Zesty.io provides a feature-rich environment for templating and coding, allowing you to shape your content management system (CMS) to fit your exact needs. The "code" section of Zesty.io uniquely let's organization manage virtual code files that enables controls over dynamic presentations or custom data outputs in additional external code management in application bases like next.js, Angular, Nuxt, etc.

For headless implementations, Zesty.io provides out of the box APIs to connect to static site or server side generator frameworks. With Zesty, content models schema are synchronized to local code bases with a file system that matches the organization schema in Zesty CMS.

This article will summarizes key templating concepts, including view editing, template view versions, custom data files, stylesheets, JavaScript, LESS and SASS compiling, design and styling headless variables, and API access from VSCode. Each concept is linked to a more in-depth article on the topic.

When headless isn't an option, content view editing in Zesty.io is a convenient feature that allows you to alter the HTML structure, CSS styling, and Javascript scripting of your content pages directly. This enables you to define the structure of your content, aligning with your design requirements. Within the CMS, content editors can preview their content changes in view templates, you can make changes in real-time and instantly see how they affect your layout.

In headless mode, views are configured to match the content models (think Articles or FAQs) making content instantly replicable by the business team and easily editable by the developers.

Learn more about View Editing in Zesty.io

Zesty.io's Parsley is a dynamic and user-friendly templating language designed to facilitate easy and effective content management. Parsley can be used with or without headless implementations. Its straightforward syntax and robust capabilities allow businesses to create flexible, personalized content experiences. With features like access to all content, conditional logic, loop iterations, URL parameters, custom functions, direct SEO meta access, multi-language support, and easy third-party integrations, Parsley offers businesses a comprehensive solution to optimize their content presentation. Its built-in error handling ensures a seamless, high-performing user experience, making Parsley an invaluable tool for any organization aiming to excel in their digital content strategy.

Parsley is used to create dynamic presentation layers using Zesty.io virtualized template file systems. It's speed for creation and deployment to production is unmatched when it comes to creating business marketing or sales pages.

Parsley can also be used to create custom data structure outputs designed to integrated into any system from the latest video games to legacy business systems.

Learn more about Parsley

Custom Data Files in Zesty.io allows organizations to coordinate zesty stored date with external data to be accessed across your templates or applications. These could include any type of data like JSON, XML, flat files and more. This feature is particularly useful for accessing data in ways that doesn't work with default conventional outputs. Custom Data output files can include any data from content models, global settings, styles parameters, instructions or other site-wide data. Custom files can also be used to transmute external legacy data into more adaptable modern formats.

Learn more Custom Data Files

Zesty.io supports versions of all code files (views and others) created in the hybrid cloud, enabling you to reference and diff historical versions of your views files, templates, and custom data files. This is beneficial when making substantial changes or updates, as you can safely experiment in a sandboxed version before pushing changes to the live template. Each change is associated to a user or developer token. External git flows can also be used alongside the VSCode plugin.

Learn more Code Versioning Capabilities

Zesty.io supports the creation and editing of stylesheets within its platform. Stylesheets have access to business user editable variables for colors, font types, font sizes, margin sizes and more. Users can write and manage CSS files directly in the system, providing great flexibility when it comes to designing and styling a site. The platform's live preview feature can be used to view the effects of stylesheet changes in real time.

Learn more Stylesheet Capabilities

JavaScript integration in Zesty.io allows for the creation of dynamic and interactive elements on your pages. You can write and edit JavaScript files directly within the CMS, with changes dynamically reflected in your live site preview.

Zesty.io supports both LESS and SASS, popular CSS pre-processors that extend the functionality of regular CSS. These tools add useful features like variables, mixins, and functions, and can dramatically speed up CSS development. Zesty.io automatically compiles LESS and SASS into CSS, streamlining the styling process and optimizing performance.

In a headless CMS context, Zesty.io provides the ability to create and manage design and styling variables that can be used across all templates. This is particularly beneficial in a headless setup where frontend design might take place in a separate system or framework, but you still want to maintain some level of control and consistency across designs.

With Zesty.io, you can access its API directly from Visual Studio Code (VSCode). This integration allows developers to fetch data, manipulate content, and even push changes to the CMS directly from their preferred development environment. It fosters a seamless workflow, enabling developers to work more efficiently.

With its rich set of features and tools, Zesty.io provides an extensive environment for templating and coding, making it a robust platform for developing custom websites and applications. By leveraging these features, developers can create a unique and dynamic user experience tailored to their business requirements.

Various modern front-end frameworks are supported by Zesty.io, allowing developers to build dynamic, responsive, and highly interactive user interfaces. This article provides a summary of the key supported frameworks including Nuxt, Next.js, React, Angular, Ember, Svelte, and Vue.js.

Nuxt

Nuxt is a powerful framework based on Vue.js. It is designed to create Universal Vue.js applications, simplifying the development of complex applications. Nuxt offers server-side rendering, static site generation, and a robust routing system. Its modular architecture allows developers to choose over 50 modules for enhancements, such as Progressive Web Apps (PWA) support, and automatic optimisation of files.

Next.js

Next.js is a React-based framework for server-rendered or statically exported JavaScript applications. It allows for efficient code sharing and component reuse, making it easier to maintain and expand your application. Next.js features automatic server rendering and code splitting, smart bundling, route pre-fetching, and built-in CSS support.

React

React is a JavaScript library for building user interfaces, maintained by Facebook. React is known for its component-based architecture and the virtual DOM, which optimizes rendering in the browser and improves application performance. It also supports server-side rendering and can be used to build mobile applications through React Native.

Angular

Angular is a TypeScript-based open-source front-end web application framework led by the Angular Team at Google. Angular is a complete solution in itself, offering a lot of inbuilt features including data binding, dependency injection, forms, HTTP services, and more. It supports both Single Page Applications and Mobile apps.

Ember

Ember is an open-source JavaScript web framework that allows developers to build scalable single-page web applications. It follows the Convention Over Configuration (CoC) principle and the Don’t Repeat Yourself (DRY) principle, which makes it a highly opinionated framework. Ember provides a complete solution which includes data management and application flow.

Svelte

Svelte is an innovative new approach to building user interfaces. Unlike traditional frameworks, Svelte is a compiler that converts your declarative components into efficient JavaScript code that surgically updates the DOM. This results in faster runtime performance and a smaller bundle size, which is highly advantageous for performance-critical applications.

Vue.js

Vue.js is a progressive JavaScript framework for building user interfaces. It is designed from the ground up to be incrementally adoptable, making it easy to integrate with other libraries or existing projects. Vue.js also offers advanced features required for complex applications such as routing, state management and build tooling.

Each of these frameworks has its unique strengths and features. Choosing the right one depends on the specific needs and constraints of your project.