May 2019 Summaries

The author, a developer and musician, shares their experience of building an enterprise podcast hosting platform using Contentful as the foundation. The project began in 2008 with a custom PHP codebase, but the author soon realized that traditional content management systems like Drupal or WordPress were not suitable for their needs due to restrictions on programming languages and conventions. They adopted Contentful, which features only the best parts of a CMS, allowing them to build the presentation layer using Ruby and Sinatra. The technology stack has proven to be perfect for their podcast platform, with Sinatra's minimalistic approach and Grunt's JavaScript task runner fitting their preferences. The author is now releasing the entire source code of AuralCandy.Net on GitHub to inspire others to build their own passion projects.

This tutorial explains how to set up automatic backups for a Contentful Space using an AWS Lambda Function and CloudWatch for scheduling. The process involves generating a backup of the space, uploading it to S3, and then storing it in a bucket. A new AWS Lambda function is created with a NodeJS script that collects export options, downloads the backup, saves it as a JSON file locally, uploads it to an S3 Bucket, and executes the backup on a daily basis using CloudWatch. The function uses Environment variables for configuration and IAM Roles for communication with S3. The final solution involves compressing the deployment package, uploading it to the lambda's function code section, testing it, and scheduling it to run daily using CloudWatch.

This post discusses the features and insights gained from a "Practitioner Love" hackathon at Contentful, a content management platform, which aimed to improve customer experience. The event was designed to be a collaborative and focused space where participants could work on projects that addressed real-world problems faced by users of the platform. The key to a successful hackathon lies in careful planning, including setting a clear theme aligned with the company's mission, anticipating component needs, and providing incentives such as prizes or time off regular work duties. A well-planned event can result in tangible successes, and the post shares the strategies used by Contentful to achieve this, including creating a diverse judging panel, encouraging audience participation, and prioritizing viable projects for market release.

The importance of delivering localized content in order to achieve globalization and meet customer expectations was a key topic at Smartling's Global Ready conference, where marketing, technology, and global localization leaders gathered. Effective localization strategy prioritizes cultural nuances and buyer behaviors specific to regions and/or countries to increase engagement, conversions, and loyalty. Technology can help shorten the distance between content creation and deployment, making global localization faster and more efficient. A partnership between Contentful and Smartling integrates their platforms to enable quick and streamlined localization of content. To reach customers in a localized fashion, businesses must adopt a better localization strategy that considers native languages, culture, and local trends. Providing a cohesive experience through content personalization is crucial for success in the global marketplace.