
<p>If you haven&#8217;t seen it already. Let me introduce <a href="//honorswp.com" data-type="URL" data-id="htps://honorswp.com" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Honors WP &#8211; https://honorswp.com</a> </p>



<p><strong>Mission: </strong><a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://honorswp.com" data-type="URL" data-id="https://honorswp.com" target="_blank">Honors WP</a> was established in 2021 to help build an eLearning community and offer product solutions. </p>



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter size-medium"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="300" height="269" src="https://arcctrl.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/HonorsWPLogo-300x269.png" alt="" class="wp-image-2911" srcset="https://roysivan.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/HonorsWPLogo-300x269.png 300w, https://roysivan.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/HonorsWPLogo-1024x918.png 1024w, https://roysivan.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/HonorsWPLogo-768x688.png 768w, https://roysivan.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/HonorsWPLogo.png 1031w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /></figure></div>



<p>My goal is to create a new community of teachers, students, and those who maintain and work on websites for them. </p>



<h2>Beta Ready</h2>



<p>At this point HonorsWP is very much in <strong><em>beta</em></strong> as we just get off the ground, polishing the plugins we have, and building the community.</p>



<p>I have a lot to learn about building a better community, but I&#8217;m very excited about this particular community. </p>



<p>I will be talking more about Honors WP in the blog posts to come, <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://twitter.com/royboy789" target="_blank">stay tuned</a>. However, I want to go more into where the idea came from and why I wanted to run with it.</p>



<h2>Love To Teach</h2>



<p>Teaching has always been a passion. When I was in middle school, I had a summer TA job, and I loved it. The students ranged in age from grade 2 though middle school. While some teachers just needed the basic assistance, some let me help them with lesson plans and executing on those plans. Nothing I enjoyed more than being able to see kids learn from me and retain that knowledge the next day and through the summer.</p>



<p>The best part of my day would be when students from previous years would come up to me and still talk about lessons or activities we did together.</p>



<h2>Learning To Code</h2>



<p>My origin story is pretty simple. My mom got me a &#8220;Learn HTML In A Weekend&#8221; Book at Borders, I learned HTML, and fell in love with coding. Through the years I have loved picking up books and cliffnotes on coding, it always makes for a good reference or for new ideas that I wouldn&#8217;t know to Google directly. However, most of my what I&#8217;ve learned, has been done through online courses and videos.</p>



<p>Once I got going with coding and Internet in general, I quickly adopted using video and written tutorials online to learn.</p>



<h2>WordCamps &amp; WPCampus 2016</h2>



<p>Starting in 2014 I started speaking at WordCamps. While this may not take the same format as a classroom, I always opted for developer talks, which are dense and tend to be more educational vs. others. I loved the idea of giving a talk, but educating those who attended on some new piece of code or a new way of thinking about WordPress code.</p>



<p>In 2016 I was very lucky to be invited to <a href="https://2016.wpcampus.org/schedule/javascript-applications/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">speak at</a> the inaugural WPCampus in Sarasota, FL. I did not work in HigherEd but had been working at The Walt Disney Company for a bit already and knew I could give a talk about the JavaScript technologies I had been using with WordPress.<br><br>What I learned is that that enterprise and HigherEd do share many of the many of the same pain points when it comes to technology and development, but also that eLearning wasn’t limited to HigherEd. Most of the people I networked with at WPCampus didn’t even have courses online.</p>



<h2>Lynda Course &amp; Teaching</h2>



<p>At said WPCampus I met <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://twitter.com/mor10" data-type="URL" data-id="https://twitter.com/mor10" target="_blank">Morten Rand-Hendriksen</a> over Thai food, and started talking to him about his experiences teaching online for Lynda (now LinkedIn Learning). I wanted to try teaching course style with audio/video vs. blogs and conference talks. I was invited to <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/royboy789/?trk=lil_instructor" target="_blank">create my first</a> course on Angular 1.x development with WordPress and created a follow up a few years later as Angular developed into new versions, and the REST API became more popular.</p>



<p>I wish I was able to dedicate more time to creating and updating courses in that format, especially on LinkedIn Learning, it is different, and takes a lot more up front work, but love the end product.</p>



<p>I’ve also volunteered to teach code at schools, including my former High School. This was another experience I will never forget. I had a week long lesson plan starting from basic HTML to a simple WordPress site. We showcased all the students work at the end of the project week. </p>



<p>I hope to do things like this again in the future.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1000" height="665" src="https://arcctrl.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/12471802_10101076348156612_2648235632129135133_o.jpg" alt="Teaching a high school class how to code" class="wp-image-2909" srcset="https://roysivan.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/12471802_10101076348156612_2648235632129135133_o.jpg 1000w, https://roysivan.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/12471802_10101076348156612_2648235632129135133_o-300x200.jpg 300w, https://roysivan.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/12471802_10101076348156612_2648235632129135133_o-768x511.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /><figcaption>I really enjoyed spending a week teaching High School students how to code</figcaption></figure>



<h2>Joining Easily Amused &amp; Supporting LearnDash</h2>



<p>When 2020 hit and the pandemic started to take its hold here in the United States, I was furloughed from my role at The Walt Disney Company. While I was very lucky to not be laid off, but knew I had to find some sort of income to subsidize myself and my family till I would return to work.</p>



<p><a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://twitter.com/JamesTryon" target="_blank">James Tryon</a> and I had already worked on small projects together, and had a joint venture, <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://biztender.io/" target="_blank">BizTender.io</a>. I knew that if I wanted to make something out of the time I had, we would need to better team up, and hire people to move fast. All client work went to James&#8217;s company <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://easilyamusedinc.com" data-type="URL" data-id="https://easilyamusedinc.com" target="_blank">Easily Amused</a>, it being an established company in Orlando. Coincidentally, where I was moving to at the time.</p>



<p>James, is a LearnDash specialist and helps support LearnDash users through their Facebook group and webinars, his connecting to LearnDash dates back to the beginning of LearnDash. We had all sizes of LearnDash clients coming in as referrals and saw lots of need within the community to build good products.</p>



<p>It was during this time period we had the conversation to pause our work on BizTender and move all energy to better solutions for LearnDash users, developers, and the WordPress LMS community.</p>



<h2>My Vision for Honors WP</h2>



<p>My vision for Honors WP is to return to my teaching passion, and build a community along the way. While I do not plan to be the only face seen of Honors WP, my vision is that as a community, we can help all developers, users, teachers, students, etc. that use WordPress as a LMS. A community to easily ask questions, get answers, but also have great products that help solve the simple challenges.</p>



<p>If you are a teacher, student, or maintain a LMS site on WordPress, please reach out. As I start to grow a new community, I want to help, and learn as much as I can.</p>



<p><a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://twitter.com/royboy789" data-type="URL" data-id="https://twitter.com/royboy789" target="_blank">Twitter &#8211; @royboy789</a> </p>



<p>Make sure to check out <a href="https://honorswp.copm" data-type="URL" data-id="https://honorswp.copm" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Honors WP</a></p>


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Honors WP: A New LMS Community


<p>For a few years now I&#8217;ve been without a home for myself online. I had my business website (the WP zombie site you&#8217;re reading this on), which folded, and a personal blog. My personal blog I fizzled and let die as it folded into my business. I could never keep up with all the content and where to put it, when I did write. </p>



<p>This left a hole in my life, no place to get ideas out. I hatched a new plan with a new architecture, but more on that in another blog.</p>



<h2>Today</h2>



<p>I was building my new architecture when I realized I was spending way too much time building something I did not have time to build, to do the one thing I wanted to do, write.</p>



<p>I had to find a way to get there quickly, but also be Roy about it, right? Insert <a href="https://twitter.com/Josh412/">Josh</a>.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Carl, do JavaScript. <a href="https://t.co/KFjRmSaQoZ">pic.twitter.com/KFjRmSaQoZ</a></p>&mdash; Josh Pollock (@Josh412) <a href="https://twitter.com/Josh412/status/1378370403362500609?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 3, 2021</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



<h2>Content</h2>



<p>Content is sacred to me, it is a piece of data that you are manifesting. Your content is your thoughts, your passion, your intellect, and to put it anywhere would be a travesty. Especially to put it somewhere where you don&#8217;t have control over where or when that content may disappear or be reused. This is the main reason I have and will always love WordPress as an open source CMS. It allows me to own my content, no SaaS to tell me when my content is now theirs, or worse, going offline &#8217;cause they ran out of money. </p>



<figure class="wp-block-pullquote"><blockquote><p>Content is sacred to me, it is a piece of data that you are manifesting. Your content is your thoughts, your passion&#8230;</p><cite>Roy Sivan<br>expert troll &amp; friend</cite></blockquote></figure>



<p>That being said, sometimes content is more valuable to the world that consumes it when it is not on your own website. I prefer that thought process, where the value of my content is only increased by where it is located.</p>



<h3>GitHub</h3>



<p>Code like any other piece of content is crucial, and is a good use case for when content doesn&#8217;t need to live on my own site. While I will write blog posts here about JavaScript, WordPress, and other pieces of code, the code will all live on my <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://github.com/royboy789/" target="_blank">GitHub</a>.</p>



<p>I don&#8217;t have anything more to say about that.</p>



<h3>My Blog </h3>



<p>Welcome to my blog, this is where I will post very horrifically edited pieces of my brain transformed into Gutenberg blocks.</p>



<p>I plan to hyper focus on three main areas:</p>



<ul><li><a href="https://dev.hiroy.io/category/tools">Things I love, tools I use, or workflow</a></li><li><a href="https://dev.hiroy.io/category/headless-lms">Headless WP LMS</a> &#8211; confused? ya, I&#8217;ll explain later</li><li><a href="https://dev.hiroy.io/category/wordpress">WordPress</a></li><li><a href="https://dev.hiroy.io/category/personal-rants">Personal Rants</a> that don&#8217;t belong anywhere else</li></ul>



<h3>Twitter</h3>



<p>I do not want comments on my blog. If you want to talk or have a conversation about anything I write about, lets take it to an open place where others can enjoy and chime in. I get nothing out of keeping the conversation here. </p>



<p><a href="https://twitter.com/royboy789">https://twitter.com/royboy789</a></p>



<p><strong>Don&#8217;t like</strong> something I have to say? No problem, I love constructive criticism. Bring it to <a href="https://twitter.com/royboy789">Twitter.</a> I&#8217;m happy to openly discuss and maybe you&#8217;ll change my mind.</p>



<h3>Polywork</h3>



<p>There a reason it appears before LinkedIn.</p>



<p>A little while ago my awesome friend <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://twitter.com/tessak22" target="_blank">Tessa</a> introduced me to Polywork</p>



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true"><p lang="und" dir="ltr"><a href="https://t.co/iDLro4S9Aa">https://t.co/iDLro4S9Aa</a></p>&mdash; Tessa Kriesel (@tessak22) <a href="https://twitter.com/tessak22/status/1390656990163111939?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 7, 2021</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



<p>I didn&#8217;t get it, it was LinkedIn but also other things? So I asked for her referral code and signed up, and I got it quickly.</p>



<p>Polywork is going to be the home for my quick updates and between the blog posts, as well as when I don&#8217;t have a blog post in my head.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><a href="https://www.polywork.com/royboy789" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="701" height="594" src="https://arcctrl.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Screen-Shot-2021-05-11-at-9.44.39-PM.png" alt="royboy789 on Polywork" class="wp-image-2806" srcset="https://roysivan.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Screen-Shot-2021-05-11-at-9.44.39-PM.png 701w, https://roysivan.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Screen-Shot-2021-05-11-at-9.44.39-PM-300x254.png 300w" sizes="(max-width: 701px) 100vw, 701px" /></a></figure>



<p>Just spoke at a WordCamp? The video will (hopefully) make it&#8217;s way to <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://wordpress.tv/?s=roy+sivan" target="_blank">WordPress.tv</a> so why do I need to put another video up online? Most likely I&#8217;ll have a blog post related to the topic, as I always do anyway. But the experience and sharing that quick piece of information, <strong><a href="https://www.polywork.com/royboy789" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Polywork</a></strong>. </p>



<p>Just threw something up on GitHub and haven&#8217;t written about it? <strong><a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.polywork.com/royboy789" target="_blank">Polywork</a></strong></p>



<p>There is a lot of potential here, to be the LinkedIn I always wanted it to be. For now the lack of social angle is very appealing. It is a place to put some content in that may or may not fall correctly elsewhere. I can tell the my Twitter followers about something, but that will be gone in a minute. I can write a blog post about it, but that takes time to write and post. Putting it on <strong>Polywork</strong> means 1 place for anyone wondering about what I&#8217;ve been doing and can do.</p>



<p><strong>UPDATE 6/17/2021</strong> &#8211; <br>I have been using PolyWork for about a month now, and over the past few weeks I have ramped up using it at the start of every day. I can go in, post what I&#8217;m working on and see what others are working on. This brings me inspiration, but more importantly, makes me feel like I&#8217;m in a group. Even though I&#8217;ve never met most I follow on PolyWork,  it is like we&#8217;re all working together.</p>



<p>So find me on <a href="https://www.polywork.com/royboy789" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">PolyWork</a> and post what you&#8217;re working on</p>



<h2>Motivation</h2>



<p>At the end of the day, it is about motivation and planning. Can I keep all of this up, again? Why will I not fail again?</p>



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">You’ll fail. Over and over. <br>Fail fast. <br>Learn <br>Start over <br><br>You will win eventually. Just don’t give up on failing. <a href="https://t.co/LTP7zOAxYp">https://t.co/LTP7zOAxYp</a></p>&mdash; Roy Sivan ☮ (@royboy789) <a href="https://twitter.com/royboy789/status/1391877877503778817?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 10, 2021</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



<p>So I fail, at least I tried, and I&#8217;ll try again and again and again.</p>


How Polywork fits into my developer brand


<p>I have been talking about building headless sites since 2014, my first WordCamp talk was about Angular, and using it to build a headless &#8220;theme&#8221;</p>



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-wordpress-tv wp-block-embed-wordpress-tv wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<iframe width='500' height='281' src='https://video.wordpress.com/embed/99I0IsZz?hd=1' frameborder='0' allowfullscreen></iframe><script src='https://v0.wordpress.com/js/next/videopress-iframe.js?m=1435166243'></script>
</div><figcaption>Here is a similar talk (consider it v1.1) I gave at WordCamp Miami in 2015</figcaption></figure>



<h2>Headless in 2021</h2>



<p>The landscape of building headless WordPress websites has shifted. Shifted isn&#8217;t not strong enough of a word. The Headless WordPress community has boomed, and so has the technologies to run and power Headless WordPress.</p>



<p>Soon I&#8217;ll be starting a series on looking at the biggest frameworks that are being used for headless WordPress and doing a deeper dive / comparison, however I want to take a moment to talk about the WordPress side. </p>



<p>Before I choose with API I will be using for the project (I use both REST and GraphQL depending on application), I install <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/headless-mode/" target="_blank">Headless Mode</a>.</p>



<h2>What does Headless Mode do?</h2>



<p>When you are running a true headless WordPress website, the main &#8220;theme&#8221; or output of that WordPress site becomes irrelevant. There are some edge cases here, for example if you are only serving data vs. content via your WordPress site&#8217;s API.</p>



<p>For a typical headless site, I would assume the site face (AKA the theme) would be somewhere else, probably coded in some fancy JavaScripts. This is where &#8220;Headless Mode&#8221; comes in. With a simple configuration and 1 line of PHP, no one will be able to access the WordPress site&#8217;s &#8220;theme&#8221; layer. Instead anyone trying to access your WordPress site via non-admin URLs will be redirected to a URL of your choosing.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1011" height="211" src="https://arcctrl.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Screen-Shot-2021-05-15-at-9.47.56-PM.png" alt="Headless Mode Admin, already ready for me." class="wp-image-2822" srcset="https://roysivan.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Screen-Shot-2021-05-15-at-9.47.56-PM.png 1011w, https://roysivan.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Screen-Shot-2021-05-15-at-9.47.56-PM-300x63.png 300w, https://roysivan.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Screen-Shot-2021-05-15-at-9.47.56-PM-768x160.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1011px) 100vw, 1011px" /></figure>



<p>The best part of it? Their documentation almost had my domain ready to go! </p>



<h2>Effects on site visitors</h2>



<p>You are currently reading this on some variation of hiroy domain (future proofing sentence), while I&#8217;m currently not disclosing the URL of the WordPress website, if you go there, you&#8217;d be redirected right back here.</p>



<p>Did you notice?</p>



<p></p>



<p>If you are migrating to a new headless build from an existing WordPress website and wish to utilize this plugin, make sure you consult with an SEO specialist about creating proper redirects to not lose out on that SEO juice.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="268" height="138" src="https://arcctrl.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Screen-Shot-2021-05-15-at-10.15.55-PM.png" alt="" class="wp-image-2825"/></figure>



<p>Also, make sure that when you put in the PHP code defining the value of <strong>HEADLESS_MODE_CLIENT_URL</strong> that you use an existing URL that loads properly. You don&#8217;t want your visitors end up in an infinite loop, or going to a site you do not own by mistake.</p>



<p>Overall, I would not start any traditional (in my mind) headless WordPress build without this plugin, because it makes a task I&#8217;d probably forget about or overlook, very easy.</p>



<p>Please go check out <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/headless-mode/" target="_blank">Headless Mode</a> and don&#8217;t forget to wish <a href="https://twitter.com/benUNC" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Ben</a> a Happy Birthday!</p>


Headless without Headless Mode? Don’t be crazy.


<p>I&#8217;ve never been shy to show my love for <a href="https://pantheon.io/">Pantheon</a>, when I first met <a href="https://twitter.com/outlandishjosh" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Josh K</a>. at WordCamp San Francisco 2014 and we started talking about <strong>Headless</strong> CMS&#8217;s, I was open to hearing about his hosting company. I&#8217;ll admit, at first I didn&#8217;t see the need and thought it was way over my skills / need. Overkill for the random WordPress clients I had that were fine with their SFTP to production and git for backup.</p>



<h2>Git Workflow</h2>



<p>It was a little while later that I dipped my toe into full GIT controlled workflow and deployment using <a href="https://www.deployhq.com/">DeployHQ</a>, a way to turn git into SFTP, so I could still keep my dev workflow, but push to SFTP on deploy. </p>



<p>I leveled up my git 1 more time when I forced myself to follow feature branches, even within my own personal blogs. I still <strong>try</strong> to keep up with this, but do admit its easy to let go when you are solo-dev&#8217;ing something.</p>



<p>Hosting wise I was using a mix of Dreamhost, WPEngine, and DigitalOcean with ServerPilot. This all worked well for me and I had no issues using these mixes and DeployHQ.</p>



<h2>Environments</h2>



<p>Fast forward to WordCamp Orange county 20 something something. I once again am finding myself having an interesting conversation with <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://twitter.com/outlandishjosh" target="_blank">Josh K.</a> about environments. We were chatting about the state of local, and how all these local setups (then VVV) were working so hard to give you the same environment, locally. </p>



<p>This sounds great, right? </p>



<p>Josh asked me a question I don&#8217;t remember, but it was something like: If you could spin up and have a stable environment that isn&#8217;t local, would you be as worried about having that matching environment? Is there a need?</p>



<p>Honestly, the answer is no. When I am on my computer writing code, the last thing I want to worry about is if my local environment matching the production which I am not working on. I want to be able to spin up and easily see what is happening and not even care about my local environment. I want to code, and be efficient as I can about it.</p>



<p>Josh&#8217;s answer was what Pantheon calls <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://pantheon.io/docs/multidev" target="_blank">Multi-dev</a>. To put it simply, create a git feature branch, have an environment that is identical to prod (or dev) and all you have to do is push code to it. So why do I need to have another copy of that locally if I already have a local setup I work well with?</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image alignfull size-large"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1024" height="287" src="https://arcctrl.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Screen-Shot-2021-05-12-at-10.32.45-PM-1024x287.png" alt="Pantheon Multidev" class="wp-image-2814" srcset="https://roysivan.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Screen-Shot-2021-05-12-at-10.32.45-PM-1024x287.png 1024w, https://roysivan.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Screen-Shot-2021-05-12-at-10.32.45-PM-300x84.png 300w, https://roysivan.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Screen-Shot-2021-05-12-at-10.32.45-PM-768x215.png 768w, https://roysivan.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Screen-Shot-2021-05-12-at-10.32.45-PM-1536x431.png 1536w, https://roysivan.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Screen-Shot-2021-05-12-at-10.32.45-PM-1568x440.png 1568w, https://roysivan.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Screen-Shot-2021-05-12-at-10.32.45-PM.png 1772w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure>



<p>Now in 2021, in the age of <strong>headless</strong>, like this one, can be SUPER impactful. I can spin up a new environment and create a new REST API endpoints or GraphQL query isolated to that environment. When working locally I point to that instance and can work on the feature I want to build. For those keeping track that is 2 feature branches talking to each other, completely isolated from production.</p>



<p>The best part of multidev? Once you are done and happy with your feature, or bug fix, just merge it in and it goes to develop. <strong>EASY!</strong></p>



<h2>Headless WordPress Support</h2>



<p>Since headless WordPress (or any other CMS) has become so popular nowadays, and hosts even offering tailored <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://wpengine.com/atlas" target="_blank">headless solutions</a>, is Pantheon good for headless?</p>



<p>The answer is, yes, but not in a traditional way.</p>



<p>Right now you are reading a headless NextJS blog, powered by Pantheon. Besides someone at Pantheon reading this, there is no real way to know this is a headless site from the Pantheon dashboard. I have a few <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/headless-mode/" target="_blank">plugins</a> that make headless easier/better, but nothing else out of the ordinary.</p>



<p>That being said, if anything changes, I&#8217;ll make sure to update here 😃</p>



<h2>Support and Community</h2>



<p>The Pantheon circle is one that brings almost as much value as the hosting itself. Get into the <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://pantheon.io/docs/pantheon-community" target="_blank">community</a> via Slack or in the forums and you will find people willing to help with you with Pantheon or other issues that may revolve around Pantheon. </p>



<p>Always use the proper support channels for hosting support please.</p>



<p>The community is also unlike other WordPress focused hosts in that Pantheon wasn&#8217;t a WordPress host first. There are experts and users on there that use Drupal, and with that even more knowledge of PHP and other PHP frameworks. If you are use Pantheon, do not miss out on that community.</p>



<h2>Best WordPress Hosting</h2>



<p>You like that SEO fantastic title?</p>



<p>No, Pantheon isn&#8217;t the best WordPress host, but to me that doesn&#8217;t exist. There is the right tools for an application, and sometimes that means I don&#8217;t host on Pantheon. I still have WPEngine accounts, as well as other hosts via clients. LiquidWeb is proving itself to be a &#8220;better&#8221; host for WooCommerce support. So no, no best host.</p>



<p>But as a WordPress developer, there isn&#8217;t much to NOT like about Pantheon.</p>


Hi.

tools

Honors WP: A New LMS Community

How Polywork fits into my developer brand

Headless without Headless Mode? Don’t be crazy.

Why I still love Pantheon