Visual Editing and Kept Promises

Why Visual Editing is the Future of Content Creation

For years, content creation has lived behind the scenes—tucked away in the backend of content management systems (CMS) like WordPress, Sitecore, and Drupal. Editors would fill out fields, save drafts, and then refresh the page (or wait for deployment) to see what things actually looked like. It was slow. It was frustrating. And it often created a gap between what content creators intended and what the user ultimately saw.

But we’re entering a new era—one where content creation feels more like designing a page in real time and less like filling out a spreadsheet.

Live Editing vs. Traditional CMS Editing

Visual, or “live” editing, flips the script. Instead of working with abstract content fields in a CMS, editors get to interact directly with the page: drag-and-drop components, edit text in place, and see how their content will look as they're creating it.

Compare that to the traditional CMS experience:

• No preview lag: You’re editing the actual page, not hoping your changes render correctly later.

• No context switching: You’re not flipping between browser tabs, preview windows, or staging environments.

• More intuitive UX: Writers, marketers, and editors don’t need to understand the backend schema to build beautiful pages.

How Contentful Enables a Hybrid Approach

At its core, Contentful is a headless CMS—which means it separates content from presentation. That’s great for developers, who can use whatever frontend stack they want. But it’s historically been less great for non-technical content creators who want to see what they’re building.

This is where custom programming bridges the gap.

We’ve built custom visual editing layers on top of Contentful’s APIs, allowing our editorial teams to:

• Click on components in a live preview and edit content directly.

• Reorder sections visually without touching a “position” field.

• Instantly preview changes across multiple screen sizes (desktop, mobile, tablet).

Using Contentful’s webhooks, GraphQL APIs, and custom middleware, we synchronize edits with a frontend preview layer—often powered by Next.js or Vercel's Preview Deployments—to give our teams a real-time content experience.

Why This Matters

• Speed: Editors can publish faster because they can trust what they see.

• Empowerment: Non-technical users feel in control of their work. That means fewer developer bottlenecks.

• Accuracy: There’s less risk of breaking layouts, inserting typos, or misjudging how a page flows.

The Bottom Line

Visual editing is more than just a convenience—it’s a productivity multiplier. Tools like Contentful give us the flexibility to build structured content models, while custom engineering unlocks a live editing experience that feels intuitive, fast, and modern.

At the end of the day, your CMS should empower content creators—not slow them down. Visual editing is the key.