The rise of decoupled CMS is a defining milestone for the evolution of web development. This modern approach can strengthen developer velocity and empower teams to build modern, performant sites with rich user experiences.
However, it also carries “hidden” costs and issues if not properly evaluated. Most projects teams are not aware of all the options they have available, or the pros/cons of each. In this webinar, we will explore this topic more fully.
Join Third & Grove’s Director of Engineering, Matt Davis, and Acquia’s Solutions Architect Team Lead, Ron Northcutt, as they share best practices for choosing and implementing decoupled CMS strategies.
By attending this webinar, you’ll learn:
- A clear understanding of decoupled, the complexity/effort of decoupling and the benefits of moving to a decoupled approach
- The best use cases for traditional, decoupled and hybrid approaches
- When it makes sense to go fully decoupled—and when you shouldn’t
- The advantages of hybrid options with Drupal
15. Time to Market
- How long does it take to build a decoupled site
from scratch?
- How long does it take to decouple a Drupal
site?
16. Necessary steps
- Build in-house expertise with JS framework
(React, Angular, VueJS)
- Plan cache strategy for content update timing
- TTL
- Content cache tags
- Cache purge
- DevOps plan for NodeJS
17. Tweaks to Support Decoupling
- Content editorial experience
- Build process
- Release cycles for template changes
- Team processes to support app changes
- Potentially create additional tools for content
creators
19. Decouple when:
You are a true multi-channel business
- Desktop website
- Mobile application(s)
- Digital signage
- Voice interfaces
- Syndication
20. You have a strong front end team
- JS framework expertise
- Developer led decisions
- Desire for app-like experiences
Decouple when:
21. Decouple when:
Different business units have different editorial
workflows
- Potentially have multiple content sources
- Potentially different content models and workflows
- Allow decoupled app to aggregate content
23. Decouple when:
You want bleeding edge, lightning fast
experiences
- Modern JavaScript
- Rich UX
- Amazing performance
24. How would a team’s responsibilities/capabilities
change with a decoupled approach?
– How do the FEs work with the BEs?
– How are releases managed differently from a
people/role perspective?
25. Decoupled tradeoff:
Loss of content creator control
- Content layout control
- Responsive preview
- Meta tag and url overrides
26. Decoupled tradeoff:
You lose powerful site building functionality in the
CMS
- Menu management
- Clean urls through the admin
- Views pages and blocks
37. Hybrid approach:
Use Drupal to manage presentation layer
– Javascript UI components on top of existing
Drupal front end
– Component placement through the admin UI
– Native content display
– Existing personalization integrations
38. Hybrid Example: Corelle.com
– Pink - Decoupled
component
– Blue - CMS
– Green - CMS, pulled
from ecommerce API
– Orange - Optional
Personalization
41. Look at the big picture first
Don’t decide to decouple before figuring out why
– Define the use cases and needs first
Think strategic first (long term goals and future state)
– Consider the tactical implementations as they arise
Don’t make decisions at a technical level only
– Combine decision process with both developers and
content authors