Tech


<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="585" src="https://craftedup.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/path-to-headless-1024x585.png" alt="" class="wp-image-112296" srcset="https://craftedup.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/path-to-headless-1024x585.png 1024w, https://craftedup.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/path-to-headless-300x171.png 300w, https://craftedup.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/path-to-headless-768x439.png 768w, https://craftedup.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/path-to-headless-1536x878.png 1536w, https://craftedup.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/path-to-headless.png 1792w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Brief overview of architectural evolution in software</h2>



<p>Software architecture has evolved over time to address the challenges of increasing complexity, scale, and agility. Traditional monolithic architectures are well-suited for small, simple systems, but they struggle to meet the demands of modern applications.</p>



<p>Headless architectures are a newer approach that decouples the backend and frontend layers of an application. This decoupling offers a number of benefits, including increased flexibility, scalability, and maintainability. But nothing is free, headless also adds complexity and requires the right team to implement.</p>



<p><strong>Traditional (Monolithic) Architecture:</strong> A monolithic architecture is a software design approach where all components of the application are tightly coupled and packaged together as a single unit. This includes the backend, frontend, and database.</p>



<p>Key characteristics:</p>



<ul>
<li>Tightly coupled: All components of the application are interdependent and cannot be easily separated or replaced.</li>



<li>All-in-one codebase: The entire application is contained in a single codebase. This can make it simpler at first but more difficult to manage and maintain the codebase as the application grows.</li>



<li>Scaling and deployment concerns: Scaling and deploying a monolithic application can be challenging, as it requires updating and deploying the entire application at once.</li>
</ul>



<p>Traditional monolithic architectures are well-suited for small, simple systems or for businesses that fit well into existing solutions.&nbsp;</p>



<p><strong>Headless Architecture</strong>: A headless architecture is a software design approach where the backend and frontend layers of the application are decoupled. This means that the frontend can be built using any technology stack, and it can be deployed on any device.</p>



<p>Key characteristics:</p>



<ul>
<li>Decoupled backend and frontend: The backend and frontend layers of the application are independent of each other. This allows developers to choose the best technologies and tools for each layer, and it makes the application more flexible and scalable.</li>



<li>API-driven interaction: The backend and frontend layers of the application communicate with each other through APIs. This makes it easy to integrate the application with other systems and services.</li>



<li>Frontend flexibility: The frontend layer of a headless application can be built using any technology stack. This gives developers the freedom to choose the tools and frameworks that they are most comfortable with.</li>
</ul>



<p>Headless architectures are well-suited for complex and scalable applications. They are also ideal for applications that need to be deployed on multiple devices or that need to be integrated with other systems and services.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Comparison Between Traditional and Headless Architectures</h2>



<figure class="wp-block-table"><table><tbody><tr><td>Feature</td><td>Traditional (Monolithic) Architecture</td><td>Headless Architecture</td></tr><tr><td>Development flexibility</td><td>Low</td><td>High</td></tr><tr><td>Scalability</td><td>Limited</td><td>High</td></tr><tr><td>Maintenance &amp; updates</td><td>Challenging</td><td>Easier</td></tr><tr><td>Performance</td><td>Can be highly optimized</td><td>Potential for optimized performance</td></tr><tr><td>Security</td><td>A security breach could expose the entire system</td><td>Decoupled nature may reduce the risk of system-wide breaches</td></tr><tr><td>Development speed</td><td>Initial setup might be quicker</td><td>Initial setup may require more work</td></tr></tbody></table></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Concluding Thoughts</h2>



<p>Choosing the right architecture for a particular project is essential for success. Headless architectures are becoming increasingly popular due to their many benefits, but traditional monolithic architectures can still be a good choice for certain projects.</p>



<p>It is important to consider the long-term implications of architectural choices. Headless architectures can offer more flexibility and scalability in the long run, but they may require more upfront investment.</p>



<p>Going headless has some insane benefits. While the short term pain of migration may hurt, shifting paradigms within your company can bring some powerhouse capabilities to your platform and completely eliminate worries about performance, speed, and scalability. </p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="1024" src="https://craftedup.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/benefits-of-going-headless.png" alt="" class="wp-image-112311" srcset="https://craftedup.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/benefits-of-going-headless.png 1024w, https://craftedup.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/benefits-of-going-headless-300x300.png 300w, https://craftedup.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/benefits-of-going-headless-150x150.png 150w, https://craftedup.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/benefits-of-going-headless-768x768.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Performance</h2>



<p>With the shift to more performance driven architectures built on modern tech stacks, traditional full stack architectures such as WordPress or Squarespace simply can’t keep up. Why? Well, the answer lies in the fundamental architecture differences in traditional content platforms and more modern “headless” or “decoupled” architectures. Check out our article on <a href="https://craftedup.com/blog/why-website-performance-matters/">why website performance matters for</a> a more in depth look.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">The Performance Challenge with Traditional Platforms</h3>



<p>CMS platforms like WordPress, Squarespace or Wix have one fundamental issue: they have to do everything for everyone, all at once. <strong>That means one server or services has an immense amount of responsibilities</strong>, all which are attuned to different competencies:&nbsp;</p>



<ul>
<li>Content architecture and management &#8211; All of your content is stored and updated on the CMS</li>



<li>Content delivery &#8211; Content and Assets are served via queries to the CMS which deliver web page to your users</li>



<li>Caching &amp; Performance &#8211; CMS platforms have their own unique strategies to speed up server response time, most of which involve caching and cache invalidation which is one of the more difficult features to implement on any platform</li>



<li>SEO &#8211; Most platforms, such as WordPress, require third party plugins to assist with and progressively add SEO features and analysis tools</li>



<li>Scripts and third party plugins &#8211; A blessing and a curse, most CMS platforms give users the ability to add integrations via plugins and other means which are inconsistently, and sometimes poorly implemented. This is one of the main, if not the main source of performance issues on tightly coupled CMS platforms like WordPress</li>



<li>Theming and customization &#8211; Both a blessing and a curse, most CMS platforms are tailored for low code or no code users, who have limited technical knowledge, so a great deal of time and effort is spent giving users the ability to customize or preview the look and feel of their site with pre-built themes or visual components. This adds a significant amount of overhead to manage on these platforms.&nbsp;</li>



<li>Legacy baggage and technical debt &#8211; because these platforms have so many users, and have been around so long, they have to maintain backward compatibility. This has provided an opportunity for new technologies to come in their place that do not have to worry about such tech debt. Taking advantage of this freedom, newer platforms have taken a different approach.</li>
</ul>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Headless Performance</h3>



<p>Headless websites are inherently more performant, and easier to maintain that performance in the long term for many reasons. It’s not just the nuance, or having to deal with years of technical debt, or just a better CMS. In fact, for the most part, <strong>it doesn’t matter what CMS you choose if you go headless.</strong> It’s all about the frontend framework you choose to build with.&nbsp;</p>



<p>For example, by utilizing Next.js and connecting it to a headless CMS, you get a ton of built in performance benefits:&nbsp;</p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">Dynamic content statically generated</h4>



<p>With platforms like Next.js and others, you can ensure that your content is always up to date, but with an added benefit &#8211; <strong>your customers never ever have to make a trip to your CMS to retrieve your content. </strong>That leads to a ridiculous decrease in server response time &#8211; which can really hurt a main cause of user frustration and bounces &#8211; perceived load time. When a site isn&#8217;t responding it appears as if it’s not even working at all.&nbsp;</p>



<p><em>Editor’s note: </em>In all our time and experience building websites, this is considered the <em>holy grail </em>of features.</p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">Images: Faster &amp; More Efficient</h4>



<p>If server response time isn’t the culprit of your performance issues, you can almost guarantee that image sizes are. That’s because most marketers don’t optimize or resize their images before they are uploaded into the CMS.&nbsp;</p>



<p>With most headless platforms, there is at least a thought about image level validation. That means, when an image is uploaded, it’s validated to ensure that it’s the proper size and dimensions.</p>



<p>What’s more, platforms like Next.js or others come with Image optimizations that can defer off screen images so they aren’t killing your initial page load times.</p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">Script Management &amp; Load Times</h4>



<p>With modern frontend frameworks, script management is critical. This comes from a world in which the entire application is written in JavaScript. The bigger the application, the larger the size of the site &#8211; and the slower.</p>



<p>That’s why modern frameworks like React, Vue, or Angular have had to mature and implement features such as code splitting and server side components.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Companies can now take advantage of these tools, which have all matured significantly over the years to ensure that the least amount of code is needed to render each page or component on your website or app. And now, with more code pushed to the server, script load times are going way down, and performance is going way up.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Traditional content management systems struggle mightily with this issue, especially when using third party plugins that are script heavy.&nbsp;</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Flexibility &amp; Scalability</h2>



<p>Picture being able to build your website using the same modern technologies you’re using to build out your apps, internal tools, and integrate everything under one roof? Your CTO will love you.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Even if your company isn’t implementing software internally, the flexibility of the decoupled approach has immense benefits:&nbsp;</p>



<ul>
<li>The ability to choose virtually any CMS out there</li>



<li>The ability to allow your development team to pick their own framework</li>



<li>The ability to pull in or push out data from multiple sources, not just your CMS</li>
</ul>



<p>With platform independence, it becomes easier to integrate with third party services. For marketing platforms, this could be products such as HubSpot, Mailchimp or Salesforce. For e-commerce, it could be building a performance powerhouse e-commerce platform that natively integrates with Shopify and Klavio.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Most modern third party platforms all have open APIs, and instead of relying on third party plugins in your CMS that could be outdated or not tailored to your needs, you can simply roll your own.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Omnichannel Reach</h2>



<p>Omnichannel refers to the practice of providing a seamless customer experience across all channels, whether it&#8217;s online, in-store, or on mobile. Headless makes it easy to deliver content and experiences to any channel or device, without having to make changes to the underlying code.</p>



<p>With a headless platform, you can deliver a consistent customer experience across all channels, regardless of how or where customers choose to shop. For example, a customer could start shopping on your website, add items to their cart, and then switch to their mobile app to complete the purchase. With a headless platform, their cart and progress will be synced across both devices, so they can have a seamless shopping experience.</p>



<p>Here are some of the specific benefits of using headless commerce to achieve omnichannel reach:</p>



<ul>
<li>Deliver a consistent customer experience across all channels. With a headless platform, you can manage all of your content and commerce functionality in one place. This makes it easy to ensure that your customers have the same experience, regardless of which channel they&#8217;re using.</li>



<li>Personalize the customer experience for each channel. Headless commerce gives you the flexibility to personalize the customer experience for each channel. For example, you could display different product recommendations on your website than you do in your mobile app.</li>



<li>Reach new customers on new channels. As new channels emerge, you can easily add support for them with a headless platform. For example, you could add support for voice commerce or chat commerce without having to make major changes to your underlying platform.</li>
</ul>



<p>By decoupling the front-end presentation layer from the back-end commerce platform, headless commerce gives you the flexibility to deliver a consistent and personalized customer experience across all channels and devices.</p>



<p>Here are some examples of how businesses are using headless commerce to achieve omnichannel reach:</p>



<ul>
<li>Starbucks uses headless commerce to deliver a consistent customer experience across its website, mobile app, and in-store kiosks. Customers can order drinks and food, pay for their orders, and track their order status from any channel.</li>



<li>Nike uses headless commerce to deliver a personalized customer experience across its website, mobile app, and physical stores. Nike uses customer data to recommend products, display personalized content, and offer exclusive promotions.</li>



<li>Walmart uses headless commerce to deliver a seamless shopping experience across its website, mobile app, and physical stores. Walmart customers can pick up items they ordered online at their local store, or they can have items delivered to their home.</li>
</ul>



<p>With headless commerce, you can deliver a consistent and personalized customer experience across all channels and devices, which can lead to increased customer satisfaction and loyalty.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Security</h2>



<p>Security is a top priority for any business, especially those that operate in the e-commerce space. Headless can offer a number of security benefits, including:</p>



<ul>
<li>Reduced attack surface. Headless decouples the front-end presentation layer from the back-end commerce platform. This means that if there is a security vulnerability in the front-end, it is less likely to impact the back-end, where sensitive customer data is stored.</li>



<li>Improved API security. Headless relies on APIs to communicate between the front-end and back-end systems. By implementing best practices for API security, businesses can reduce the risk of unauthorized access to their data.</li>



<li>Greater control over security updates. Businesses can deploy security updates to the front-end and back-end systems independently. This gives businesses more flexibility and control over their security posture.</li>
</ul>



<p>Here are some specific examples of how businesses can improve their security with headless commerce:</p>



<ul>
<li>Use API gateways. API gateways provide a single point of entry for all API traffic. This makes it easier to implement security measures, such as authentication, authorization, and rate limiting.</li>



<li>Use encryption. Businesses should encrypt all sensitive data, both at rest and in transit. This will help to protect data from unauthorized access, even if it is compromised.</li>



<li>Keep software up to date. Businesses should regularly update all of their software, including the front-end and back-end systems, as well as any third-party software that they use. This will help to patch any known security vulnerabilities.</li>
</ul>



<p>Overall, headless can offer a number of security benefits for businesses. By implementing best practices for API security and keeping their software up to date, businesses can reduce the risk of data breaches and other security incidents.</p>


Contents

Is your business
ready for structured content?

Traditional (Monolithic) vs. Headless Architectures

Contents

Is your business ready for structured content?

Traditional (Monolithic) vs. Headless Architectures

Is your business
ready for structured content?