
Vapid: an intentionally simple CMS - atacrawl
https://www.vapid.com
======
vinayms
Is the name actually "rapid" but as said by Barry Kripke?

But a more serious question is, how is this different from the hundreds of
other CMS? I am not attacking, but just trying to understand what motivated
this and why someone might choose this. As someone who would need a CMS in the
near future I am interested in this genuinely.

Don't say RTFM because I did, but I didn't find anything like "why use
vapid?". Is this point in the gist supposed to be the clincher?

> You only need to know HTML (plus CSS and JS to the extent that your design
> calls for it).

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asadjb
Because in my (somewhat limited) experience with CMSs' the definition of the
data in separate from the layout, which makes sense if you're building a
larger site where separation of view and data makes maintenance easier.

However, if all you're doing is building a 5 page website, it's much simpler
to just put in the configurable parts in the HTML as you're building it and
let Vapid handle the dashboard, which the client can easily use to make small
changes as needed.

~~~
mtberatwork
> However, if all you're doing is building a 5 page website,

Why not cut to the chase and show the client how to use FTP and a text editor?
Why add more complexity beyond that?

~~~
rchaud
For likely the same reason a cleaning service doesn't offer to show the
customer what chemical mixture to use to clean an especially grimy tub or
oven. The customer is paying for the convenience, not a tutorial, and the
cleaners aren't in the "teach a man/woman to fish" business.

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fastball
I like the look of it!

The basic idea has been executed already using PHP by Perch CMS[0], but this
looks like it could be a good alternative (esp. if it's open source!)

0: [https://grabaperch.com/](https://grabaperch.com/)

~~~
egeozcan
I'm a big fan of Processwire (open source), and I also love that you need to
define fields explicitly. Doesn't turn into a circus of what's defined where,
when it gets a little bit complicated? I never tried this model so I'm really
asking.

~~~
fastball
I don't know about Vapid, but with perch it automatically does some
categorization for you. Obviously each page on your site has it's own page in
the CMS for setting variables. You can also subgroup pages into sections,
still just using simple templating functions. And then there is also a
dedicated page for managing your various images/resources.

The main use case I think is for people who build landing pages for other
people.

A static site generator is good if you're building a landing page for
yourself, but if you're building a website for the butcher shop down the road,
they're not gonna want to edit individual markdown files. So you throw in some
Perch (or Vapid) variables and it does the rest for you. Then you can just
give the shop owner a login and they can edit the site as they see fit.

The appeal is to have the ease of a static site generator (you don't have to
develop your HTML with any sort of "CMS" in mind) while actually having that
CMS functionality.

I'm excited about multiple products in this space, because it means I can
probably switch between them in a matter of minutes/hours, realistically.

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saagarjha
Unrelated, but “Vapid” is an interesting naming choice. The word has a clearly
negative connotation, no?

~~~
mankash666
Depends - it's defined as "offering nothing challenging". Creating content for
others to read online has become as essential as being able to write with pen
on paper. So in a sense, a CMS that isn't challenging for the average Joe is
indeed better off being 'vapid'

~~~
saagarjha
Uh, I guess. Usually I equate it with “dull”.

~~~
justtopost
Vapid, to me, is like an agressive ignorance or boredom. Someone uninteresting
and yet proud of their 'basic-ness'. Someone concerned with the valueless
superficial representation over the real article.

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jedimastert
Little nit-pick, but the code in the top image example says

    
    
        {{intro type=html required=false}}
    

But there's still a red star next to intro

~~~
floatingatoll
Fixed!

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unicornporn
[https://getkirby.com/](https://getkirby.com/) is nice, but not open-source.
[https://getgrav.org/](https://getgrav.org/) seems similar.
[https://bolt.cm/](https://bolt.cm/) is perhaps not as sparse, but the best
flat file CMS I've found (SQLite).

~~~
fbnlsr
Kirby is really good. I've tried it a few weeks ago for a simple website (for
which I would have used Wordpress) and it did the job perfectly. It's fast,
efficient, has a great documentation and is really easy to set up. I have
nothing bad to say about this.

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chrismorgan
I’m impressed with the illustration: it does a very good job of conveying just
what the product is. It is, admittedly, much simpler than most products, but
it’s quite an achievement all the same. I imagine that it’s a slight
simplification, but perhaps only very slight.

It looks to have a couple of errors, though: the intro field in it doesn’t
look right: the default editor type is wysiwyg, so I presume there should be a
toolbar there in practice; and it has required=false, so I presume the red
star should be missing.

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zhte415
I read

>The HTML is the CMS Add simple template tags to a static webpage, and Vapid
will automatically generate the dashboard for you. No config files, no other
languages required

While puzzling over the links (curved purple lines with end-points no arrows)
over the image above. Then I guessed, HTML tabs can be added, and webform will
update to reflect to the new tabs added. Right?

This took a good couple of minutes of thinking what this does. I suggest
adding a video or two on the landing page with a demo. A before/after. Perhaps
I'm stupid on not getting this, but I guess a lot of people are far more
stupid than me.

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mxuribe
So, it is not a dashboard for managing a static site...rather, it is a
dashboard for managing static content that gets ultimately served to visitors
via node...is that right? (This is not a criticism, just confirming.)

~~~
leejoramo
I was thinking Vapid is like [http://getlektor.com](http://getlektor.com) and
is a static renderer with a built-in admin UI. But you maybe correct that
node.js is serving the files.

~~~
mxuribe
I loved lektor when it first came on the scene...but can't recall why I
stopped using it. The concept is great: admin UI that outputs static files!
For some reason, i stopped using it, and the last couple of years have been
using hugo...maybe i should revisit lektor. Thanks for this reminder!

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floatingatoll
Their first blog post talking about vapid is at:

[https://medium.com/@hellovapid/hello-vapid-
db3709ad5b82](https://medium.com/@hellovapid/hello-vapid-db3709ad5b82)

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dstick
Nice, was actually checking out Jekyll the other day but this looks 10x better
for the purpose of getting a simple blog up and running without all the WP
bloat.

Will give it a try next week!

~~~
fbnlsr
I've quickly played with it just now and I can't see how you could use Vapid
to create new blog posts. It seems to be a simple dashboard for existing
content, but I couldn't figure out how to create new content.

~~~
coldcode
If it supported markdown content as a type I could almost use it.

~~~
leejoramo
The docs say it supports Markdown. [https://docs.vapid.com/content-
types#html](https://docs.vapid.com/content-types#html)

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knieveltech
I took this for a test drive this morning. In addition to producing a raft of
errors trying to install globally, I ran into a number of issues where the
documentation didn't exactly jive with observed reality. I threw up my hands
and wandered off when pasting example code from the documentation into a
template caused the server to crash. General impression: fun idea, not ready
for prime time.

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ObsoleteNerd
This is great. I've been wanting something like this for a while now.

I really like the website too. Minus the small bugs people have already
mentioned, the actual design and information on the front page is perfect. A
lot of projects shared on HN could learn from this page, tbh (I mean that in
an encouraging way, not an attack, but so many project homepages don't explain
the project very well).

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foxfired
Great tool. Quick feedback: The div with class `.banner` is covering the login
button so it can't be clicked. This on Chrome 68 Desktop.

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Untit1ed
> If you're interested in kicking the tires and are comfortable with dev
> environments, then install the app via these terminal commands.

So is this actually an open-source project, or is the open source just
intended as a preview, and it's expected that production workloads would
always be in the SaaS version?

It looks great but I'm a bit confused by the intention.

~~~
fbnlsr
Same here. The fact that you can request for a closed beta access suggest that
it's not something you could host yourself, but at the end of the page it
shows how to test it yourself. Pretty confusing.

Edit: It says on the medium post: "This is a great way to get familiar with
the app, and prep your site(s) for deploying on the Vapid hosted service." So
yeah looks like it's going to be a SaSS.

~~~
throwaway427
The code is licensed MIT without restrictions and the readme says:

"Vapid can be deployed to any hosting service that supports Node.js."

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lilactown
A few years ago I used a small startup called 900dpi to build a few client
websites that needed to allow the clients to modify certain parts of the
website on the fly.

This seems similar-ish, but with a self-hosted option - which I prefer after
my experience when 900dpi shuttered ;)

Seems useful!

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sleepychu
Neat, haven't played with it but the execution looks great!

Have been working on something similar for a specific niche of CMSs, do you
handle primitive lists/lists of complex types? (E.g. to create nav bars that
can be modified by the CMS)

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atrilumen
This looks really great, thank you!

I might play with it this morning, with Choo!

[https://github.com/choojs/choo](https://github.com/choojs/choo)

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RobGav
I can recommend Publii CMS [https://getpublii.com](https://getpublii.com)

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duncd
I was looking for something like this the other day. I'm definitely trying it
out this weekend!

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VvR-Ox
Really nice concept!

I like systems that keep your work focused & simple.

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thrower123
What a beautiful name for a CMS

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pettou
What are the differences between Vapid and Grav?

~~~
corwin7
Grav is in use on many production sites and their support is amazing. When I
run into an issue they resolve it like I'm on a paid contract. I have a shared
environment with one grav install and a dozen sites which is not a normal
install. Here's a really simple blog:
[https://www.sendthemtomir.com/](https://www.sendthemtomir.com/)

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mankash666
A few demo pages would help visualize the end result, before signing up.

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craftoman
"For people who build websites for other people". The headline is so freaking
hilarious! Haha

