My new favorite topic when it comes to Sitecore. I feel like a kid in a candy shop when I think about all the possibilities with Sitecore JSS. I'm going to give you an overview of the technology. 

# TLDR overview
Sitecore JSS stands for Sitecore Javascript Services. This gives Sitecore a headless CMS option while not giving up on functionality. Sitecore will have its first true SPA experience with JS frameworks. Communicating with GraphQL to query data from Sitecore. Sitecore developed its own JS framework libraries for popular frameworks. Features like WYSIWYG editor, analytics, personalization, A/B testing are all supported with JSS.

Sitecore currently supports the following languages.

- Angular
- React 
- Vue
- React Native


# The goal of Sitecore JSS
What is Sitecore JSS trying to achieve? Well, Sitecore has always been amazing at being a CMS and an analytics platform. From a technical standpoint, these are both backend heavy areas. 
In recent years the frontend development tools have been rapidly changing. With new tools yearly if not monthly. As of recently, front-end tools have been slowing down and coming to a standard. This lets Sitecore leverage them with the already feature-rich application. 

# Community Reaction
Sitecore JSS is still very new to the Sitecore community. I don't think many people are currently using JSS. It's not uncommon to find people using Sitecore with Web forms. Currently, the standard is ASP.net MVC and I expect it to stay that way for a few years. Some developers are going to steer clear of JSS for as long as they can.  
I've seen a mix of worried developers and completely excited developers (That's me! :D).  

# Features it retains
With a whole new development stack, you might be wondering which features are maintained.

## Personalization
Sitecore handles personalization seamlessly in the background. From a developer standpoint, you won't have anything new to do here.

## Analytics
Typically Analytics are all done on the Server. If we move everything to the client side how do we track users? Well, you have 2 different options now.

### Server side
Using the Layout Service you can track when a user asks for specific data. This will work for anything that is route based like page views. It's important to have a cookie on the client which is already done for you by JSS.

### Client side
You will use the JSS Tracker for Client-side analytics. Since you don't have access to the server you will need to send Events to it. This is completely unrestricted in what you can track. Enabling you to track button clicks or page view time. You will also need to send a cookie from the client to follow the user.

### Sitecore Localization 
This is managed by the server. It will send you back the correct language context. The parameter you will need to pass is "sc_lang" for layout service. 

### Currently supported fields
Sitecore Layout service currently supports the following field types. 
- Rich Text
- Image
- General Link
- Date / DateTime
- Checkbox
- Links (Droplink, Droptree, Grouped Droplink)
- Multi-links (Multilist, Checklist, Treelist, and their variants)
- Number
- File
- Plain text (Single-line text, Multi-line text)

Other fields are supported as raw text

### Placeholders
These are kept intact and I would look into how each of the frameworks (Angular, React and Vue) and used. They all are different but keep to the way the languages handle components.

That's just a quick overview of Sitecore JSS. I recommend reading more on the JSS docs [HERE](https://jss.sitecore.com/ "Sitecore JSS documentation").


Banner: What is Sitecore JSS

Link: What is Sitecore JSS

What is Sitecore JSS?

Article

If you are new to Sitecore this is your one stop shop to get involved.

The community is my favorite part about Sitecore. It’s full of passionate developers who are supportive.
# Sitecore community Slack
We have a Slack channel! Here you can find other developers asking questions, talking about the latest news or joking about having changed default password to "c" to be clever.


I would recommend taking a look at the [website](https://sitecore.chat/) for rules and how to join. 

# Twitter
The best place to follow specific community members. People will typically be talking about sitecore modules, events or news. 
### Noteable twitter tags

- [#Sitecore](https://twitter.com/hashtag/Sitecore "Sitecore Twitter Tag")
- [#LearnSitecore](https://twitter.com/hashtag/LearnSitecore "Learn Sitecore Twitter Tag")
- [#SitecoreJSS](https://twitter.com/hashtag/sitecorejss "Sitecore JSS twitter tag")

# Sitecore User Groups
This is by far the best way to connect with your local community. I attend the Toronto user group regularly. To find your local meetup, google search "(your city) Sitecore user group". You should beable to find one, if not create your own! 

# Sitecore Stack Exchange
Similar to the above Slack channel, but more geared towards harder questions. Not much else to say here other than enjoy! [Link](https://sitecore.stackexchange.com/)


# Sitecore Symposium
Sitecore Symposium is Sitecore’s biggest event of the year. Here you can connect with developers and clients. The event runs multiple days with different panels and presentations. Sitecore will also annouce news. I’ve been every year since I started using Sitecore. I always learn tricks and meet new people when I attend.

If your interested in learning more you can contact me on social media or by email (Allan.ferencz@devunleashed.com)

Banner: Sitecore Community

Link: Sitecore Community

Overview of the Sitecore Community

Interested in knowing the most important Sitecore Features? Look no further, I'm going to take you through them.

## Modular Architecture
One of my favorite features is its modular architecture. Sitecore components are built to be reusable and extensible. This allows content authors to build entire pages by themselves without needing to wait for developers. 


I’ve always thought of developing on Sitecore similar to how you build with lego. Sitecore developers create lego blocks for content authors. Content authors can arrange them to build anything they want. Over time you ask developers for larger, taller, or thinner blocks. The longer you have your site the more type of blocks the developers build. This empowers content authors to feel like they own the website.


##### Interesting Fact: The lego group also uses Sitecore. They won the [Best community Site](https://www.sitecore.com/company/press-and-media/press-releases/2012/12/soty-denmark "Best Community Site") from Sitecore back in 2012. 


## Personalization 

Sitecore helps marketing teams translate their vision for the customer's journey to the Website. Companies spend a lot of time and money figuring out their target audience. Sitecore allows you to match profiles to those users.


Sitecore allows you to alter the entire site based on simple flags like "User is x persona". You can change all the content on the site just for them. 


## Content-based CMS

Sitecore allows you to manage content separate from your pages. This allows for content reusability as multiple pages can use the same content. 

Depending on your CMS you might need to alter the content in multiple locations.  

In Sitecore its all done by adding a single piece of content. Here you fill in the information once and use it use all over your website. This way you don’t have 12 different places you need to fix that spelling mistake.


## Multisite
Typical CMS solutions allow for a single website to be maintained. When you want to create another website you need to spin up a whole new project. Then you need another login account and password. This becomes confusing when you have 12 different account details.


Sitecore comes with a multi-website solution out of the box. Since Sitecore's goal is to be your marketers “One stop location to reach all channels”. Sitecore manages multiple websites at a single time. In a single instance, this gives you the ability to take components from one website to another. This maximizes developers time doing important tasks.


## Analytics
Sitecore comes with extensive analytics features. These allow you to track your users. 

To list a few
- Average duration
- Bounce rate
- Convertion rate
- Entry pages
- Exite pages
- Monetary Value per Visit
- Time on page

Now you might be thinking this is all great, but I have google analytics. Well, now a day google analytics is blocked by most ad blocking software. Since Sitecore is managed server side you don't have the same problem. Its also blocked less often by ad blockers.

Another key point is you don't give all your data to a third party company. You own all your users' analytics data.

Sitecore also allows you to leverage analytics directly on the site. For example, Sitecore has integrated A/B testing which can automatically change components based on the metrics you care about.

## WYSIWYG Editor that works
Sitecore comes built with a sweet WYSIWYG editor. The editor is designed to look exactly like your final website. The editor allows content authors to add components to the page by dragging and dropping them.

From a developers perspective, editors are typically nightmares. Well with Sitecore its actually easy to develop on. Sitecore comes with .net libraries you use to make the editor work seamlessly. 


Those are the features that make Sitecore a powerful CMS.

Banner: Getting Started with Sitecore

Link: Getting Started with Sitecore

The 6 Most Important Sitecore Features

# Overview
Sitecore provides certifications and training. Sitecore structures its courses online or in person. Some courses only exist in person. From my personal experience certifications are worth it. After 6 months of developing on Sitecore, the online course made a huge difference in code quality. I can't recommend it enough. You also need it to download the latest Sitecore versions and packages.

#### In order to access the [Developer Sitecore portal](https://dev.sitecore.net/ "Developer Sitecore Portal") you will need to be a certified developer.

# Getting a Sitecore license
Sitecore has made getting up and running with the platform easier than ever before. You can now get a developer trial license for the Platform. You can fill out a form [here](https://www.sitecore.com/getting-started/developer-trial "Trial Sitecore License"). Most people I know started learning Sitecore from being hired into a developer position. This is a huge progress for the whole community.


## Online Courses
The online courses are structured into chapters. The courses are all on Sitecore's training platform. They have a series of videos and exercises. Typically, a chapter will explain why a part of Sitecore exists. It will show you how to use it and then gives you an exercise to try yourself. Your progress is kept track for you. At the end of the course, you have one shot at the certification exam. 

#### Sitecore has courses for marketers and business users. It's good to know if you need to recommend them or want a less technical starting point.

### In Class Training
Each class is run over consecutive days. They will take you from zero to a Sitecore certified developer! I've never done an in-person class. For me, the online courses have been fantastic. For that reason, I can't personally recommend them, but I've heard good things from peers. A great option if you want to be certified fast.

Here you can learn more about what's offered for your region.
- [America classes](https://ustraining.arlo.co/ "America Classes")
- [EMEA and Asia](https://www.sitecore.com/services-and-support/training/classroom-training "EMCA and Asia")
- [Australia & New Zealand](https://sitecore.arlo.co/au/ "Australia and New Zealand")


# Online Courses Overview


| Course     | Cost | Knowledge level |
| ---------- | ---------- | ---------- |
| [Sitecore® Developer Foundation 9.0](https://elearning.sitecore.net/Public/ContentDetails.aspx?id=4D65DA79A42744A59B68DAF2895770BE "Sitecore Developer Foundation 9")       | Free | Beginner |
| [Sitecore® Experience Platform™ Essentials for Developers 9.0](https://elearning.sitecore.net/Public/ContentDetails.aspx?id=BC286B8A482C49BD8CB52CE507B666D0 "Sitecore Experience Platform Essentials for Developers 9")       |  $1500.00 USD | Beginner |
| [Sitecore Experience Commerce™ Overview 9.0](https://elearning.sitecore.net/Public/ContentDetails.aspx?id=ACC9E1058EF4443F92C9FCF491A5A42B "Sitecore Experience Commerce Overview")       |  $750.00 USD | Intermediate | 
| [Sitecore Experience Commerce™ Essentials 9.0](https://elearning.sitecore.net/Public/ContentDetails.aspx?id=33F8841A239D487BBDDDA708E685CBAA "Sitecore Experience Commerce Essentials")       |  $1500.00 USD | Intermediate |

# In class Courses Overview (America)
| Course     | Duration | Cost | Knowledge level |
| ---------- | ---------- | ---------- | ---------- |
| [Sitecore® Experience Solution Developer 9.1](https://ustraining.arlo.co/courses/21-sitecore-experience-solution-developer-91 "Sitecore® Experience Solution Developer 9.1")       | 4 Days | $2,850.00 USD | Beginner |
| [Implementing Sitecore Experience Commerce™ 9.0.2](https://ustraining.arlo.co/courses/14-implementing-sitecore-experience-commerce-902 "Implementing Sitecore Experience Commerce 9.0.2")       |  4 days  | $2,850.00 USD | Intermediate |
|   [Sitecore® Helix Technical Workshop 9.1](https://ustraining.arlo.co/courses/4-sitecore-helix-technical-workshop-91 "Sitecore Helix Technical Workshop 9.1")    | 2 Days | $1,900.00 USD | Intermediate |


# Recommendations

- Take a beginner level class to start.
- You will need to be a Sitecore certified developer. This will allow you access to the Developer portal and create support tickets.
- Work on getting commerce certified only if you know you have a project coming up or could at any moment using commerce. I wouldn't take this unless you are already a certified developer.
- Helix is generally used across all new projects. If you have the opportunity I suggest taking the Helix course.


If you are interested in learning more you can contact me on social media or by email (allan.ferencz@devunleashed.com)




Banner: What is Sitecore

Link: Sitecore Certifications

Sitecore Certifications for Developers

Developers

Sitecore 9

I love giving new technologies a try to see what's new and innovative. Sadly with Strapi, I was disappointed.

# The Appeal
I was working on a new project and ran into JAM stack. It's perfect for what I need and allows me to try cutting edge technologies. I recommend looking up more about JAM stack as I'm not going to jump into that here. I stumbled upon Strapi over at [HeadlessCMS.org](https://headlesscms.org/ "HeadlessCMS.org").

Strapi is a relatively new CMS, since October 2015. Stapi calls itself a "powerful node.js Headless CMS option" which I agree with. Strapi is growing in popularity with 13,908 stars on GitHub and growing at nearly twice if not triple any other headless option. The interface looks polished and has good reviews online. It has GraphQL which added extra points for me. I checked out the community and found it quite active. After reviewing the above I said, "Well I have to try it now".

# Initial setup
Strapi was fast to set up. It uses Node with MongoDB, but you can select other database options. 

Database Options (Note restricted by specific database versions)
- PostgreSQL
- MongoDB
- SQLite
- MySQL
- MariaDB

Not too bad if you ask me. It was simple to run and get started. I had zero complaints during set up especially compared to a CMS like Sitecore/AEM for set up.

# Development
I found Strapi was a great experience overall with simple to use API. It uses CRUD and allows for customizable permissions. This allows you to restrict access to specific content. You can also pass optional parameters to filter and sort. All of this is configured in the Strapi interfaces.

# User Interface
The interface is one of the better ones out there for a CMS. I could very easily give this to a client and have them happy with the overall experience. Editing content is also straight forward and clearly separates your content types. 

# Problems
I started to run into the following issues while developing.

### Plugins
Installing plugins on windows doesn't really work. I wanted to use the Graph QL library and every time they installed it would show successful than not work. When searching online it was a common problem. In the end, I could live without it.
### Feature List
The feature list isn't very long. I ran into functionality that I commonly expect like workflows, localization, duplicating content, etc. My biggest issue is when you create and save a piece of content it's live. That's the entire flow right now. I've checked the upcoming features and it's in progress, but I really need it. 
### Content-Type Search
You can't filter by related content types. For example, you can create tags and link them to your articles. ts common to want to filter by a specific tag. With Strapi You can't filter articles with a related tag. The feature looks like it's in progress, but for a long time(like 2017 long). I'm not sure where the feature currently stands. This seemed like a common pain point online. 
### Modifying after content type changes
Modifying content fields doesn't always work. If after the fact you have a new requirement to change your template the process felt buggy. It was inconsistent for me, but I ran into instances where I updated my fields and it wouldn't let me save my content anymore. I had to delete all of my content before it started to work again. I ran into this multiple times and wanted to flip a table every time.
### Deleting stopped working
The final straw was when I started to develop a new feature and went to delete an item, but it didn't delete. It wouldn't let me even click the button. I just couldn't delete it for what looked completely random. I would start the instance and eventually, it would work. As soon as this started happening I canned the CMS from my project. 

# Conclusion
I recommend looking over the features Strapi comes with and looking at the road map [Here](https://portal.productboard.com/strapi/tabs/2-under-consideration "Road map") before you decide to use it. That's why I can't recommend Strapi quite yet. It has potential but needs time.


Dev Unleashed