Scrivito: The First Serverless Web CMS Based on ReactJS

By Gabriella Pirrone

August 28, 2018

Amazon Web Services, API, B2B, CMS, Content Management System, CRM, developer, Development, JavaScript, ReactJS, SaaS, Scrivito, web development

With the technology industry always changing and innovation forever growing, it’s no surprise that new technology solutions are becoming the norm with businesses looking for a faster way to market but now, “As digital agencies strive for innovation and battle for the best talent, they’re facing a watershed moment in web development.”

Scrivito, a SaaS and modern CMS technology built for digital agencies working with  medium to large sized businesses for B2B, recently announced availability of the first serverless JavaScript-based CMS.

“We think that ultimately everything is changing. We’re on the cusp of a new way of doing things and we want to take advantage of this technology and really push it to the limit. This way we can make a product that speaks to everybody and does something for everybody but really excels at what we were originally after - security, scalability, and flexibility for both editors, developers, and so forth.” said Douglas Patten, Head of Marketing at Scrivito.

“We think that this combination of pretty much just working in React really is accepting into that and really pushing the boundaries of what’s possible right now. Things are going to change and we want to stay ahead of it.”

Thomas Witt, Co-Founder and CTO of Scrivito also commented on the news and described why they built Scrivito and the vision behind the idea of a serverless CMS on React “We built Scrivito to help agencies and companies meet the needs of today’s dynamic website requirements across any device or platform. And this is just the beginning.

We’re at a tipping point. Agencies and dev teams that stick with Wordpress and the like are doomed to be overtaken by the inevitable shift to serverless computing and JavaScript development.”

By taking a serverless approach, ReactJS can be loaded onto a content delivery network and rendered in the browser. Developers are able to access any backend server they want to with this serverless approach.

This is a big advantage in development because everything takes place in the browser, the company explained. Gone are the days of having to constantly preview what your code looks like. With a serverless approach, developers are able to see those changes instantly. This means that the “turnaround times for developers are much, much faster than they used to be before,” said Thomas.

The ReactJS and Serverless CMS Epidemic

React (also known as React.js or ReactJS) is a JavaScript library for building user interfaces. It is maintained by Facebook and a community of individual developers and companies. React can be used as a base in the development of single-page or mobile applications.

Below, I’ve outlined the five points that Thomas believes will help execute a serverless web development revolution.

1. Evaluate your web development tools against JAMstack requirements and go serverless - Put aside how you used to define “the stack” – and the operating systems, specific web servers, backend programming languages and databases that went with it. JAMstack suggests a new approach in line with serverless computing: a modern web development architecture based on client-side JavaScript, reusable APIs (custom built or third party) and prebuilt Markup (static code that is evaluated in the browser at runtime.) By evaluating your tools against JAMstack guidelines, you’ll be better prepared to create seamless, interconnected, secure experiences cost effectively and at scale. Stop running servers and databases and connect directly to your serverless APIs from JavaScript/ReactJS.

2. Know when to use React - Are you re-launching a site? Needing to create an ecommerce site with interesting SEO content? Quickly fire up a microsite or event site that demands a rich experience, but only lives so long? React is a great choice in these scenarios. In fact, in some cases, building a site with React is a better choice than building an app; you can maximize resources, cut costs and slash deployment cycles.

3. Take advantage of a component-based approach to go at your own pace - By breaking down the functionality of a site into components – independent, encapsulated and reusable pieces – React makes it possible to leverage a degree of prefabrication to integrate into your site in small steps and lower cost and effort. You’re no longer limited to a templated approach of legacy CMS; once you implement an element from the library of components (e.g. CRM integration), you can easily reuse it across projects – a big win for a digital agency managing multiple client sites, or an organization with sites for different countries and products.  

4. Make load speed a priority - Whether your motivation is consumer experience, or the fact that Google is now ranking load speed on both desktop and mobile, you need to establish the fastest desktop and mobile experience possible, turning it in a more native app-like experience. And this applies not just for the initial page, but also for every subsequent page, as well as for assets like images and videos which should reside on a global CDN by default.

5. End the constant friction between app development and web development teams - As the lines between websites and apps continue to blur, connecting web and app development can speed up development and save you money. With the mobile framework React Native, you can create cross-platform native apps by recycling code – write code once and repurpose it for mobile rather than creating two completely separate instances.
   
   The web development revolution is all about speed, security and interactivity. And those ready to update their approach will be rewarded with removing huge obstacles in the development cycle and competitive advantage that can’t be matched with legacy systems.

Ending Notes

The serverless architecture is one of the hottest trends in cloud computing this year, and for good reason. There are several technical capabilities and business factors that come together to make this approach very compelling from both an application development and deployment cost perspective.

So, why is serverless architecture so attractive and quickly becoming the preferred architecture for many developers? Well, allowing to create and fine-tune products efficiently without having to bear the burdens is said to be an important factor as well as the below mentioned by Amazon Web services:

• No operating systems to choose, secure, or manage
• No servers to right size, monitor, or scale out
• No risk to your cost by over-provisioning
• No risk to your performance by under-provisioning

It will be interesting to see what other CMS platforms will follow along in 2018 and beyond. Be sure to stay tuned here on CMS-Connected!
 

Gabriella Pirrone

Gabriella is the Digital Marketing Assistant for CMSC Media. She brings a wealth of knowledge from not only a CMS perspective but also content, SEO and eCommerce. She enjoys everything social media and staying ontop of the latest trends in the digital marketing world.