Reconciling Editor Experience and Developer Experience in the CMS

Reusable components are fantastic for building robust, code-efficient front-ends. Equally powerful is headless content management, which separates content editing from the front-end presentation. This allows for flexible content structuring and delivery to any API-consuming front-end. This combination is a cornerstone of the Jamstack architecture.

However, aligning the component-based front-end with the headless CMS experience can be challenging. While connecting them isn't inherently difficult, creating a reusable, consistent component system that mirrors the CMS editor's experience requires careful consideration. The ideal scenario is seamless content creation and predictable component structuring.

Bridging the Gap Between CMS and Front-End Components

A simple button component illustrates this complexity. In React, a button might have to (link destination) and children (button text) properties. For content editors, these property names are less intuitive.

To address this, we explore several approaches:

Matching CMS Fields to Component Properties

Directly mapping CMS fields (to and children) to component properties often fails. Editors find these terms confusing. Using more user-friendly labels like "Label" and "URL" in the CMS improves usability but creates a mismatch with the code.

Masking Attributes

Headless CMSs often allow labeling fields differently from their API names. We could use "Label" and "URL" in the CMS, but "children" and "to" in the code. However, this adds debugging complexity, obscuring the relationship between CMS labels and code properties.

Modifying Component Properties

Adapting component properties to match CMS field names seems simple, but it can limit flexibility and lead to inconsistencies. Using label and url works for CMS data, but adding features (like icons) requires additional logic or properties, potentially undermining the component's design.

The Transformer Solution

The optimal solution involves separating editor and developer experiences. Design the CMS for editor ease-of-use and the codebase for developer efficiency. Since direct parity is unlikely, we introduce transformers.

Transformers are utilities that convert CMS data into a format easily consumed by front-end components, regardless of framework. Three implementation approaches exist:

1. Component-Level Transformers

Place transformers alongside their corresponding components. This keeps related files together. An index.js file acts as a controller, importing and exporting the component and its transformer. The transformer modifies properties before rendering.

For our button:

// index.js
import React from "react";
import Component from "./component";
import transform from "./transformer";

const Button = (props) => <component></component>;

export default Button;

// transformer.js
export default (input) => ({
  ...input,
  children: input.children || input.label,
  to: input.to || input.url,
});

// component.js
const Button = ({ children, to }) => <a href="%7Bto%7D">{children}</a>;

This approach is simple and keeps logic localized, but it can lead to many files.

2. Top-of-Funnel Transformation

Transform data at the point where it's initially fetched into the application. This reduces browser workload, improving performance. However, it significantly increases complexity, especially with large, intricate data structures. Testing becomes more challenging.

3. Dedicated Transformation Engine

Create a separate application to handle all transformations. This is the most complex but offers reusability across multiple projects. It adds overhead but provides a centralized, maintainable solution.

Start with component-level transformers and progress to more complex approaches as needed. The key is to create an enjoyable and efficient experience for both editors and developers.

The above is the detailed content of Reconciling Editor Experience and Developer Experience in the CMS. For more information, please follow other related articles on the PHP Chinese website!