved security
• A solution that is scalable, stable and improves server performance.

Lightning-fast speeds as a front end solution.

Having a site that has fast optimal performance is vital for users as they can
consume the relevant content quicker than older tech. This also plays a big role
in Search Engine Optimisation as Core Web Vitals are now a large factor in these
rankings.

Your traditional websites score low from a technical standpoint due to numerous factors the main ones are:

1. Too many third-party plugins
2. Multiple, unoptimised assets as well as un-minified scripts
3. Heavily bloated themes which are purchased offering low code solutions. These contain a large number of redundant features and code.
4. Large images which at times are unresponsive.
5. Page builders with complex set-ups.
6. A large number of scripting solutions can often create pages and/or content that become invisible to Google and prevent strong organic ranking. The rendering function which is built into Gatsby allows for content to be indexed correctly thus increasing its search rankings. So the end result is a modern JS interface without the caveat of web crawlers not being able to access it.

**A screenshot of the performance from a Gatsby build for our Development link for review.

CMS agnostic making it adaptable.

A huge advantage for Gatsby and another driving force in using this technology
is that it is platform agnostic. For you or your organisation wanting to
leverage the performance of this technology, Gatsby has the ability to fit in
with a multitude of different platforms.

Gatsby works with these platforms giving them a vastly increased performance
than what would be possible with just the platform alone. To name a few Gatsby
is compatible with most of the popular CMS out there.

Enhanced and improved security.

Many CMS platforms have an increased threat for malicious hackers. In addition
to this initial threat, third party plugins can also lead to vulnerabilities and
security holes.

Hackers are able to run automated scripts at an alarming speed to try and find
vulnerabilities, it is of vital importance to keep your website up to date from
a security standpoint.

Some of the enhanced security features from Gatsby:

• A headless CMS has increased security due to it compiling a website into static files as opposed to the old way of having to run application servers and a database. By serving this way using a headless approach there are fewer points for attack.
• The CMS when using Gatsby has a different URL so malicious hackers have no idea where to find them to try to brute force login. With current solutions, most CMS have a known URL for admin login (wp-admin in a WordPress example)
• DDoS attacks are kept to a minimum when using GAtsby as this technology serves websites from a global CDN this in itself significantly reduces the risk of a DDoS attack.

A solution that is scalable, stable and improves server performance.

Current Web solutions that are being used today are server-rendered sites which
means that the content must render on the server for each page load.

This can be problematic, as we have an increase in visitors to our site we have
an increased load on the server as it tries to serve these files. This often
leads to an increased load time for the user as well as the speed at which we
can develop, an efficiency decrease on both ends.

With Gatsby using react technology underneath it makes it easy to create
reusable components which are easier to maintain and give us added flexibility
with its modular structure.

With current solutions when a plugin or the CMS breaks, a website will break on
the front end making it go down. Gatsby due to the nature of how it works
alleviates this risk.

With Gatsby we have the website prerendered and the users will interact with a
pre-built version of the site. By doing this there is a huge decrease in server
load, making it advantageous to traffic-heavy websites.

Key features summary.

Quite a lot of information to consume there about this great technology. Let’s
summarise and recap why top brands such as Airbnb, Nike (Just Do it Project) &
Impossible foods brand sites are using this Tech stack.

Key features include but are not limited to:

More secure by default due to the way it serves content post build

• Serverless rendering generates static HTML on the build.
• There being no server or Database which is reachable allows for protection against malicious requests, DDOS attacks, or accidental exposure.
• The above makes it ideal to protect infrastructure and user data.

Inbuilt performance under the hood Designed with Accessibility by design and an overall great developer experience which translates into faster dev speed

• Pre Rendering has a huge increase in performance
• In built lazy loading with Gatsby Image
• Optimised code and images built-in
• Tons of community built plugins which are all aimed at increasing performance.

Prebuilt pages, significantly reducing server load and thus increasing page speed.

• Helps to score well for CLS (Cumulative layout shift) and Core Web Vitals
• Improved security due to the pre-rendered nature of delivering the content.

At Saigon Digital, we’re passionate about providing cutting-edge solutions that empower our clients to succeed in the digital landscape. Leveraging the power of Gatsby and WordPress allows us to offer unparalleled flexibility and innovation in our services. By combining the familiar content editing experience of WordPress with the dynamic capabilities of a headless CMS, we ensure that our clients have the tools they need to thrive in an ever-evolving online environment.

With our expertise in this tech stack, we can craft bespoke solutions tailored to each client’s unique needs, whether it’s enhancing website performance, improving SEO rankings, or streamlining content management workflows. Our commitment to staying at the forefront of technological advancements means that we can future-proof our clients’ digital presence, ensuring resilience and adaptability for years to come.

If you’re ready to take your online presence to the next level, our SEO services are here to help. By harnessing the power of Gatsby and WordPress, we can optimize your website for maximum visibility and impact in today’s competitive market. Let us show you why this architecture is not only the present but also the future of digital innovation. Contact us today!