As a result of the challenges with building internal content middleware systems, we’ve seen a new category of service emerge in the last few years. The terms in this space are widespread and changing, but are most commonly referred to as digital experience platforms (DXP) or compositions (DXC).
While we're still in the early days for many of these tools, there's one thing that has become clear — reading content stitched together through an API is not enough. A composable system isn't just about developer conveniences, but about finding efficiencies so that your website can achieve its goals on every level.
Content middleware must be able to both read and write from the content source. And it should be easily wired up to a visual editing experience so that content editors only need to use a single application to edit content.
Most DXC and DXP providers do not offer this ability without getting locked into using other tools and services.
In a monolithic system, the strength of every component in the system is subject to what the service provider could deliver and support.
In a composable system, the strength of every component feels limitless, but comes at the expense of managing each tool or service individually, which can often include building and maintaining underlying infrastructure.
Composable platforms like Netlify are designed to help you continue to work with the tools and services your organization prefers, while lessening the low-level burdens of stitching all these services together.