Headless PWAs

Deliver unbeatable time-to-market without sacrificing quality—or breaking the bank

Challenge

Progressive Web Applications (PWAs) are gaining preference over native apps for certain uses, thanks to their faster time to market, customer preference, features such as SEO, and usability. However, the complexity of developing truly transformative PWAs means that it can often take much longer to build and launch them, especially if using an unfamiliar system in the design process. 

Knowing these issues, Jahia proposed a challenge to partner and boutique digital experience agency ALTOLA Inc.: Create a new web application utilizing Jahia’s technology as a headless CMS, without having used the software before. 

Oh, and do it in two weeks.

The Stack

jContent is built on Jahia, the most adaptable, flexible (and affordable) architecture for great digital
experiences, everywhere. Designed around the concept of “digital made simpler,” jContent delivers all the tools of a headless, or decoupled, CMS including all the benefits of an enterprise-grade software such as quick integrations. Developers are easily able jump in, even if they aren’t familiar with Java, and get to work speedily—critical to building PWAs.

For ALTOLA, this process was relatively quick. After familiarizing themselves with Jahia’s software, within a week ALTOLA was able to fully flesh out their content within jContent and build out an in-progress application using React, and then easily tie the content into the app using a GraphQL API, then snap in personalization and behavioral tracking. This was day seven.

Implementation

Next to application stability, nothing is more important for a successful PWA than being fast to market. Customer needs change constantly, and organizations must be flexible enough to react to—and even predict— those changes and deliver experiences that delight them.

On a two-week development challenge, ALTOLA completed their PWA within eight days after testing and fixing minor issues. The end result is particularly impressive.

"I was impressed by the speed and how flexible Jahia is. It feels like a rock-solid, stable platform that can be used as a true headless CMS with modern API layer and the additional benefits of using personalization and tracking."Alex Shyba, Co-founder, Altola