Getting started with CloudCannon and Astro: WYSIWYG blogging

Looking to get started with CloudCannon? In this article and the video below, I'll walk through the process of setting up and customizing your blog on an Astro site using CloudCannon's Schemas and Content Editor.

Quick setup with templates

We begin by selecting Themefisher’s BigSpring Light Astro theme from Astro's theme collection. After creating our own repository from the template, we'll set up the site on CloudCannon.

CloudCannon will automatically detect your site configuration, though you may need to make minor adjustments to settings like build commands and output paths.

Content editing made simple

One of CloudCannon's standout features is its intuitive content editing interface. Among other features, CloudCannon provides:

• A WYSIWYG editor for blog posts with customizable formatting options
• Easy management of data files for site-wide content like footers
• Simple image uploads and management (including customizable uploads paths)
• Support for tables, code blocks with syntax highlighting, and more via Snippets

Advanced configuration

To streamline content creation, we set up a Schema for our blog posts. This ensures new posts follow a consistent structure, and makes it easier for content editors to create content. We also configured specific input types for different content fields, such as using markdown inputs for longer text sections.

The power of Git integration

Since CloudCannon is Git-based, all changes to your site are automatically saved and committed to your repository. This means you can pull down changes locally for development, track and retrieve any content changes through your Git history, and both developers and content editors can collaborate seamlessly.

What's next?

Future improvements to sites made like this could include:

• Refactoring collections for better organization
• Setting up live visual editing previews
• Adding component-based workflows
• Implementing HTML Snippets in markdown content

CloudCannon makes it simple to get started with a new site while providing the flexibility and features needed for more complex projects. Whether you're building a simple blog or a full-featured website, we offer support and open-source tooling to make both development and content management more efficient for your static-first sites.