Content Management Systems

Using content management systems with AI to build out dynamic apps

A Content Management System (CMS) is a software application that allows users to create, manage, and modify digital content on websites and web applications, often without requiring in-depth technical knowledge or coding skills through WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editors with drag-and-drop functionality.

CMSes are important for both developers and consumers for several reasons:

1. Simplifies content management: CMSes make it easier for non-technical users to create and manage content on a website, allowing developers to focus on the technical aspects of development and maintenance.

2. Efficient collaboration: A CMS allows multiple users to collaborate on content creation, editing, and management. This enables teams to work together more efficiently and reduces the likelihood of content-related issues, such as outdated or duplicated information.

3. Flexible and scalable: CMSes are often designed to be modular and extensible, allowing developers to add new features and functionality as needed. This makes it easier to scale and adapt the website or web application to changing needs and requirements.

4. Consistency and branding: By providing templates and design elements, a CMS ensures that the visual appearance and user experience of the website or web application remains consistent across all pages and content types.

5. SEO and marketing benefits: Many CMSes include built-in tools and features that help improve search engine optimization (SEO) and support digital marketing efforts, such as metadata management, content optimization, and social media integration.

In summary, a Content Management System streamlines the process of creating and managing digital content, making it accessible to non-technical users while reducing the workload for developers. This leads to better collaboration, more efficient workflows, and a higher quality end product for both the developers and consumers.

From a end-user perspective, the use of CMS systems allows you to dynamically update the content displayed to users without deploying a new version of code. It's an API for how content is rendered on your paages.

To create a Next.js app with a Strapi page response controlling the header, body, and footer, and rendering blog articles fetched from Strapi, follow these steps:

1. Create the Strapi content types for Page, Header, Footer, and BlogPost.

For example, the Page content type could have the following fields:

• Header (relation field with Header content type)

• Body (text field)

• Footer (relation field with Footer content type)

The Header and Footer content types can contain fields for title, logo, and navigation links.

The BlogPost content type can contain fields for title, content, and author.

2. Fetch the data from Strapi using getServerSideProps in Next.js and pass it as props to your page component.

// pages/index.js
import axios from 'axios';

export async function getServerSideProps() {
  // Fetch the page, header, footer, and blog posts data from Strapi
  const [pageRes, blogPostsRes] = await Promise.all([
    axios.get(`${process.env.STRAPI_API_URL}/pages/1`),
    axios.get(`${process.env.STRAPI_API_URL}/blog-posts`)
  ]);

  return {
    props: {
      pageData: pageRes.data,
      blogPosts: blogPostsRes.data
    }
  };
}

export default function Home({ pageData, blogPosts }) {
  // Render the header, body, and footer using the page data
  // Render the blog posts inside the body
}

3. Create Chakra UI components for the header, body, and footer, and render them using the fetched data.

// components/Header.js
import { Box, Heading } from '@chakra-ui/react';

export default function Header({ title, logo }) {
  return (
    <Box bg="blue.500" p={4}>
      <Heading as="h1">{title}</Heading>
    </Box>
  );
}

// components/Footer.js
import { Box, Text } from '@chakra-ui/react';

export default function Footer({ title }) {
  return (
    <Box bg="blue.500" p={4} mt={8}>
      <Text>{title}</Text>
    </Box>
  );
}

// components/BlogPost.js
import { Box, Heading, Text } from '@chakra-ui/react';

export default function BlogPost({ title, content, author }) {
  return (
    <Box p={4} borderWidth={1} borderRadius="md" mb={4}>
      <Heading as="h2" size="md">{title}</Heading>
      <Text mt={2}>{content}</Text>
      <Text mt={4} fontStyle="italic">Author: {author}</Text>
    </Box>
  );
}

4. Render the components in the Home page component.

// pages/index.js
import { Box } from '@chakra-ui/react';
import Header from '../components/Header';
import Footer from '../components/Footer';
import BlogPost from '../components/BlogPost';

export default function Home({ pageData, blogPosts }) {
  return (
    <Box>
      <Header title={pageData.header.title} logo={pageData.header.logo} />
      <Box p={4}>
        {blogPosts.map((post) => (
          <BlogPost
            key={post.id}
            title={post.title}
            content={post.content}
            author={post.author}
          />
        ))}
      </Box>
      <Footer title={pageData.footer.title} />
    </Box>
  );
}

This example demonstrates how to use a Strapi page response to control the header, body, and footer components in a Next.js app with Chakra UI.

5. Configure the Strapi API URL in your Next.js app by adding the STRAPI_API_URL environment variable to your .env.local file:

STRAPI_API_URL=http://localhost:1337

Make sure to replace http://localhost:1337 with the actual URL of your Strapi instance.

6. Create and populate the content types in your Strapi admin panel. Add a Page with a Header and a Footer instance, and create several BlogPost instances.

7. Run your Next.js app and navigate to the homepage. You should see the header, body, and footer components rendered on the page, with the blog posts displayed within the body.

This example shows how you can use Strapi to manage your page layout and content, and then fetch and render that content in a Next.js app using Chakra UI components. By leveraging Strapi as your CMS, you can easily create and manage pages and content, and display them dynamically in your web application.

By leveraging generative AI to create content and structures in your CMS, you can greatly reduce the time and effort required to build and maintain your web applications. This approach can be extended to other content types and components, making it a powerful tool for streamlining web development workflows.