Astro CMS for Visual Editing: Getting Started with CloudCannon

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CloudCannon is the CMS for devs building static sites who need a user-friendly experience for clients or in-house editors, but who won’t sacrifice good DX during development either. And with their brand new integration with Astro, CloudCannon is the perfect choice for developers, agencies, or enterprises who love Astro but also want something that’s easy to set up and share with clients or in-house editors. You can have Astro DX and an easy-to-use CMS with CloudCannon!
Get started on CloudCannon with a free trial: app.cloudcannon.com/register?...
NOTICE: CloudCannon sponsored this video, but all the content, thoughts, and opinions in this video are my own.
🔗 Key Links 🔗
- GitHub: github.com/coding-in-public/a...
- CloudCannon Astro Overview: cloudcannon.com/astro-cms/
- Astro and CloudCannon guide: cloudcannon.com/documentation...
- Astro and Bookshop guide: cloudcannon.com/documentation...
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📹 Related Videos 📹
- Astro Blog series: • Astro Blog Course - Fu...
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⏲️ Timestamps ⏲️
0:00 Introduction
1:32 Overview
5:11 Import an Existing Astro Site
27:08 Adding Bookshop Components
56:38 Exploring the Demo Website
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🎨 VSCode Theming
- Font: Cascadia Code: github.com/microsoft/cascadia...
- Theme: marketplace.visualstudio.com/...
- Icons: marketplace.visualstudio.com/...
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🌐 Connect With Me 🌐
- Website: codinginpublic.dev
- Blog: chrispennington.blog
- Twitter: / cpenned
- Patreon: / coding_in_public
- Buy Me a Coffee: www.buymeacoffee.com/chrispen...

[@demystifyingdev]

I'm starting a new project with Astro, been watching your other videos and getting back up to speed in Astro in the last few days, was wondering what to do about designers, clients and non-tech team workers... now you come along with just what I was needing, except it helps me on all fronts... didn't know Bookshop existed, for example, a single and visual source of truth for components... extremely useful video!!

[@CodinginPublic]

So glad you enjoyed it!

[@unity_12]

great video , thank you❤‍🔥❤‍🔥❤‍🔥❤‍🔥❤‍🔥

[@CodinginPublic]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@alisherzaitov]

Just on time! Thank you for this video in advance. I am in the process of learning Astro and now choosing a headless self-hosted cms. I’ve chose Directus and now trying to connect it with Astro, but there no many guides (or better say there is no)

[@CodinginPublic]

Best of luck! CloudCannon could definitely work for you if you have multiple sites you’re managing.

[@DanteMishima]

Awesome! I got to do an article for Cloudcannon sometime ago

[@CodinginPublic]

Cool!

[@ElNicopewpew]

Hope they grow big, so that they can offer a free tier like sanity. Great video!

[@CodinginPublic]

There actually is a free tier! I don’t remember all the details but after the trial you move to a free tier. It’s really meant for teams with multiple sites, but I still think the free tier may give you want you want for a single site?

[@jamesryan5392]

Does this work if your site is SSR?

[@cruzeirocrivellari]

It is possible to make a tutorial about use Astro with free cms for a personal blog?

[@CodinginPublic]

Yes, plans for one of those here for personal sites.

[@chrizzzly_hh]

Really great! Was searching for a headless cms that is easily integrated for some static pages for family & friends. If the pricing is right, this might be the way to go since it doesn't look too bloated!

[@CodinginPublic]

Great! Yeah, it’s ideal for several sites since you can spread out that cost.

[@DavidSmith-bd2fd]

Does CloudCannon support Interactive Components? Or will the islands Architecture and partial hydration in Astro still work if you are using CloudCannon?

[@CodinginPublic]

Yes, it should!

[@unity_12]

Chris, hi! will there be a video on decap cms? for me, he is very interested in the usual headless CMS in the way that he makes requests to our git and stores everything there.

[@CodinginPublic]

I'll look into it. No promises :)

[@neontuts5637]

It's a perfect and easy to setup CMS for Astro. Thanks for sharing Chris. But the git commit messages made by CloudCannon are not relevant to what changes are made. Is there a way to change it?

[@CodinginPublic]

Glad it was helpful! I don't think there is a way to customize those commit messages? Because it typically commits after every file change, I'm wondering if they could just mark the file that was changed in the commit message? Perhaps AI or something will help them create better messages? I'd check into their docs because there may be a way to change the messages, but I don't know of any now.

[@neontuts5637]

@@CodinginPublic Thanks! It's a good feature to be added to this tool.

[@user-fl3ig7iv4d]

Hi - do you know how to setup an input so the user can upload multiple images?

[@CodinginPublic]

Not off hand, and looking at these docs just shows one input to my quick scan: cloudcannon.com/documentation/articles/using-upload-inputs-to-edit-your-data/ It may be worth reaching out to support; they're fairly quick to respond.

[@user-fl3ig7iv4d]

Thanks. I'm wondering how I can allow users to upload images through a Content Management System (CMS) and have them hidden initially. My layout features a carousel where additional images become visible when the user clicks the "Next" or "Previous" buttons.

[@moneyfr]

Could you show how handle markdoc files?

[@CodinginPublic]

Markdoc is still being worked on (that’s my understanding), but they do have support for mdx.

[@hellokooa]

Looks promising but it says that for 45$ you have up to 3 users. So does that if you have 5 clients, only 2 of them have access to the CMS since you as the developer also need a license?

[@CodinginPublic]

My understanding is that it's 3 users per site? But I may be misunderstanding? I'd check with the team.

[@99secure11]

We need a self-hosted alternative for this: It's not hard to make.

[@riklaunim]

What I'm thinking about is a local raw web "editor" that has a plain editor on one side and preview of the dev server on the other side. That way I can write an article with the help of Grammarly in the browser and also implement some helpers like "upload" image puts it in the specific folder and returns pre-filled specific tag (thumbnail + link) I'm using).

[@CodinginPublic]

Sounds like you’ve got building your own custom cms in your future :)

[@riklaunim]

@@CodinginPublic not really a CMS, more like file editor.

[@Oggy-WanKenobi]

Thanks, one qq though - what's lacking in ghost that CloudCannon provides? Ghost seems like a more mature product and is cheaper too for most use cases

[@CodinginPublic]

Hmm…I haven't really used Ghost, so not sure :)

[@TytusDubel]

what are the cost?

[@CodinginPublic]

It depends on what level you need, but for an agency or developer maintaining multiple sites, it’s more than reasonable from my perspective. It probably wouldn’t be worth it for a single site though.

[@phucnguyen0110]

I'll stamp my comment here for a later watch :D

[@CodinginPublic]

Hope you enjoy it!

[@Zale370]

40$ a month? Way too expensive!

[@CodinginPublic]

It doesn’t make sense for a single site, but for agencies or devs managing multiple sites, it’s a pretty easy cost to split and pass along to clients. Again, the CMS is really for people developing multiple sites. And that’s what they’re targeting in pricing. I have several clients I maintain and wish I would have had it all in CC. 40 is pretty easy to split across 5-6 clients each month.

[@dimitmoto1716]

​@@CodinginPublicWhich free option for cms do you suggest? I have a client who wants a blog and he doesn't know coding, so he need so cms to create new posts, or to modify his posts. I only know netlify cms as free option...

[@dariuspopa2325]

@@dimitmoto1716try out sanity cms

[@eminaliyev4953]

​@@dimitmoto1716Contentful

[@BabaHamoudy]

Looks like they just bumped it up to $45

[@JacquesvanWyk]

too expensive, its a shame looks promising

[@CodinginPublic]

It’s not for single sites in my opinion. But if you’re a developer managing multiple client sites, it’s a pretty easy cost to pass along. So it’s definitely meant for agencies or devs managing multiple sites.

[@djmtype]

Please do a video on self-hosting Tina with Astro. @CodinginPublic

[@CodinginPublic]

Haven’t heard of Tina. I’ll check it out. Thanks!

[@anasouardini]

🧠 + 💣 = CloudCannon. [edit] my bad, it so expensive.

[@CodinginPublic]

lol yeah, it’s meant for agencies or devs with multiple clients (which is where I’ve found it helpful). But it’s expensive if it’s just for a personal site.