What Is Headless CMS?

A headless CMS is a back-end only content management system (CMS) built from the ground up as a content repository that makes content accessible via a RESTful API for display on any device.

The term “headless” comes from the concept of chopping the “head” (the front end, i.e., the website) of the “body” (the back end, i.e., the content repository).

A headless CMS remains with an interface to add content and a RESTful API (JSON, XML) to deliver content wherever you need it. Due to this approach, a headless CMS does not care about how and where your content gets displayed. A headless CMS has only one focus: storing and delivering structured content.

Why Headless CMS Born?

• The headless CMS concept is one born of the demands of the digital era and a business need to focus on engaging customers with personalized content via multiple channels at all stages of the customer journey.
• As the content in a headless CMS is considered “pure” (because it has no presentation layer attached) just one instance of it can be used for display on any device; website, mobile, tablet, Internet of Things devices, smartwatches, etc.

Why headless CMS over decoupled CMS?

• Headless CMS architecture is rising in popularity in the development world. This model allows breakthrough user experiences, gives developers the great flexibility to innovate, and helps site owners future-proof their builds by allowing them to refresh the design without re-implementing the whole CMS.

Serving content to multiple channels/platforms

• In Today’s world, content is not only be used on the web but also will be shared with other providers, published via APIs and other data feeds.
• It is also used to populate data to mobile apps or other platforms. And of course yes, it too can be accessed via web(www).
• Headless CMS architecture allows for the management of content across all of these channels.
• Centralizing content management and distributing the content in a universal format, your entire platforms can be managed from a single interface.

Headless CMS security under layers

• Security is the top priority as long as CMS is concerned. The most popular CMS in the world right now has a horrendous history in terms of security.
• How does a headless CMS help? Well, simply enough… You can hide it! Headless CMS’s can be hidden in any number of ways since they are separated from the user layers.
• This enables the administrator to rest assured that their system is secure and protected against the millions of anonymous attacks happening each month.

Conclusion

Looking ahead, the headless CMS approach is quickly becoming a crucial component of the new generation of Digital Experience Platforms (DXPs). DXPs go significantly beyond web content management to create rich, engaging experiences for audiences across a multitude of channels. And what WYSIWYG was to the CMS of the 90s, the headless CMS has become for DXPs and future generations of content management.