Course Outline

🔹 Day 1: Foundations of Headless Architecture

Session 1: Introduction to Headless CMS & JAMstack

• What is a headless CMS?
• Traditional CMS vs Headless CMS
• JAMstack architecture overview: JavaScript, APIs, Markup

Session 2: Setting Up a Headless CMS

• Choosing a headless CMS: Strapi, Contentful, Sanity, etc.
• Creating content types and entries
• Understanding APIs: REST vs GraphQL

Session 3: Integrating Headless CMS with Static Sites

• Fetching content with API keys
• Content modeling best practices
• Caching and revalidation concepts

Lab Activities:

• Set up a Strapi or Contentful CMS with content models
• Populate and query content via REST or GraphQL
• Test API calls from Postman or directly in code

🔹 Day 2: Static Site Generation with Modern Frameworks

Session 1: Introduction to Static Site Generators (SSG)

• Benefits of static sites: performance, security, SEO
• Overview of SSG tools: Next.js, Gatsby, Hugo, Astro
• Choosing the right SSG for your needs

Session 2: Building with Next.js or Gatsby

• File-based routing and dynamic paths
• getStaticProps / getStaticPaths (Next.js)
• GraphQL in Gatsby with source plugins

Session 3: Rendering Strategies and Preview Mode

• Static Generation (SSG) vs Server-Side Rendering (SSR)
• Incremental Static Regeneration (ISR) in Next.js
• Previewing draft content from Headless CMS

Lab Activities:

• Create a blog or portfolio site using static generation
• Connect CMS content to your frontend using API/GraphQL
• Implement ISR or preview mode for content editors

🔹 Day 3: Deployment, Optimization, and Best Practices

Session 1: Optimizing Static Sites

• Image optimization and lazy loading
• SEO and metadata handling
• Performance monitoring with Lighthouse

Session 2: Deployment Strategies

• Hosting on Netlify, Vercel, or GitHub Pages
• CI/CD pipelines for static sites
• Environment variables and CMS access in production

Session 3: Advanced Use Cases and Scalability

• Handling multilingual content
• Building e-commerce with headless CMS
• Managing permissions and webhooks for real-time updates

Lab Activities:

• Deploy your site to Netlify or Vercel
• Add responsive images and Lighthouse performance optimizations
• Set up webhooks for rebuilds when content updates