{ "uuid": [ { "value": "e88b4449-20b6-4165-880b-6d34b9579781" } ], "langcode": [ { "value": "en" } ], "type": [ { "target_id": "daily_email", "target_type": "node_type", "target_uuid": "8bde1f2f-eef9-4f2d-ae9c-96921f8193d7" } ], "revision_timestamp": [ { "value": "2025-05-11T09:00:02+00:00" } ], "revision_uid": [ { "target_type": "user", "target_uuid": "b8966985-d4b2-42a7-a319-2e94ccfbb849" } ], "revision_log": [], "status": [ { "value": true } ], "uid": [ { "target_type": "user", "target_uuid": "b8966985-d4b2-42a7-a319-2e94ccfbb849" } ], "title": [ { "value": "Should you have a separate front-end for your Drupal website?" } ], "created": [ { "value": "2025-01-27T00:00:00+00:00" } ], "changed": [ { "value": "2025-05-11T09:00:02+00:00" } ], "promote": [ { "value": false } ], "sticky": [ { "value": false } ], "default_langcode": [ { "value": true } ], "revision_translation_affected": [ { "value": true } ], "path": [ { "alias": "\/daily\/2025\/01\/27\/separate-front-end", "langcode": "en" } ], "body": [ { "value": "\n

A few years ago, \"decoupled\" or \"headless\" Drupal was a popular approach, leveraging Drupal's built-in JSON:API module to expose its data via an API which can be consumed by a separate front-end application.<\/p>\n\n

The front-end application would retrieve the data from Drupal via the API and generate the appropriate HTML.<\/p>\n\n

It's an approach I've used in the past and spoken about at conferences<\/a>, but it comes with pros and cons.<\/p>\n\n

In theory, as the Drupal (or back-end application) and front-end are completely separate, there can be two separate and independent teams working on them.<\/p>\n\n

This adds overhead and complexity and I've found that one team will commonly be blocking the other instead of both being able to work in parallel.<\/p>\n\n

As I said yesterday, previewing content in Drupal can be an issue<\/a> - particularly with a decoupled approach which needs a front-end to be rebuilt before the changes can be seen.<\/p>\n\n

If you have a separate front-end, you'll need to create everything from scratch, such as writing accessible HTML markup and othe standard features that would normally be provided by Drupal and, because you've got two separate front-end and back-end applications, you've got twice the amount of maintenance.<\/p>\n\n

You could also be excluding yourself from any new features that will be available in future versions of Drupal or Drupal CMS, such as the new Experience Builder.<\/p>\n\n

Whilst decoupled\/headless builds are a viable option and can work well in some situations, it's not something I recommend often.<\/p>\n\n ", "format": "full_html", "processed": "\n

A few years ago, \"decoupled\" or \"headless\" Drupal was a popular approach, leveraging Drupal's built-in JSON:API module to expose its data via an API which can be consumed by a separate front-end application.<\/p>\n\n

The front-end application would retrieve the data from Drupal via the API and generate the appropriate HTML.<\/p>\n\n

It's an approach I've used in the past and spoken about at conferences<\/a>, but it comes with pros and cons.<\/p>\n\n

In theory, as the Drupal (or back-end application) and front-end are completely separate, there can be two separate and independent teams working on them.<\/p>\n\n

This adds overhead and complexity and I've found that one team will commonly be blocking the other instead of both being able to work in parallel.<\/p>\n\n

As I said yesterday, previewing content in Drupal can be an issue<\/a> - particularly with a decoupled approach which needs a front-end to be rebuilt before the changes can be seen.<\/p>\n\n

If you have a separate front-end, you'll need to create everything from scratch, such as writing accessible HTML markup and othe standard features that would normally be provided by Drupal and, because you've got two separate front-end and back-end applications, you've got twice the amount of maintenance.<\/p>\n\n

You could also be excluding yourself from any new features that will be available in future versions of Drupal or Drupal CMS, such as the new Experience Builder.<\/p>\n\n

Whilst decoupled\/headless builds are a viable option and can work well in some situations, it's not something I recommend often.<\/p>\n\n ", "summary": null } ], "feeds_item": [ { "imported": "2025-05-11T09:00:02+00:00", "guid": null, "hash": "780bda0044c53e6e45fb49f2037ac82e", "target_type": "feeds_feed", "target_uuid": "90c85284-7ca8-4074-9178-97ff8384fe76" } ] }