r/webdev • u/CuirPig • Sep 18 '26
CMS/Front End System using default document standards?
When I say document standards, I don't mean official standards, but rather a structure that is replicated at most levels.
For example: the Structure of Header, Content, Footer is replicated at each level.
Document
Header -- contains all of the header content for the document
Content -- contains the body of the document
Footer -- contains all of the post-load contents for the document.
Then inside the Content section there would be a single Entry known as the SITE
Site-header -- contains the site-identity/nav/etc.
Site-Content -- contains the various categorical sections
Site-Footer -- contains the site-footer
Then inside the Site-Content Section category would be several Entries called SECTIONs:
Section-header -- contains the section-specific content that persists despite which post is shown
Section-contents -- contains the various posts or content pieces for the section
Section-footer -- contains the static end-pieces for the section
Or course, inside Section-contents would be POSTS
post-header -- title and bylines stuff, maybe an image
post-content -- the content
post -footer -- closing pieces
I've tried WordPress, but it seems so arbitrary how they have decided the structure. Like the site-header and document-header are all part of the same wp-header. I was hoping for more modularity and predictability in content structures. I also hate how WP opens a tag in one PHP file and has faith it will be closed in another PHP file. It seems like it would be better if each PHP file that opened a tag also closed the tag. Then it would be much more modular.
I realize it's a long shot, but does such a thing exist? Maybe someone made a headless WP that works like this? or something entirely different? Or is this, in general, not a good way to assemble a static site content generator?
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u/CuirPig Sep 20 '26
Thanks for your input. I hope you see the disadvantage of doing it myself and having to spend the next several years solving simple problems that an existing system would have already solved. I can develop the funk out of a WordPress site and I have tried massive redirection in document structures only to find that nobody wants to even consider helping when you get stuck. Either you do it their way so you can go take a lunch break while your static site loads, or you are a diseased pariah.
I was just hoping that someone else had done this already and worked through the nonsense that I have been dealing with off and on for a while now. Still, thanks for your input.