Astro
Ships almost no JavaScript by default and renders to static HTML. The fastest option for marketing sites, documentation and anything read more than it is clicked.
- Static output
- Minimal JS
- Great Core Web Vitals
Sites that load fast and convert
Custom builds and integrations
Bounded, auditable, human-approved
Being found, staying fast, staying safe
Websites & Stores · Service 05
Headless separates where your content lives from where it appears. Editors keep working in a familiar admin; the front end becomes a fast, modern application that can serve a website, an app and a kiosk from the same source. It is a real advantage for some businesses and unnecessary complexity for others — and we will tell you which you are.
The idea
In a traditional build, the CMS renders the pages. In a headless build, the CMS only stores and serves content, and a separate front end decides how it looks. Switch between the two below — the pieces rearrange rather than being replaced.
Every visitor request runs PHP, queries the database and builds the page from templates. Simple to reason about, and perfectly adequate for most business websites.
Honest assessment
Most Toronto businesses should not, and saying so costs us work we would rather not take. Tick whatever is true and the panel will give you a straight answer.
The front end
The right choice depends on how dynamic the site is and who maintains it afterwards. All three keep WordPress, Craft or a headless CMS as the editing experience.
Ships almost no JavaScript by default and renders to static HTML. The fastest option for marketing sites, documentation and anything read more than it is clicked.
The default when the front end genuinely behaves like an application — dashboards, personalised content, complex state. More capability, more to maintain.
Where a team already knows Vue or Svelte, or where the interaction sits between a brochure and an app. Same architecture, different flavour.
Scope
The front end is only part of it. The parts that get forgotten — previews, redirects, forms, SEO — are the ones that make or break a headless build.
Deciding what a "page", a "service" and a "post" actually contain, so editors are filling in meaningful fields rather than pasting HTML.
REST or GraphQL exposed cleanly, versioned, and fast enough that a build does not take twenty minutes.
The thing most headless builds get wrong. Editors must be able to see a draft before publishing, or they will stop trusting the system.
Metadata, structured data, sitemaps and canonicals carried across, because a headless front end does not inherit them from the CMS.
Submissions, validation and spam handling rebuilt, since the plugins that handled them no longer render the page.
Builds triggered on publish, preview environments per branch, and a rollback that takes seconds rather than a restore.
Questions
Call back
Leave a number and a good time. We will call you back to talk about what you are trying to build — no charge for the conversation.
Or call us directly +1 (647) 385-5532