Engineering spotlight: Building a headless WordPress site

Staying current with the latest technologies allows our team to offer cutting-edge solutions to our clients but also ensures our engineers remain engaged and proficient in modern development practices. By continuously refining our skills, we can tackle new challenges with confidence and creativity, ultimately delivering superior products and services.

One of our latest practice projects, Rentaly, showcases a headless WordPress build. This project exemplifies our commitment to keeping our skills sharp, a crucial choice for any digital agency. Let’s dive into why we chose to build a headless WordPress site, how the build went, and some of the tools we used to make it come to life.

Why go headless with WordPress?

Choosing a headless WordPress setup can have numerous advantages, making it a compelling option for many organizations. Here are the key benefits and considerations.

Flexibility & freedom

A headless WordPress setup separates the back-end (content management) from the front-end (presentation). This decoupling allows developers to use any front-end technology, such as React, Vue, or in our case, Next.js. 

This flexibility is particularly beneficial if your team is more comfortable with modern JavaScript frameworks other than with PHP. For example, if your team already excels in JavaScript, leveraging their expertise with a headless setup can be a strategic move, enhancing productivity and creativity.

SEO & performance

Headless WordPress setups can significantly boost page speed and SEO rankings. By leveraging static site generation (SSG) and server-side rendering (SSR), content can be delivered faster, resulting in better user experiences and improved search engine visibility. 

In today's digital landscape, where speed and performance directly impact user retention and engagement, these enhancements can provide a substantial competitive edge.

Scalability

Headless architectures can handle high traffic volume more efficiently. By using modern frameworks and cloud services, you can scale your application seamlessly as your audience grows. 

This scalability is crucial for businesses expecting rapid growth or experiencing fluctuating traffic patterns. This type of setup allows for smoother scaling operations without compromising performance or user experience.

When to consider going headless

The decision to transition to a headless WordPress setup should be based on your organization's specific needs and capabilities. Here are some scenarios where going headless makes sense:

Skill set alignment

If your team is knowledgeable about JavaScript frameworks like React or Next.js but lacks deep PHP expertise, transitioning to a headless setup can be a strategic move.

Need for scalability

When your website requires high scalability and performance, headless architecture can provide the necessary infrastructure to support rapid growth.

SEO & speed optimization

If page speed and SEO are critical for your business, a headless setup can help you achieve higher performance metrics.

When not to go headless

It's also essential to recognize when a headless approach might not be the best fit. Implementing a headless WordPress setup can introduce additional complexity and overhead. It requires separate hosting for the back-end and front-end, as well as additional development and maintenance efforts. 

If your current setup is meeting your needs and you lack the resources to manage a headless environment, it may not be the right time to transition. Evaluating your organization's capabilities and long-term goals is crucial before making the switch. Unsure? Let us help you decide if headless WordPress is right for you.

Our technical approach

For our Rentaly demo project, we used Pantheon to host the WordPress back-end and Vercel to host the Next.js front-end. This setup leverages several plugins and tools to create a seamless integration between the two platforms.

Back-end setup

The back-end setup involved installing and configuring various tools to ensure smooth operation. We used OPS to manage our local WordPress environment and sync it with Pantheon for production. Essential plugins like Advanced Custom Fields Pro (ACF Pro) and WPGraphQL were installed to enhance flexibility and data querying capabilities. 

Detailed setup instructions can be found in our GitHub repository.

Front-end setup with Faust.js & Next.js

On the front-end, we utilized Faust.js, a powerful framework built on top of Next.js, to create a seamless headless WordPress experience. Faust.js leverages Next.js's static site generation capabilities, enhancing performance and SEO by serving static HTML files. The setup process involves configuring environment variables, installing dependencies, and starting the development server. 

For a comprehensive guide, refer to our Faust.js documentation.

Key plugins & tools

FaustWP
Bridges WordPress and Next.js, allowing WordPress to serve as a headless CMS. 

ACF Pro
Enhances the flexibility of content management by allowing the creation of custom fields.

WPGraphQL
Exposes a GraphQL API for WordPress, enabling efficient data querying.

Custom plugin: Rentaly blocks
Provides custom blocks for rental-related content, mapped to corresponding React components in the front-end. See our plugin code here.

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At Imarc, we are committed to delivering top-notch solutions and continuously refining our skills. Our headless WordPress build with Rentaly exemplifies our dedication to leveraging modern technologies for enhanced performance, scalability, and flexibility. For business leaders, this approach can offer significant benefits in terms of SEO, speed, and scalability. For engineers, it presents an exciting opportunity to work with cutting-edge tools and frameworks.

By embracing headless architectures, we ensure that we are not only meeting the current needs of our clients but also preparing for future challenges with confidence and creativity. Whether you are considering a headless transition or looking to explore the technical aspects of such a setup, we are always happy to talk shop. Feel free to reach out to us for more information or visit our GitHub repository for a 360-degree view of the technical details.