Gatsby and Netlify CMS Template
I created a Gatsby website for my portfolio using Netlify CMS from a default Gatsby starter template.
Netlify CMS.
I cloned this repository from Gatsby’s GitHub as a starter template. I chose this starter because it included Netlify's headless CMS and I wanted to see how it was implemented. I used Netlify CMS in my first Gatsby project and was able to get it up and running pretty easily. Both Netlify and Gatsby have great documentation that is very easy to follow, I recommend trying it out!
Comparison
Working through it on my own at first took longer, but I was better able to understand what this template starter was doing when I read through the file structure. It was exciting! If I had looked at this first and not struggled on my own, it would have been easy to take this beautiful structure for granted. For someone who is just starting out, I’m always looking to compare my thought process and structure to “professional” code. While this may not be professional or amazing to others, to me it is and I look up to it.
Spaghetti code
As I compare my first React app/Gatsby website to this template, I laugh a little and get a little embarrassed. My reaction is to change my first site to compare with this one, or to hide it all together. It is completely hard coded. I think the right term for it would be spaghetti code! But I will leave it as it is, a reminder of where I started and what I can grow from.