Front Matter Headless CMS for Visual Studio CodeTechnology

Andre Powell
January 22, 2022

The Front Matter Visual Studio Code extension provides a headless CMS to your static site setup that is easy to use and enhances content creation for your site.

What is a Headless CMS?

A headless CMS is a content management system that does not have a graphical user interface. It delivers content to applications and websites through APIs. This makes it an ideal choice for content-rich websites and applications that need to be fast and responsive.

Visual Studio Code as a CMS

The world of web development is constantly evolving. In order to keep up, developers need to be versatile and learn new technologies. One such technology that has been gaining popularity in recent years is Visual Studio Code.

Visual Studio Code is a code editor created by Microsoft. It's open source and can be used on Windows, Mac, and Linux. Visual Studio Code supports a variety of programming languages, including: C#, Java, Python, and Node.js.

One of the best features of Visual Studio Code is its ability to be used as a headless CMS. A headless CMS allows you to manage your website's content without having to install or run a CMS on your server. You can create and edit content using the Visual Studio Code editor, then deploy it to your website using a tool like Gulp or Grunt.

Front Matter Headless CMS - The Headless CMS Built for Visual Studio Code

Front Matter is a powerful content management system that gives you the tools you need to manage your website's content. It's easy to use, making it perfect for sites of all sizes. Plus, it comes with SEO tools that help you improve your website's ranking on search engines. The media and content dashboard makes it easy to upload and manage your website's images and videos, while the blocks feature allows you to create custom pages quickly and easily.

Front Matter Brings A Modern Experience To Your Headless CMS While Using Visual Studio Code

Front Matter is a modern experience for your SSG while using Visual Studio Code. It provides an intuitive interface, allowing you to focus on your conten. With its built-in features, Front Matter CMS makes it easy to manage your static site.

Front Matter is built to work seamlessly with Visual Studio Code and is highly compatible with other plugins. Front Matter CMS is a young project, but it has been tested and used by a growing community. It is also open source, free to use and modify. After getting familiar with the documentation it is clear this is a complete CMS.

The Front Matter Extension Works With The Most Popular Static Site Generators

As stated by the developer, "Built for any static-site generator you might like .... and many more", including the underrated Pelican. That means that it can fit into just about any workflow you can imagine.

Benefits of Using Front Matter Extension as a Headless CMS

  • A comfortable writing experience - The WordPress editor still is does not provide a good writing experience. Although, I understand they are adding a lot of functionality into their tool, ease of writing has taken a back seat. Writing content in Markdown is so much easier and the fact I can use any of my favorite editors to do makes it my preferred choice.
  • On page SEO - Getting content ready to be seen by search engines cannot be forgotten, so much that I created a markdown on-page SEO tool to do just that. Front Matter keeps the most important SEO factors front and center. The developer even incorporated the checks provided by my tool into the extension.
  • Consistent formatting of content - Setting up templates for different content types when needed has allowed me to focus on the content and not worry about missing a relevant front matter for the SSG (static site generators) to consume for page generation. Access to customizations - Front Matter allows you to create custom actions for your project or you can take advantage of Visual Studio Code's built in power to add functionality to meet your needs. Open source - I just can't say enough about finding good open source software, but when and where you can support the developers of tools that make a difference in your life.

In conclusion, Front Matter Headless CMS a great choice for those looking for a headless CMS that is open source, actively maintained, customizable and works with Visual Studio Code. It also comes with built-in tools that make it easy to get started.