Sitecore Site Creation: A Comparison of SXA and Headless SXA

 

Objective:

Are you thinking about using Sitecore for your website development? If so, you might be wondering whether to use Sitecore Experience Accelerator (SXA) or Headless SXA. In this post, we'll examine the differences between these two methods and help you determine which one is best for your project. Its totally depend on the business context and load model.

To design your site using SXA:

Sitecore SXA brings Sitecore in competition with other easy to use CMS with enterprise capability.
SXA empowers teams to collaborate effectively, streamline website creation, and maintain brand consistency. Its flexibility and scalability make it an excellent choice for enterprise CMS solutions.
Few of SXA core enterprise CMS capabilities are:

• Parallel Work Streams
• Responsive Grid Layouts
• Reusable Renderings and Components
• Themes for Brand Consistency
• Page Designs for Consistency and Flexibility
• Customizing Renderings with Variants

 

But what about Headless SXA? This approach is in high demand, but it comes with own baggage which doesn't require to be carried out by every business needs. To bridge the gap between these SXA decoupled approaches and headless approach Sitecore introduced headless SXA.


Sitecore Headless SXA and normal Sitecore SXA:
It serves distinct purposes and has different characteristics. Let’s explore their differences:Native Sitecore SXA (Sitecore Experience Accelerator):

• Purpose: SXA is designed to accelerate website development by providing a componentized library of pre-defined HTML elements. These components include carousels, image containers, buttons, and more.
• Features: Drag-and-drop interface: Content authors can easily create wireframes and package HTML for front-end styling.Wider support for grids and friendly front-end tools like Vue.
• Limitations: The HTML output is predefined by Sitecore components, which may restrict design flexibility.
• Pros: SXA allows for rapid website delivery and ease of use for content authors.
• Cons: Creativity may be limited due to predefined HTML components.

 Sitecore Headless SXA (based on Sitecore JSS):

• Purpose: Headless SXA follows a headless CMS approach, allowing front-end developers more flexibility.
• Features: Front-end developers can translate every pixel from the design process. Sitecore JSS features enable connections with oData references, which are transportable and plug into Sitecore. Unlike regular SXA, headless SXA lacks the drag-and-drop editing experience.
• Pros:  Ideal for creating a customized user experience (UX).Headless architecture: Seamless integration with modern JavaScript frameworks.
• Cons: Maintenance practicality: Managing a website with the experience editor may favor regular SXA.

Which Approach Should You Take?

So, which approach should you take? It really depends on your specific needs and goals. You may want to consider using both approaches side-by-side or for different use cases (e.g., campaign sites, master sites, multi-tenant setups, e-commerce stores, portals, or micro-sites). Evaluate the outcomes and development lifecycle of your project to choose the approach (headless or SXA) that best meets your requirements. Evaluate outcomes and development lifecycle: Choose the approach (headless or SXA) based on the specific requirements of each project.



In summary, regular SXA prioritizes speed and ease of use, while headless SXA offers greater flexibility for front-end development. The choice depends on your project’s unique needs and goals!