Been dedicating a ton of time to this goal lately. I released a "SvelteKit template for building CMS-free editable websites" earlier this year and the idea has evolved since. I started out with using Postgres + MinIO for storage, but have switched entirely to SQLite. I also added an in-place image cropper, to resize and optimize images on the client side (WebP output) before uploading and storing them in SQLite. I chose Svelte because it's easy to build classic Web pages (with minimal JS overhead), and at same time implement the reactive layer (e.g. editing) on top of it (will be loaded async). However we are also evaluating the possibility to port this to a LAMP stack at some point. Oh and everything is dynamic here, no build steps involved, edits are live immediately.
Just launched my first client project using this approach:
Yeah, that's a known issue. Mobile browser's shift the viewport (including fixed elements) when the soft keyboard gets activated. There are workarounds, but I haven't found a satisfying one that doesn't introduce other problems.
For now just click "Done" to bring back the toolbar (the selection will be preserved).
These two claims you mentioned are directed towards the end-user, need to make that more clear maybe. The template is aiming at frontend developers, who want to control the layout in code, but allow end-users to make content changes (without having to learn anything).
It's not a page builder for non-technical people. But as a developer or agency you can offer your clients, that you build a website for them, that they can then self-maintain without any friction.
Yeah it's essentially bare-metal web development. Thanks to Svelte and ProseMirror, it's just much easier to enable functionality, which would otherwise only be possible through a CMS. It uses Postgres, but you could use any other database as well.
Thinking about it some more, I agree that a having "static mirror" of the editable site might be a nice thing. But that's for another day to implement. If someone else does I'd be curious to see it in action!
To clarify: It's a different concept. And it's more of a starting point, rather than a solution. Its goal is not to build full-fledged a page builder or prototyping tools (such as Framer or Webflow). The layout is entirely up to the developer (and expressed in code), the content (as in structured data) is made editable. It's how Facebook/LinkedIn/Twitter/Medium etc. work, with the benefit that in many cases, you can edit within the layout. Image upload, drag and drop is all possible. The limit is what you can do with Svelte.
I think you should emphasize that it is based on svelte. You can't fairly call CMS and No-Code solutions complicated when you expect users to know Svelte. That limits your audience to the kind of people (front-end developers) that aren't desperate for such tools. I am using Framer on a project and I'm pretty happy with it.
If you want to go commercial, you could develop a platform for others to contribute building blocks and templates. Something that will pave the way for a no-code tool.
Exactly. This is for frontend developers, who want to control the layout in code, but allow end-users to make content changes (without destroying the layout :P).
If you or your end-users prefer to also define layout and style in a visual interface, that's what CMS and No-Code tools are made for.
As for earning money: I was thinking of creating specific templates (e.g. an editable artist portfolio website) and sell those at a one off price (in a similar way that Tailwind offers paid website templates). But I'm also really happy to do custom work. Like someone comes with a design and I execute it using this approach. I think there's much value for people who want a website but have not technical experience and still want to keep the content of their website up to date themselves. I could offer training for frontend developers to build editable websites with Svelte.
You can always develop sites yourself, but tools are more profitable. "Framer/Webflow for front-end developers". Occupy the niche between framer/webflow and pure Svelte; make developers' work easier?
Yeah I'm a bit undecided. I'm more obsessed with pushing quality than with operating a SaaS business (which can easily turn you from creator to manager). Let's see where this leads. For now I'd be glad to help people with their websites/apps. It's fun and rewarding!
"CMS-free" as in "does not depend on additional software to manage content". Postgres and S3 through MinIO are my preferred choices, but you can change that to anything you'd like to use instead.
Glad you like the in-place editing. I'm also for the first time happy with the experience. You can press CMD+E for editing and CMD+S saving, and there's no layout shift, so it's really convenient for quick edits. :)
> "CMS-free" as in "does not depend on additional software to manage content". Postgres and S3 through MinIO are my preferred choices, but you can change that to anything you'd like to use instead.
Cool! Postgres and an S3-compatible object store area are both listed as requirements, so you may want to update that.
So by "does not depend on additional software", does that means I can just use the filesystem?
https://github.com/PostOwl/postowl/discussions