December 2018 Summaries

Sanity.io experienced significant growth in 2018, expanding from a few hundred projects to over 6,000, and fostering a community of more than 400 active Slack members. The year saw several key updates, including the Delightful Studio upgrade, which enhanced the mobile-first editing environment to be more scalable and accessible, and the introduction of a new pricing model that eliminates hard limits, providing a pay-as-you-go option. Notable features released include Structure Builder for customizable workflows, field validation methods, and first-class video support through a partnership with Mux. The query language GROQ received new capabilities and detailed documentation, and the editor for Portable Text was revised for greater extensibility and customization. The community contributed innovative projects and tools, highlighting the flexibility and adaptability of Sanity's platform, with plans for further enhancements in 2019.

Blogging serves as a multifaceted tool for Sanity, allowing the company to establish expertise, promote product features, and provide tutorials that integrate their technology with popular frameworks. Through guest posts on reputable platforms like Smashing Magazine and CSS-Tricks, Sanity aims to build a voice of authority despite limited direct traffic and conversions. The blog also covers product functionalities and offers tutorials, such as creating a blog with Next.js, to cater to a developer audience. Content is initially drafted in markdown editors but is eventually polished in Sanity’s editor, contributing to the product's quality assurance process. Posts are published on Sanity's own domain to optimize SEO and are syndicated to platforms like dev.to and Medium, ensuring proper attribution through canonical URLs. Social media and peer reviews play significant roles in refining and disseminating content. Ultimately, blogging goes beyond traditional marketing, serving as an insightful reflection on the evolving digital landscape and the role of Sanity in facilitating efficient workflows for interdisciplinary teams.

Jemmima Knight has joined Sanity.io as an Engineering Manager, bringing her expertise to enhance the company's growth and development processes. Previously, she contributed to Codec, a British AI start-up, where she worked with Scala and React.js developers to create machine learning algorithms for major brands like Pfizer, Unilever, and Nespresso. Her career also includes experience at American Express, where she was involved with projects, including a blockchain payment collaboration with Ripple. Jemmima holds a degree in physics with philosophy from The University of Manchester, specializing in nuclear physics, and a master's in intelligent systems with a focus on machine learning. In her personal time, she promotes computing education through after-school clubs and enjoys outdoor activities such as hiking, skiing, and climbing. She is relocating from London to Oslo and will begin her new role in February 2019.

WordPress 5.0 introduced the Gutenberg rich text editor, which sparked interest and debate due to its promise of customizability, particularly in creating custom content blocks. The article on Smashing Magazine highlights how developers can recreate a testimonial slider using Sanity, a headless CMS, contrasting its flexibility with WordPress's traditional template system. Sanity allows for rapid project initiation and real-time content synchronization by defining content models, such as a testimonial slider, which comprises author, image, content, and source link fields. Unlike WordPress, which outputs content as HTML, Sanity utilizes Portable Text, enabling content portability across various markups and facilitating custom editorial experiences. The tutorial emphasizes the ease of integrating Sanity with frontend frameworks like Vue or React, offering a more versatile approach to managing and presenting content compared to WordPress's Gutenberg.