Sean Lamacraft from Distinction, UK based digital agency, presents on Kentico Roadshow in London their first experience of developing a website with a headless content management system. See how Kentico Cloud worked for them, what the pros and cons are, and where they see the future of using this tool.

1. Website
development using a
Headless CMS
Sean Lamacraft
Head of Technical Services

2.  What is a Headless CMS
 The Pros and Cons
 Kentico Cloud
 How we used it and how it affected us
 Key take a ways
 Q & A
The plan:

3. What is a Headless
CMS?

4. Lets not tie our data to any one
way of doing things.
“
”

5.  A way to store data
 A user interface to administer the
stored data (CRUD UI)
 A way (or ways) to display the data
A “Regular”
CMS gives us 3
things

6.  A way to store data
 A user interface for administration
 An API to retrieve the stored data
A “Headless”
CMS gives us 3
things
UI
API
Database
Whatever.

7.  Gives developers flexibility to innovate
 Refresh design without having to re-integrate
 Simple user content model
 Content via Webservice API
 Speed
 Managed CMS – No hot fixes, no upgrades.
 Agile Development model – No bottlenecks
 .
The Pros

8.  No control over the functionality.
 If it breaks, you can’t fix it.
 Much simpler model with limited functionality (at the moment)
 .
The Cons

9. Kentico Cloud is NOT the
same as CMS/EMS!
Nope. Its not.

10. The Kentico cloud suite consists of
3 parts:
 Kentico Draft
 Kentico Deliver
 Kentico Engage
 .
Kentico Cloud

11.  Our first foray into Kentico Cloud
 Required a new way of thinking and
planning.
Family
Business
Awards

12. Typical Project Plan

13. New Project Plan

14.  Based on the wire frame, we needed
to break the content up into logical
sections.
 Each section is created as a Content
Type in Kentico Draft.
 Access given to the client for
content population.
Planning page
types from the
wireframes

15.  You have options!
 We used Kentico Cloud Delivery
SDK
(https://www.nuget.org/packages/K
enticoCloud.Delivery)
 Boilerplate now available
(https://github.com/Kentico/cloud-
boilerplate-net)
Developing the
site using
Kentico Deliver

16.  Scaffolding front end code quickly and efficiently.
 Clean markup with full control over styling and accessibility.
 Performance benefits to end user from a UX perspective. Full control over script
injection and optimising delivery of content.
 Ability to create pattern libraries as a team.
 Clear line between front/back end (if desired). Razor syntax is the only grey area..
Kentico Cloud – A Front
End view

17.  Support is great
 Happier devs that don’t have to use webform.
 Less time to upskill developers compared to CMS/EMS
 End user simplicity and training
 Less dependency on backend developers
 .
Kentico Cloud - The Pros

18.  Content only. Not nearly as many features as CMS/EMS
 Basic functionality requires developers – such as creating new sections.
 Change in approach to project required.
 .
Kentico Cloud - The Cons

19. Currently only
suitable for small
brochure sites
Key take away

20. Cloud is very
different to
CMS/EMS
Key take away

21. Much more
flexibility with skill
sets and technology
Key take away

22. Much quicker
development
process with fewer
bottlenecks
Key take away

23. Questions
Answers
and

24. Thank you!
Sean Lamacraft
Head of Technical Services
sean.lamacraft@distinction.co.uk
Sean Lamacraft
@sean_lamacraft