How do non-techies edit Jamstack websites?

13 points by ndumai 5 years ago | 12 comments

I'm interested in understanding what marketers and editors/creators do when they need to update websites that don't have a classic editing platform like WordPress or Drupal. Do they learn how to use a Headless CMS, or maybe ask for full support from dev?

interactivecode 5 years ago |

They could also learn how the website works, or how markdown works. Not everyone needs to be treated like toddlers. Colleagues can be surprisingly capable if you educate them.

afarrell 5 years ago | |

> if you educate them

When trying to educate a group of people, it is useful to understand the range of experiences they might have had.

For example, you might ask a question like "How do non-techies edit Jamstack websites?"

runawaybottle 5 years ago | |

You ever try to get someone to edit a json file? It’s like the moon to them.

So many simple implementations require a GUI because people won’t touch json. This is not a matter of capability, but willingness.

arkitaip 5 years ago | |

Why should they have to conform to your poor choice of tech? Why would anyone want their content creators use html or limited markdown when we've had competent GUI alternatives for decades now.

cpach 5 years ago | |

Indeed. But I also know lots of people in tech/IT who would straight out refuse to touch Git/Github/Markdown. Some of them might have good reasons. Some do not, but still refuse.

gtirloni 5 years ago |

https://www.netlifycms.org

cpach 5 years ago | |

Very interesting! What is the relationship between netlifycms.org and netlify.com?

foopod 5 years ago | | |

It is made by the guys at netlify.com and works really well if you are hosted with them.

I believe you can set it up to work with just about any host though as it just hooks up to a git repo and lets you make changes via a UI that you host wherever you have the rest of your site.

1123581321 5 years ago |

If not using a CMS that compiles to static, teaching HTML classes works surprisingly well. We had a team of non-technical people become comfortable enough with Bootstrap classes to be productive in a reasonable time length. To actually get their edits, just have them either edit and commit directly on GitHub or Gitlab, or use a Git client with a nice enough GUI.

adithyak 5 years ago |

One of my projects is aimed at solving this problem: https://revamphq.com

Using Revamp, you can continue building on top of your existing stack while also allowing non-developers to make changes and deploy them immediately. Currently in beta.

cpach 5 years ago |

Solutions such as https://www.contentful.com/ are probably useful for that purpose

approxim8ion 5 years ago |

Netlify CMS and Publii are very decent CMSs that generate or hook up to static site generators.