Insights

One CMS,
Multiple Websites

Jan 12, 2024

Through headless architecture and continuous deployment, it's possible to manage multiple websites hosted separately, all from a single content management system (CMS).

Understanding Headless Architecture

Traditionally, a website's backend and frontend tightly integrate and are hosted together on one server.

"Headless" refers to decoupling the frontend. With headless architecture, the backend and frontend can be hosted separately.

In addition to some benefits for developers, this enables a single CMS to provide content for multiple websites.

An Overview of Headless Setup

The backend may consist of modern CMS platforms like Payload, Strapi, and Contentful, designed to be headless from the start.

These options pair well with JavaScript frameworks such as Svelte, Vue, and React for the frontend.

Even traditional platforms like WordPress and Shopify can operate in "headless mode" together with a JavaScript framework.

Understanding Continuous Deployment (CD)

Continuous deployment involves automatically redeploying a website, app, or software after changes to its code and/or content.

This process may include multiple channels, or "pipelines": for example, one going to China, and another for a global website.

Testing is often included to identify and address issues before they reach production.

Exploring Static Site Generation (SSG)

Despite two websites being able to pull data from a single CMS, issues persist.

For instance, although the two websites are hosted separately, one would still need to fetch data from a CMS hosted in a different region.

Static site generation allows the entire website to be pre-built as simple HTML files, removing the need for a live data connection.

Implementation in Practice

  1. A change is made in the CMS: for example, a new blog post is published.
  2. This change triggers a continuous deployment process, with pipelines for each region.
  3. The resulting code from each pipeline is deployed to its regional server.

Benefits

  • Developers can maintain a single codebase, streamlining development efforts.
  • Businesses can update content from a centralized CMS, saving time and ensuring consistency across all websites.
  • Users experience faster loading times tailored to their specific regions.
  • Compliance with regulatory requirements across different regions is made simpler.