October 2021 Summaries

A quality user experience is essential for a site's success in the long run, and Web Vitals help measure this experience. Google has identified three Core Web Vitals: Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), First Input Delay (FID), and Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS). These metrics quantify a visitor's experience with page loading speed, browser responsiveness, and visual stability. Optimizing these vitals improves the site's SEO performance and user engagement. Google provides various tools to measure and improve Core Web Vitals, including Lighthouse, PageSpeed Insights, Chrome User Experience Report API, and Search Console. Additionally, techniques like caching, preloading resources, compressing data, avoiding layout shifts, and using transform animations can enhance page loading speed and stability. Using a headless CMS like Strapi provides complete control over the app's presentation, allowing for flexibility in tweaking the user experience as necessary. By focusing on Core Web Vitals, developers can create websites that provide an improved user experience, stand out from competitors, and attract positive search engine rankings.

The tutorial provides a comprehensive guide on creating a photo gallery application using Strapi, 11ty, TailwindCSS, and Cloudinary. It begins by introducing Strapi as an open-source headless CMS, which facilitates the creation of custom APIs, and 11ty as a simple static site generator. TailwindCSS is employed for designing the frontend UI, while Cloudinary is used for storing images in the cloud. The guide details the installation and configuration processes for these tools, including setting up a Strapi project, integrating Cloudinary for media storage, and utilizing 11ty for static site generation. It also covers creating a photo collection type in Strapi, setting up user permissions, and structuring the project's file system for 11ty. The tutorial concludes by explaining how to import and display photos from the backend, emphasizing the potential of these technologies to build robust applications beyond just photo galleries.

Strapi Cloud is now generally available, stable, and secure for everyone to use, offering a 14-day free trial. Strapi follows an "open-core" model, where its core product is open-source under the MIT license, allowing it to generate revenue while investing in rapid development of the project. The platform offers role-based access control (RBAC) or granular-access control, custom roles and permissions feature, and performance and scalability guidance. However, Strapi currently lacks multi-tenancy, a key feature that would allow multiple instances of the same application to be deployed on different domains. To overcome this limitation, users can explore workarounds such as API token security or domain-based routing at the proxy layer. Strapi is a leading open-source headless CMS with over 55k GitHub Stars and has been chosen by several large customers, including Toyota, Tesco, and Kyivstar. The platform offers benefits of being open-source and self-hosted, providing full control over the stack and infinite possibilities of customization, while also competing with SaaS solutions that offer ease of deployment for non-technical users.

The text delves into the evolution and significance of headless content management systems (CMS) in mobile development, highlighting their growing preference over traditional "headful" systems due to their flexibility and efficiency. Unlike traditional CMS, which couples databases to specific frontends leading to data silos and outdated templates, headless CMS decouples the backend from the frontend, streamlining development and content delivery across multiple platforms using APIs. This approach aligns with the modern trend toward cloud-based microservices and modular application development, offering a more agile, scalable, and user-friendly solution for managing content. Headless CMS enables faster updates and broader reach by treating content as data, allowing developers to focus on core application functions while maintaining control over content distribution. The text also introduces Strapi as a leading open-source headless CMS based on Node.js, emphasizing its customizability, ease of use, and platform inclusivity, making it a practical choice for teams seeking efficient content management solutions.

Strapi v4 introduces a major release with significant changes, including a new Plugin API, which requires developers to follow a migration guide to upgrade plugins from v3 to v4. This guide provides detailed steps and tools, such as codemods, to automate parts of the migration process by adjusting folder structures, updating imports to scoped packages, and modifying plugin configurations and lifecycle functions. The migration also involves renaming models to content types, updating relational attributes, and restructuring entry files like `strapi-server.js` and `strapi-admin.js`. Developers are encouraged to register plugins with new methods, use React components for icons, and integrate with Strapi's new lifecycle functions, such as `register()` and `bootstrap()`. Additional resources are provided for further customization, including API references and the upcoming Strapi Market, which aims to foster community contributions. The guide also highlights the importance of verifying the updated plugin's functionality before finalizing the migration.

Strapi, a popular headless content management system (CMS), facilitates the creation of REST APIs that can be integrated with any frontend application, such as those built with Nuxt.js. This tutorial guides users through connecting a Strapi backend to a Nuxt frontend using GraphQL, focusing on developing an event application. It involves setting up Strapi, creating custom content types for events and categories, and configuring the API permissions to enable CRUD operations. The tutorial demonstrates creating a Nuxt application that fetches data from Strapi using the GraphQL API, organizing events into categories, and displaying them on a user interface styled with TailwindCSS. It also covers creating dynamic routes for individual event pages and suggests potential enhancements like adding search functionality. Throughout the process, the tutorial highlights the ease with which Strapi allows for multilingual support and seamless integration with JavaScript frameworks, enhancing the flexibility and scalability of web applications.

Daniel Phiri, a Developer Relations professional at Strapi, hosted the concluding webinar in a series focused on APIs and Jamstack, exploring the integral role that APIs play in the Jamstack architecture and strategies for optimizing their use. The interactive session, which lasted an hour, provided insights into why APIs are crucial for advancing web applications and the significance of headless architecture within the API ecosystem. The event attracted 70 registrants, with over 20 attendees actively participating and exchanging more than 45 messages. The webinar is available for viewing online for those who missed it or wish to revisit the discussion. Strapi continues to engage its audience with upcoming webinars and encourages followers to subscribe to their newsletter and Twitch channel.

The Strapi project has been actively engaged with its community, fostering connections and collaboration among its members. A year after introducing the Community Stars program, the initiative has seen significant growth and learning, with a focus on facilitating connections between peers in the community. The program's success can be attributed to its ability to provide value beyond just perks, by creating a platform for members to share knowledge and expertise. The Strapi team has learned valuable lessons from running this program, including the importance of facilitating connections and providing context for community members to engage with one another. The stars selected for this program are skilled individuals who have made significant contributions to the project and its community, and will continue to be a driving force behind its growth and development.

Strapi has evolved from a small Paris-based team into a remote-first organization with 50 employees across seven countries, driven by the values of transparency and care. The company, originally an open-source project, has embraced remote work inspired by companies like GitLab, adapting to different time zones and asynchronous communication while hiring globally. Strapi's commitment to open-source principles is reflected in its decision to make its company handbook public, aiming to enhance transparency, inclusivity, and accountability within its community. The handbook serves as a resource for community members, prospective employees, investors, and partners, providing insight into the company's values, methodologies, and decision-making processes. Strapi continues to expand this resource over time, with the aspiration that it will be as influential as GitLab's handbook has been for them.

Jamstack projects are open-source and use a frontend architecture where web content is pre-rendered and deployed. These sites are cheaper, less intensive to build, and easier to secure than legacy systems. Open-source software allows anyone access to its source code, with different licenses stipulating what can be done with the code. There are two main types of Jamstack open-source projects: static site generators (SSGs) and content management systems (CMSs). SSGs build static web pages by taking templates and incorporating content and data into them, while CMSs manage digital content and provide a backend console where users can enter, modify, and delete content. Many popular SSGs include Hugo and Jekyll, which offer themes, plugins, and integrations to enhance the generated site. Headless CMSs have also become popular, providing a customizable application programming interface (API) that generates an API for each content type created. Strapi is an example of an open-source Headless CMS that offers a user-friendly interface, roles and permissions management, and internationalization. Additionally, many static sites use external APIs to augment their functionality, such as authentication, payments, and search. Open-source APIs like Elastic search and Coral can be self-hosted and connected to static sites. Contributing to open-source Jamstack projects is an amazing learning experience that helps hone technical skills and contributes to useful projects that help many people.

The text explores the differences between traditional and headless content management systems (CMSs), highlighting the advantages of adopting a headless CMS. A headless CMS separates the frontend from the backend, allowing developers to use APIs to deliver content across various platforms such as websites, mobile devices, and emerging technologies like AR and VR. This separation provides developers with the flexibility to choose their preferred tools and frameworks, facilitates omnichannel content delivery, and enhances security by reducing the surface area for attacks. In contrast, traditional CMSs, like WordPress, are monolithic and combine the frontend and backend, leading to constraints in customization, content delivery, and scalability. Headless CMSs offer a more streamlined, distraction-free experience for content editors, allowing them to manage content without concerns about frontend presentation. Additionally, headless CMSs reduce technical debt, allow for easier integration and updates, and support modern web technologies to improve website performance. By adopting a headless CMS, businesses can achieve greater speed, productivity, and adaptability to future digital trends.

Strapi, initially created by Pierre, Aurélien, and Jim in 2015 as a blend of an API-building framework and a CMS, has evolved significantly over the years into a leading Headless CMS. The founders, originally student freelancers, developed Strapi to overcome the limitations of traditional CMS platforms. By 2017, they began working full-time on the project, launching a new version and seeing a steady increase in user adoption. The project gained momentum in 2019 with a $4 million seed round from Accel, introducing innovative features such as Dynamic Zones and Components. In 2020, a $10 million Series A from Index Ventures and the COVID-19 pandemic transitioned Strapi into a fully remote organization and led to the release of the stable version and the Enterprise Edition. By 2021, Strapi focused on expanding its team and preparing for new developments like Strapi v4 and an official plugin Marketplace, while celebrating its community's support and participation through events like StrapiConf and a birthday celebration.