March 2019 Summaries

JAMstack represents a modern approach to web development focused on client-side JavaScript, reusable APIs, and prebuilt Markup, offering a streamlined developer experience, enhanced performance, reduced costs, and improved scalability. It frees frontend developers from monolithic architectures, resulting in a more enjoyable work environment. Various JavaScript frameworks such as React, Vue, and Angular can be used to create static sites, often with the help of static site generators like Gatsby, Next.js, Nuxt.js, and Gridsome. The JAMstack approach also encourages using headless CMSs, with Strapi being a notable open-source option for managing content via APIs. Platforms for hosting static sites are cost-effective, with many offering free options. The JAMstack community encourages sharing knowledge and resources to help developers adopt this architecture, exemplified by guides and tutorials that explore different tools and techniques for building and deploying JAMstack applications.

The latest release of Strapi 3.0.0-alpha.25 focuses on improving user onboarding by introducing a help box in the admin panel with video tutorials to guide new users through their first steps. The update also includes a Quick Start Guide for intermediate developers and a detailed tutorial for those who prefer a step-by-step approach. Tens of bugs have been fixed, including fixes for Bookshelf and SQLite, and many other enhancements have been added. The release is available through a single command line command and users are encouraged to migrate from previous versions. Additionally, Strapi is still hiring and new features and video tutorials are being developed.

Strapi recently launched its first "Coffee Talk," a Q&A session featuring Aurélien Georget, the company's Chief Product Officer, who discussed various aspects of Strapi's development, vision, and future plans. Georget emphasized Strapi's focus on developer and user experience, noting ongoing efforts to refine the codebase and administration panel. He highlighted the importance of community feedback in shaping Strapi's roadmap, which includes rebuilding the plugin framework and introducing features like repeatable fields and a translation plugin. Georget compared Strapi's open-source, customizable nature to Storyblok's cloud-based solution, emphasizing the former's ownership advantages. He addressed questions on GraphQL versus REST, Windows support, and Strapi's use cases, mentioning notable users like IBM and Asos. Despite being open-source, Strapi aims to monetize through premium plugins and potentially offering support and hosting services in the future. Georget also touched on the potential for a SaaS version and affirmed the goal to release a stable version of Strapi 3 later this year.