WordPress stands out as one of the approaches you can use to create blogs & websites. Many businesses are already using WordPress to manage their websites and blogs. Being an open-source CMS, WordPress software is easily accessible to anyone for free. Above all, website owners can make several changes and tailor their websites to align with their business dealings.

Ideally, you don’t necessarily need programming expertise to use WordPress for a better-performing website. But then, there is another concept you need to know: the headless WordPress and how you can configure it for Next.js. Let’s explore all these in this guide.

What is a headless WordPress? Quick Overview

A headless WordPress is a technology used in websites where WordPress is used mainly for content management with another technology used to show the content to website visitors. In this case, we shall focus on Next.js technology for displaying content to website visitors.

Why use headless WordPress? Top benefits of headless WordPress

Implementing headless WordPress CMS and Next.js comes with a number of benefits, including the following:

• Enhanced flexibility

Integrating frontend technologies with WordPress makes it easy to facilitate the processes of connecting the site to other complex websites and services for enhanced functionality. This high level of flexibility enhances the functionality of the website.

• Better performance

Powered by frontend technologies, headless WordPress websites are highly responsive with increased speed. This ensures the website performs well all the time without experiencing glitches.

• Improved security

Content is kept in different databases in the case of headless WordPress. This helps secure different types of data within the system from different forms of security threats or risks. What’s more, it is easy to update security checks in the backend and frontend as independent parts of an application, thus facilitating better security.

• Better scalability

You can easily scale headless WordPress and Next.js independently. The headless WordPress can be scaled for seamless content management capabilities, while the Next.js technology can be scaled for seamless frontend functionalities. This creates a well-performing site.

• Easy to customize

You can easily create and customize components of your app to align with what users need. You have the flexibility to apply diverse frontends tailored specifically for specific platforms or devices.

• Seamless content management

It is easy to manage, access, and update data when using headless WordPress because all the data is stored in a central storage. What’s more, you can easily integrate the site with other content distribution networks, which in turn enhances the overall performance of your system.

• Rich plugin ecosystem

Headless WordPress offers a seamless integration process with several plugins. This enhances the functionality of an app and overall performance. Among these plugins include plugins for forms, extending capabilities, an SEO optimization.

• Improved SEO

Content is kept in a structured format in the case of headless WordPress. This makes it easy for search engines to define and index the content accordingly, thus better rankings. What’s more, it is easy to integrate headless WordPress with other SEO plugins and tools for easy search engine optimization.

Challenges of using headless WordPress for Next.js

While headless WordPress offers a lot of benefits, especially in relation to content management and customization, it has some challenges that can’t go unnoticed. These challenges include the following:

• Requires highly skilled tech staff

Headless WordPress is an approach that requires an in-depth understanding of different skills and technologies. In this case, you must be familiar with technologies such as CSS, HTML, Vue.js, Angular, React, and JavaScript. What’s more, you need to understand and master the backend development, frontend development, JSON & JWT token, and REST API concepts.

• It’s a complex process

While you must have a comprehensive understanding of the web development processes for frontend development, the process of setting up and configuring a headless WordPress is still complicated.

However, you can easily implement several plugins and use WordPress frameworks to simplify the process. You only need to understand the appropriate tools and technologies to use in this case.

• It is costly

It is expensive to set up and maintain a headless WordPress compared to traditional WordPress. This is because you need more developers and technologies.

Although it is expensive, the flexibility, security, and enhanced performance are some of the major benefits you will reap from a headless WordPress with Next.js.

What is Next.js? Quick Overview

Next.js is a renowned React framework that enhances the capabilities of React by offering sophisticated tools and technologies that facilitate static site generation, server-side rendering, and full-stack development.

With Next.js, developers can build well-performing and SEO-friendly apps seamlessly.

Next.js Features

The following features are what make Next.js unique in delivering its functionalities and simplifying the development processes for developers:

• SSG -Static Site Generation

With Next.js, it is easy to generate pages at build times, thanks to its SSG feature. The pages are then rendered as HTML files for reduced server load and for fast loading.

• CSS compatibility

Next.js supports different CSS technologies, such as global CSS, CSS-in-JS libraries, and CSS modules for flexibility in styling.

• SSR -Server-Side Rendering

Next.js has inbuilt support for SSR – server-side rendering, a technology that facilitates pre-rendering the pages on the server for improved SEO and the general performance of an app.

• Routing

With Next.js, routing means generating routes automatically on the file structure in the page directory in a streamlined manner.

• Data Fetching

Next.js supports diverse methods for fetching data either at build time or upon request time. Such methods include getServerSideProps and getStaticProps.

• Automatic code splitting

Next.js will split the JavaScript code automatically into small and manageable components for accelerated load times and performance optimization.

• API Proxying

Developers can easily create API routes that act as proxies connecting third-party APIs to facilitate the process of collecting data and enhancing data security.

• Serverless functioning

Although Next.js is a frontend development framework, it is highly versatile since it offers a way to execute some of the backend functionalities, thanks to its serverless functionality feature.

By hosting an app in the cloud for optimized performance and proper resource utilization, Next.js enhances smooth server management thanks to serverless functionality. What’s more, the serverless functionality in Next.js enhances automatic app scaling, especially when handling different traffic. This helps businesses use this functionality to maximize production for better returns.

• Hot module replacement

Hot module replacement is a technique that enables developers to take full control of a streamlined development process by working on a reliable platform. Next.js delivers this feature to developers, which speeds up the development process. The feature allows developers to effortlessly adjust and change the code in realtime without the need to perform full reloading.

• Seamless error handling

Next.js comes packed with an error-handling feature. This feature enables developers to create custom pages. In case a developer encounters the same issues, the framework Next.js will generate the applicable error page with the appropriate solution. This speeds up the development process and saves time and effort on the developer’s side.

Advantages of using Next.js

So, why use Next.js? We’ve highlighted the features that make Next.js a unique frontend development framework. However, the following are some of the top reasons for making Next.js an ideal React framework:

• Faster development

Since Next.js comes with inbuilt features and functionalities, it becomes easy for developers to shift their focus to completing the development processes instead of setting up the development environments and other requirements.

• Built-in Routing and SSR

Well, Next.js, unlike React, has native routing, which facilitates seamless routing. To add on the routing processes, this enhances the SEO and overall performance of the app.

• Better search-engine visibility

Next.js is known for its SEO prowess, hence the reason why it is the preferred choice for building landing pages and blogs that need better search engine visibility.

Next.js, for instance, has inbuilt optimization features like SSG and SSR as described previously in this guide. This helps search engines define and rank the content accordingly.

Above all, Next.js helps developers take charge and customize Open Graph tags, meta descriptions, and title tags, among others, for enhanced visibility in the search results.

• Thriving ecosystem

Next.js boasts a rich ecosystem that integrates well with diverse libraries and tools for a streamlined development process. For instance, Next.js supports advanced solutions such as a component library, SWR for advanced data fetching, CSS-in-JS technology for styling, and Redux.

• Comprehensive documentation

Next.js boasts comprehensive documentation that focuses more on practicality and not just the theory part. The detailed guideline steps highlight every aspect of the Next.js framework that enables developers to get the most out of the framework.

It has a well-structured and detailed documentation covering all contexts of the framework. Even a beginner can easily master the installation process, how to use it, how to configure it, and how to deploy it. The examples, best practices, and extensive guides are also included in the documentation to make work easier when using Next.js.

Above all, the Next.js team keeps updating the documentation, ensuring the developers using the framework follow the latest Next.js version to produce highly scalable and well-performing software solutions.

Challenges of Next.js

While Next.js has a lot of benefits it offers to the app development world, it also poses some challenges, which include:

• Complex learning curve
• Regular updates which require developers to keep upgrading their projects
• Costly to use and maintain it

Step by step how to use WordPress as a Headless CMS for Next.js

Before you start the process of configuring WordPress as a headless CMS with Next.js, you can either use the following approaches:

WP REST API – in this case, WordPress has an inbuilt REST API for easy data retrieval from WordPress in JSON format.

WPGraphQL – Through GraphQL and plugins like WPGraphQL, WordPress can support headless content management for easy content and query retrieval to be used with a frontend technology such as React.

Even though REST API is quite common, using WPGraphQL is the most viable approach due to the high level of flexibility. You can easily search and retrieve specific data you need with WPGraphQL for better performance and system functionality.

The following is a simplified procedure for using WordPress as a headless content management system with Next.js using WPGraphQL:

• WordPress site configuration

Start by setting up and configuring WordPress for backend services, i.e., content management.

To install WordPress, you can either perform the process using a web server through a WordPress hosting provider or do it locally with tools such as WAMP or XAMPP. Once the installation is complete, follow the prompts that will appear, then create an admin account.

Next, execute the permalinks configuration process. This step is simple. On the admin dashboard of your WordPress, click on settings, select permalinks, and then permalink structure. This ensures SEO-friendly URLs.

Once you complete WordPress installation and permalink configuration, you now have established your backend system for easy content creation and management. The content will then be displayed on the frontend system using Next.js technology.

• GraphQL plugin installation

Next, you will need to install and configure the WPGraphQL plugin to activate its functionality.

The process is as highlighted below:

• WPGraphQL installation – navigate through the admin dashboard of your WordPress, then click plugins, and select Add New. Search for WPGraphQL, install, and activate the plugin.
• Installation verification – after you activate the plugin, verify its functionality in WordPress for easy querying using the plugin.

The WPGraphQL plugin facilitates the process through which an app connects WordPress to Next.js via GraphQL queries. It offers a seamless way of requesting particular data from the content management system to enhance the system’s functionality and performance.

• Frontend development with Next.js

The next step after installing and activating the WPGraphQL plugin is to build the frontend using data from WordPress through GraphQL.

To complete this process successfully, you will need to install the technologies necessary to run Next.js projects, and this includes Node.js and npm or yarn on your machine.

From here, use the Create-next-app command to form a new Next.js project directory. You can then run the prompt for setting up a Next.js project as a headless app.

• Fetching data from GraphQL API

Now, program Next.js to collect data from WordPress via the WPGraphQL plugin.

To complete this process, you will need to install the required dependencies to complete Next.js queries. An example is graphql-request dependency.

Next, query data by writing GraphQL in the Next.js project to collect data from WordPress.

• Next.js dev server installation and configuration

After you fetch data from WordPress via the plugin, you will need to install the required dependencies to start the Next.js development server to activate the site.

The steps include installing dependencies and running them. However, if you already installed the dependencies in the previous step, you can skip this and activate the development server by running the appropriate command (npm run dev).

• Regeneration of Incremental Static Page Regeneration

The next step is to set up the ISR – incremental static regeneration in Next.js for content updates.

Set up Incremental Static Regeneration (ISR) in Next.js for dynamic, seamless content updates.

When implementing ISR, use Next.js for static pages that are on demand regeneration process or at pre-defined intervals. Ensure the content remains updated always without restructuring the entire system.

The main function of ISR is to ensure all the statically generated pages show updated content from WordPress CMS in case the content changes.

• Next.js app deployment

Finally, you can now launch or deploy your Next.js app and set it in an active environment.

Under this step, do the following:

Select the appropriate deployment platform – it can be Netlify, Vercel, or the server for app deployment.

• Build, then deploy – depending on the platform you select, use its workflow processes to build the Next.js app, run it, and finally deploy it in the live environment.
• Monitoring and management – keep tracking your app performance as you implement regular updates as required to ensure the app’s stability.

At this point, your Next.js app is fully accessible to the public, displaying content that is managed via headless WordPress.

Note: using the WP GraphQL plugin is the easiest way to set up a headless WordPress in the Next.js project. It has the ultimate flexibility that facilitates seamless frontend development and overall content management processes.

Should you experience some technical challenges when setting up headless WordPress for your Next.js project, reach out to our experts at Aalpha Information Systems for professional services on the same.

Conclusion

Implementing WordPress as a headless content management system for the Next.js project gives developers a streamlined, flexible, and reliable way of building a solid and secure website.

Be handling the frontend and backend and independent components of the system, you can use Next.js for a highly responsive frontend and WordPress for seamless contentment management.

Simply use the WPGraphQL plugin to install a headless WordPress for easy frontend development using Next.js. Above all, the GrapghQ1 API will simplify the process of collecting specific data from the frontend (Next.js) to the backend (WordPress).

FAQs on using WordPress as a Headless content management system for Next.js

Do I require coding skills and expertise to use headless WordPress for Next.js?

You don’t necessarily need coding expertise to use WordPress as a headless CMS for Next.js. However, having coding skills will make the process smoother. In any case, you can always review available resources and tutorials for guidance, especially since both WordPress and Next.js are popular technologies in the web development field.

Another approach to all this is to hire expert developers from Aalpha Information Systems India to carry out the processes in a streamlined and professional manner.

Is it possible to fetch data from WordPress to Next.js?

Yes. With the WPGraphQL or WordPress REST API plugin, you can write queries with GraphQL (WPGraphQL) or execute an HTTP request using REST API to collect data kept in WordPress. It can be custom post types, pages, or posts, among many other types of content stored in WordPress.

Is it possible to use WordPress themes and plugins in the case of a headless WordPress CMS?

Yes. You can always use your favorite WordPress themes and plugins, even under a headless WordPress approach. The only thing you need to ensure is compatibility with REST API since some of the themes and plugins may not work well with a headless WordPress CMS.

Back to You!

Do you have any questions about building WordPress as a Headless CMS for Next.js? Connect with our WordPress development company and get a consultation at no cost.