Hi all,
I’m wondering if Webflow is considered a “headless” CMS. I could see that it does provide API to query CMS data, should that be enough to be regarded as a headless CMS?
Thank you.
Technically no.
A “headless” CMS is a standalone system which does not have a presentation layer. Webflow also has a presentation layer- and its CMS was designed primarily to support its websites and publishing. They’re bound together. You can’t have a Webflow CMS without having a Webflow website.
But, those are mostly lexical semantics.
Let’s look at some of the things a headless CMS would focus on, which are not central to Webflow’s current CMS.
- More robust content storage, like high-resolution photos and video
- Automatic content rendering and translation for multiple outputs
- Triggers and automation to allow customizable publishing workflows
- Workflow and publishing controls, e.g. Dee writes the article, Sean proofreads them, Jing does artwork and indexing, and then Sharon approves for publishing.
- Ability to feed multiple systems at once, automatically.
- Support for segregated content teams and guest author accounts.
- Virtually zero limits on item quantities.
- Ability to swap out websites, tools and systems around the CMS, without ever needing to change the CMS itself.
- Complete independence of external systems. Webflow’s CMS is part of the website. If you restore your website from an old backup, you are reverting you CMS too.
- Versioning, like Google Docs, where you can always see the history of a piece of work and who touched it.
From a practical standpoint, Webflow’s CMS is very website focused. It’s not designed to handle large images, auto, large video hosting, and so on. But it can do a lot.
For a small business, it might suffice as your main content store for e.g. press releases, blog articles, product catalog, and so on.
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