Headless CMS explained in 2 minutes

Watch Simen Svale, CTO and Founder at Sanity, providing a precise explanation of a Headless CMS, using a gnarly metaphor.
What is a Headless CMS?
A headless CMS is a content management system that provides a way to author content, but instead of web page rendering, it provides the content as data over an API.
A headless CMS works by giving editors an interface for managing content while providing APIs for developers to build applications on top off. Most headless CMSes are offered as a Software as a Service, meaning that your editors will have to log into a web application and that the APIs are hosted in a cloud-based backend. Some headless CMSes will let you host the whole solution on your own server and database (requiring you to do your own scaling and operations). With Sanity you can host the customizable editor interface yourself while getting the advantages of the hosted real-time backend - no-ops and effortless scaling.
To learn more about how Headless CMS work, see www.sanity.io/headless-cms or go to www.sanity.io/ to build your own Headless CMS in minutes using a template.

[@giancarlofranchini3853]

The best explanation I've found without having to read a ton of articles.

[@EsDlite]

I'm honestly more impressed with his straight lines than the actual explanation.

[@irismedinaelston]

this is the best and quickest explanation I've heard. I am not sure why some (others) people feel the need to overcomplicate things! Thank you!

[@GuitarreroDaniel]

Incredible explanations. In the Tech world, the longer the beard, wiser the man.

[@spicer41282]

OMG! Been looking for a clear explanation. Yes! Thank You, Mr. Here Simen! (It's actually Opposite of what you would "think intuitively")

[@terrytas13]

Great explanation! I didn't even think about content outside of traditional blog content. Super simple and understandable. Thank you

[@zamar_roura]

This guy is so cool with his drawings hahaha

[@cmgweb6951]

That was the easiest explanation to understand the overall concept of headless CMS. I'm glad I found this early in my search!

[@zsoltgomori7564]

The best analogy I've ever seen so far. Awesome, thanks!

[@eduardomorua161]

Thank You, Mr. Simen !

[@rajeshpatavardhan6386]

Wonderful explanation. Thank you, Mr. Here Simen.

[@AndreBellCopywriter]

The absolute best explanation I've seen. Thank you!!

[@user-pt7do8qc6m]

Wonderful! Thank you for this quick and accurate explanation!

[@TradeBnB]

Simple and best explanation, Thank you!

[@Muahahaha234]

Thank you fort his clear and concise explanation with a simple example and visualization. This video gave me a better understanding of the point of headless CMS than reading multiple articles did. Great job!

[@benochang7888]

Headless - What a beautiful explanation

[@manukrishnan25]

The best explanation. thank you for making our lives better.

[@HariHaran-zr1bg]

Thanks for the informative video, Can we modify the existing content in the sanity through the website like vice verse of how sanity do for websites , if possible kindly suggest me a way, thank you.

[@subhasishnathdev]

Best and incredible explanation.

[@seemcat]

Solid explanation.

[@chocoblan4288]

Great explanation!

[@thehomedepothouseplant9986]

Nice explanation !

[@zainizamzakaria81]

Best ever explanation. TQ sir.

[@wassagtmanndazu]

explained very nice!

[@mikefoster3487]

Best explanation of the web

[@saraa404]

crystal clear!!!! thanks!!!!!!

[@pavelray]

Excellent !!

[@aqibfayyaz1619]

good explanination Thank you

[@LELEFO]

Maybe it’s me but it has taken me years to understand this! Thanks for the video

[@milkandhenny]

Thank you!

[@pirovanomg]

I want to know how the call to HR went after he went to lunch and left that drawing on his desk.

[@jath7695]

Helpful!

[@edhahaz]

Marketing guy: office wizard we need you on camera to capture developers' attention

[@satishb9975]

Brilliant 👏

[@benchy47]

I can't help but notice that this guy is really good at drawing :D

[@EvandroPastor]

Finally! I got the idea. Thanks for the video!

[@emilgawkowski2778]

Great, this is the push I needed to grow my hair long. Thank you.

[@epstrada]

Great! Cant wait to test Sanity CMS

[@DJ-Illuminate]

So, Say I work in Joomla... How would one break apart the existing structure of integrated CMS and Template? This could be pretty cool for Joomla. I could swap out heads or add heads with drag and drop functionality?

[@pdebie1982]

Explained in 2 minutes where other tech "specialists" have 10+ minutes videos about this subject.

[@staynjohnson4221]

what does 'author the content' mean? 0:23

[@arvi8843]

Couldn't be simpler than that. Thanks 💯💯💯

[@vladreznichenko8332]

But still you need to create specific API for each new "head". So it should be cheaper system, comparing to traditional CMS, right?

[@shittycoder5892]

Not Exactly, we can have 1 REST API (JSON) for all as True Source and other systems can pick it up from it and get the data as needed or we can build a GraphQL endpoint.

[@vladreznichenko8332]

@@shittycoder5892 Thank you!

[@jasonhebert1656]

I am quoting on a project for a college website and they are talking about wanting a headless CMS. I fail to see the benefit of using a headless CMS on a traditional site. It seems really complicated for no benefit at all. Everything I am seeing looks like you need to develop everything from scratch. So if the client needs a new page now you have to hire a programmer to build out the page for you, set up the cms and hook it all up. Every time. this seems like a huge step backwards to me. Am I missing something>

[@leurehc]

So a headless CMS is basically a Hydra, got it! :D

[@thatgrrlca]

I still don't understand. If you use an editing interface you are creating your content in some format, HTML or whatever. So it is still limited to platforms that can read that code/language, as it was created. Unless everything goes back to plain txt files without code, there are only so many languages each platform can tackle. On the Cloud, in the kitchen sink, whatever, it still has to have communication between the language (HTML, etc) and the software (web browser, mobile tech...). Am I wrong or mislead?

[@AB-kq9xm]

A common use case is having a website and an app that share the same data. Therefore it makes sense to have the same database, but you will have to render the data in more than one way.

[@qaz1617]

The explanation is ofcourse amazing BUT I am More impressed by his drawing skills 😂😂

[@KurtvonAhnen]

Multiple Heads?!?!? Now I see an avenue to attraction. In the WordPress only space, I couldn't find alignment for the reasoning.

[@MightyAfricans]

Looking interesting but couldn't watch as I hate the sound of markers on paper 😬-- like grinding teeth or fork scrapping a pan. Please use whiteboard.

[@AdityaFingerstyle]

Thanks. But next time can you please place the camera closer to his face ? Hard to see from that distance.

[@simensvaleskogsrud1838]

Any closer, and I would myself become headless, I'm afraid!

[@jma42]

so its just a CRUD App? i swear web developers like to come up the most complex shit possible for simplest things.

[@mxinpvr]

So..is not Headless,,,, but a MultiHead

[@Human_Evolution-]

It should be called a Hydra System. Headless is misleading.

[@uhleka]

How did modern vocabulary get so bad that four heads is called headless... ?

[@simensvaleskogsrud1838]

Because the system itself has no heads-you have to bring your own heads, so to speak.

[@Ctrl_Alt_Elite]

Hairless/Bald CMS would have been better lol. Then you could refer to your chosen frontend as one of many "wigs". I suppose in this scenario the head could represent the API of the CMS.

[@anj000]

Painting camera straight in his face is uncomfortable and it is hard to focus on what he is saying.

[@greenshaheen6716]

I have learnt how to draw a dummy robot