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Headless CMS

A Headless CMS (Content Management System) is a system where the backend (content management) is completely separated from the frontend (content presentation).

In detail:

Traditional CMS (e.g., WordPress):

  • Backend and frontend are tightly coupled.

  • You create content in the system and it's rendered directly using built-in themes and templates with HTML.

  • Pros: All-in-one solution, quick to get started.

  • Cons: Limited flexibility, harder to deliver content across multiple platforms (e.g., website + mobile app).

Headless CMS:

  • Backend only.

  • Content is accessed via an API (usually REST or GraphQL).

  • The frontend (e.g., a React site, native app, or digital signage) fetches the content dynamically.

  • Pros: Very flexible, ideal for multi-channel content delivery.

  • Cons: Frontend must be built separately (requires more development effort).

Common use cases:

  • Websites built with modern JavaScript frameworks (like React, Next.js, Vue)

  • Mobile apps that use the same content as the website

  • Omnichannel strategies: website, app, smart devices, etc.

Examples of Headless CMS platforms:

  • Contentful

  • Strapi

  • Sanity

  • Directus

  • Prismic

  • Storyblok (a hybrid with visual editing capabilities)

 


Storyblok

Storyblok is a user-friendly, headless Content Management System (CMS) that helps developers and marketing teams create, manage, and publish content quickly and efficiently. It offers a visual editing interface for real-time content design and is flexible with various frameworks and platforms. Its API-first architecture allows content to be delivered to any digital platform, making it ideal for modern web and app development.


Shopware

Shopware is a modular e-commerce system from Germany that allows you to create and manage online stores. It’s designed for both small retailers and large enterprises, known for its flexibility, scalability, and modern technology.


🔹 General Information:

  • Developer: Shopware AG (founded in 2000 in Germany)

  • Technology: PHP, Symfony framework, API-first approach

  • Current Version: Shopware 6 (since 2019)

  • Open Source: Yes, with paid extensions available

  • Headless Ready: Yes, supports headless commerce via APIs


🔹 Key Features:

  • Product Management: Variants, tier pricing, media, SEO tools

  • Sales Channels: Web shop, POS, social media, marketplaces

  • Content Management: Built-in CMS ("Shopping Experiences")

  • Payments & Shipping: Many integrations (e.g. PayPal, Klarna)

  • Multilingual & Multi-Currency Support

  • B2B & B2C capabilities

  • App System & API for custom extensions


🔹 Who is Shopware for?

  • Startups (free Community Edition available)

  • SMEs and mid-sized businesses

  • Enterprise clients with complex needs

  • Very popular in the DACH region (Germany, Austria, Switzerland)


🔹 Advantages:

  • Made in Germany → GDPR-compliant

  • Highly customizable

  • Active ecosystem & community

  • Scalable for growing businesses

 


Design by Contract - DbC

Design by Contract (DbC) is a concept in software development introduced by Bertrand Meyer. It describes a method to ensure the correctness and reliability of software by defining clear "contracts" between different components (e.g., methods, classes).

Core Principles of Design by Contract

In DbC, every software component is treated as a contract party with certain obligations and guarantees:

  1. Preconditions
    Conditions that must be true before a method or function can execute correctly.
    → Responsibility of the caller.

  2. Postconditions
    Conditions that must be true after the execution of a method or function.
    → Responsibility of the method/function.

  3. Invariant (Class Invariant)
    Conditions that must always remain true throughout the lifetime of an object.
    → Responsibility of both the method and the caller.

Goal of Design by Contract

  • Clear specification of responsibilities.

  • More robust and testable software.

  • Errors are detected early (e.g., through contract violations).

Example in Pseudocode

class BankAccount {
    private double balance;

    // Invariant: balance >= 0

    void withdraw(double amount) {
        // Precondition: amount > 0 && amount <= balance
        if (amount <= 0 || amount > balance) throw new IllegalArgumentException();

        balance -= amount;

        // Postcondition: balance has been reduced by amount
    }
}

Benefits

  • Clear contracts reduce misunderstandings.

  • Easier debugging, as violations are detected immediately.

  • Supports defensive programming.

Drawbacks


Perl Compatible Regular Expressions - PCRE

Perl Compatible Regular Expressions (PCRE) are a type of regular expression syntax and engine that follows the powerful and flexible style of the Perl programming language. They offer advanced features that go beyond the basic regular expressions found in many older systems.


Why "Perl Compatible"?

Perl was one of the first languages to introduce highly expressive regular expressions. The PCRE library was created to bring those capabilities to other programming languages and tools, including:

  • PHP

  • Python (similar via the re module)

  • JavaScript (with slight differences)

  • pcregrep (a grep version supporting PCRE)

  • Editors like VS Code, Sublime Text, etc.


Key Features of PCRE:

Lookahead & Lookbehind:

  • (?=...) – positive lookahead

  • (?!...) – negative lookahead

  • (?<=...) – positive lookbehind

  • (?<!...) – negative lookbehind

Non-greedy quantifiers:

  • *?, +?, ??, {m,n}?

Named capturing groups:

  • (?P<name>...) or (?<name>...)

Unicode support:

  • \p{L} matches any kind of letter in any language

Assertions and anchors:

  • \b, \B, \A, \Z, \z

Inline modifiers:

  • (?i) for case-insensitive

  • (?m) for multiline matching, etc.

(?<=\buser\s)\w+

This expression matches any word that follows "user " using a lookbehind assertion.


Summary:

PCRE are like the "advanced edition" of regular expressions — highly powerful, widely used, and very flexible. If you're working in an environment that supports PCRE, you can take advantage of rich pattern matching features inspired by Perl.


Link Juice

“Link Juice” is a term from Search Engine Optimization (SEO) that refers to the value or authority passed from one webpage to another through hyperlinks. This "juice" helps influence how well a page ranks in search engine results (especially Google).


In simple terms:

When website A links to website B, it passes on some of its credibility or authority — that’s the "link juice." The more trusted and relevant site A is, the more juice it passes.


Key factors that influence link juice:

  • Authority of the linking site (e.g., a major news site vs. a small blog)

  • Number of outgoing links: The more links on a page, the less juice each one gets.

  • Follow vs. Nofollow: Only dofollow links typically pass link juice. Nofollow links (with rel="nofollow") usually don’t.

  • Link placement: A link within the main content has more value than one in the footer or sidebar.

  • Relevance: A link from a site with related content carries more weight.


Example:

A backlink from Wikipedia to your site gives you a ton of link juice — Google sees it as a sign of trust. A link from an unknown or spammy site, on the other hand, might do little or even harm your rankings.

 


Scalable Vector Graphics - SVG

SVG stands for Scalable Vector Graphics. It's an XML-based file format used to describe 2D graphics. SVG allows for the display of vector images that can be scaled to any size without losing quality. It's widely used in web design because it offers high resolution at any size and integrates easily into web pages.

Here are some key features of SVG:

  • Vector-based: SVG graphics are made up of lines, curves, and shapes defined mathematically, unlike raster images (like JPEG or PNG), which are made of pixels.

  • Scalability: Since SVG is vector-based, it can be resized to any dimension without losing image quality, making it ideal for responsive designs.

  • Interactivity and Animation: SVG supports interactivity (e.g., via JavaScript) and animation (e.g., via CSS or SMIL).

  • Search engine friendly: SVG content is text-based and can be indexed by search engines, offering SEO benefits.

  • Compatibility: SVG files are supported by most modern web browsers and are great for logos, icons, charts, and other graphics.


Happy Path

The "Happy Path" (also known as the "Happy Flow") refers to the ideal scenario in software development or testing where everything works as expected, no errors occur, and all inputs are valid.

Example:

Let’s say you’re developing a user registration form. The Happy Path would look like this:

  1. The user enters all required information correctly (e.g., a valid email and secure password).

  2. They click “Register.”

  3. The system successfully creates an account.

  4. The user is redirected to a welcome page.

➡️ No validation errors, no server issues, and no unexpected behavior.


What is the purpose of the Happy Path?

  • Initial testing focus: Developers and testers often check the Happy Path first to make sure the core functionality works.

  • Basis for use cases: In documentation or requirements, the Happy Path is typically the main scenario before covering edge cases.

  • Contrasts with edge cases / error paths: Anything that deviates from the Happy Path (e.g., missing password, server error) is considered an "unhappy path" or "alternate flow."

 


Second Level Domain - SLD

The SLD (Second-Level Domain) is the part of a domain name that appears directly to the left of the Top-Level Domain (TLD).

Example:

In the domain
👉 example.com

  • .com is the TLD (Top-Level Domain)

  • example is the SLD (Second-Level Domain)


Domain Structure (from right to left):

Level Example
Top-Level Domain .com
Second-Level Domain example
Subdomain (optional) www. or e.g. blog.

More Examples:

Domain SLD TLD
google.de google .de
wikipedia.org wikipedia .org
meinshop.example.com example .com

Why it matters:

The SLD is usually the custom, chosen part of the domain—often representing a company name, brand, or project. It's the most recognizable and memorable part of a domain name.

 


Vite

Vite is a modern build tool and development server for web applications, created by Evan You, the creator of Vue.js. It is designed to make the development and build processes faster and more efficient. The name "Vite" comes from the French word for "fast," reflecting the primary goal of the tool: a lightning-fast development environment.

The main features of Vite are:

  1. Fast Development Server: Vite uses modern ES modules (ESM), providing an ultra-fast development server. It only loads the latest module, making the initial startup much faster than traditional bundlers.

  2. Hot Module Replacement (HMR): HMR works extremely fast by updating only the changed modules, without needing to reload the entire application.

  3. Modern Build System: Vite uses Rollup under the hood to bundle the final production build, enabling optimized and efficient builds.

  4. Zero Configuration: Vite is very user-friendly and doesn’t require extensive configuration. It works immediately with the default settings, supporting many common web technologies out-of-the-box (e.g., Vue.js, React, TypeScript, CSS preprocessors, etc.).

  5. Optimized Production: For production builds, Rollup is used, which is known for creating efficient and optimized bundles.

Vite is mainly aimed at modern web applications and is particularly popular with developers working with frameworks like Vue, React, or Svelte.