Building a lightning-fast website is among the vital needs to get success in the digital industry. The companies who use WordPress to mark their digital presence often face problems with the website speed, thus making it essential to hire WordPress developers for befitting solutions.
Headless WordPress websites are turning into a good solution for speed concerns, and a lot of companies providing WordPress web development services are recommending it these days. Gatsby is one of the trending solutions to fetch content from multiple sources, including your WordPress websites.
This open-source framework based on React has become the first choice for developers working on Headless WordPress projects. Today, we will explore the relevance of Gatsby and WordPress as a pair to facilitate headless commerce.
We will also discuss the advantages and disadvantages of pairing these technologies so that you can hire WordPress developers for maximum benefits from headless architecture.
What is Gatsby, and how does it work?
Gatsby.JS is one of the most popular open-source React-based frameworks used for building web solutions based on speed and performance. When you decide to build a website using this framework, you can pull data from the specific templates while turning them into static HTML files, thus maximizing the performance.
Query language GraphQL is used to access the data from the templates. However, it also uses other technologies like JavaScript, CSS, and Webpack to develop solutions that fit your actual needs. You can hire WordPress developers for the performance, scalability, and security of the websites using Gatsby. You can do all this while retaining the WordPress CMS for creating the content.
How to integrate Gatsby with WordPress?
Though we strongly recommend to hire WordPress developers to integrate Gatsby.JS with WordPress, you can do it yourself too. If you are doing it for the first time, the below steps will help you:-
- The first thing you need to do is install Node.JS on your server as Gatsby runs by using the NPM. Once it’s done, you can install the Gatsby using the npm install-g gatsby-CLI command.
- After completing the installation, you can use the Gatsby new site-name command to create a new Gatsby.js site.
- After completing the above step, it is time to start the development server using the Gatsby develop command. You can start building your site using Gatsby.js after executing the command.
- The next thing you need is to add the WPGatsby and WPGraphQL plugins to your WordPress website and the WordPress plugin to your Gatsby site.
- Once you configure the plugins, it will enable you to access the data on the WordPress website using GraphQL queries.
What are the benefits of using Gatsby with WordPress?
-
Enhanced and modern performance
Using modern frontend libraries can turn into a blessing for the performance of your website. React and GraphQL are among the most trusted options for web solutions that need to be fast and reliable. The use of Static PWA generators enhances the user experience because they enable you to browse the websites in an incredibly fast manner.
-
Better security for Website
Securing the websites and other digital platforms is among the top pain points which require a decision to hire WordPress developers. If we talk about the security features, WordPress still needs improvements to match the level of Gatsby. By implementing Gatsby with WordPress, you can enhance security by minimizing direct connections with user data and other information.
-
Easing the whole development process
The combination of Gatsby and WordPress opens many technical possibilities to help ease the whole development process. The pair offers more freedom for choosing the tools that allow developing unique and highly customized websites with great experiences for the users.
-
Reduces excessive dependence on Plugins
You will agree that most WordPress website owners have an excessive dependency on plugins to get the functionalities they wish for the users. Adding so many plugins will slow your web platforms. By using WordPress development services with Gatsby, you can escape it. Your developer can help you add those functionalities without depending on third-party plugins.
-
SEO optimized web solutions
You can’t ignore the importance of websites that are optimized for SEO. The recent search engine updates mention that speed and performance are vital elements for ranking a website. Gatsby offers you fast and performance-oriented platforms, thus helping you for better search rankings.
-
No need to migrate the content
It is common to migrate the content while using multiple technologies to build a website. When you implement Gatsby with WordPress, your front end will fetch data from the same backend or content management solution. It eliminates the need to migrate the data which can be time-consuming and challenging for your WordPress website.
Are there any disadvantages of using WordPress web development services for Gatsby?
It is common to say that every coin has two faces. You might be delighted after going through the advantages of GaysBy and WordPress as a combination for your website. However, before you hire a WordPress developer, we want to draw your attention to the following drawbacks:-
-
Losing core WordPress Functionalities
Once you apply Gatsby with WordPress, the role of WordPress will be limited to working as a back end. It will deprive your website of the core functionalities of WordPress that you might be using earlier. The Gatsby will overtake the front-end role, thus removing WordPress from the picture.
-
The learning curve for new technology
Using Gatsby may require learning new technologies like React and GraphQ. Familiarity with PHP and JS languages is a vital requirement, so there is a steep learning curve.
-
The problem for a website with frequent Content Updates
As Gatsby is a static site generator, it is difficult to edit the content without using a new deployment. The process of updating and editing the content can become time-consuming, especially for websites that need frequent content updates.
Conclusion
We hope that this article can provide enough insights into the relevance and advantages of using GatsBy with WordPress for a headless web solution. You should hire WordPress developer with enough experience for the best results. Try using WordPress development services from a reputed company as GatsBy is still evolving and needs an expert by your side for flawless integration and functionalities.
