Headless CMS: It’s More Than Just the Back End

Pantheon Co-Founder Josh Koenig has been discussing the potential of Headless CMS for the better part of the last decade. He admitted he got some things wrong about it. Here’s the scoop.

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After presenting at a San Francisco meetup of Drupal Users on Headless CMS eight years ago, Pantheon Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer Josh Koenig shares what he initially got wrong about this important trend in this Forbes article. We’ll break down the highlights below. 

“The past decade has seen a sea of change in how software interfaces are built — a trend that's already driving the next generation of the web… The problem is that I was focused on the CMS in the first place, instead of the front end. We missed the forest for the trees, but now it’s time to lift up our eyes. .”

- Josh Koenig, Pantheon Co-Founder

One area that Koenig glanced over while initially talking about Headless CMS was that user experiences and web experiences are extremely important. Just think about your current workflow. It likely consists of streaming music (or news), typing up notes on a Google Doc, and answering a few Slack messages as you handle larger projects and various tasks throughout the day. 

Regardless of what you’re working on, these services you rely on are likely rendered through HTML, CSS, and JavaScript — inextricably linked to the open web. In short, the web is the universal, open language of user experience (UX), and that user experience is absolutely vital. 

To read more about why Headless CMS is more than just the back end, check out this Forbes piece by Koenig. If you are considering Decoupled architecture for your business, here’s what Pantheon offers.