Craft CMS Sections & Entry Types Setup: Content Architecture Guide

We've configured content architecture for dozens of projects on Craft CMS and know how to avoid rework. Choosing the wrong Section or Entry Type leads to having to redo the URL structure, templates, and migrations a month later. For example, if you initially choose a Channel for a product catalog, but later need a hierarchy (categories 3 levels deep), you'll have to change the type to Structure, move all entries, and set up redirects from old URLs to new ones. That means hours of work and risks for SEO. Understanding the differences between Section types reduces design time and simplifies maintenance.

Reach out to us — we guarantee proper configuration accounting for all nuances of your project.

Section Types

Channel — a collection of entries without hierarchy. Blog, news, products, job listings. URL pattern: /blog/{slug}. Ideal for a feed of homogeneous content. You can use different Entry Types inside — for example, for articles and podcasts.

Structure — hierarchical pages with nesting and manual sorting. Documentation, catalog with subcategories. URL: /services/web-development/landing-pages. Structure is better than Channel when you need nesting — for example, for a product catalog with subcategories up to 3 levels deep. However, queries to the tree can become a bottleneck — use caching or level() in Twig to limit the query set.

Single — one unique entry. Homepage, About, Contact. No slug, no archive. Use for static pages. Note: if you need multiple versions (e.g., a page for each site in multisite mode), use a Structure Section with one entry — that gives more flexibility.

How to Choose a Section Type?

The choice depends on the nature of the content. For flat collections use Channel, for hierarchies use Structure, for unique pages use Single. If you're unsure, start with Channel — it's the most flexible option and can be easily expanded later. But remember: migrating from Channel to Structure is labor-intensive, so it's better to think through possible structural complications in advance.

What Are Entry Types and How to Set Them Up?

Each Section can have multiple Entry Types with different field sets. This allows flexible management of different content formats in the same section. Example for a Blog Section:

Section: blog (Channel)
├── Entry Type: article
│   └── Fields: body (Matrix), readingTime (calculated), podcast (false)
├── Entry Type: podcast
│   └── Fields: audioFile (Asset), transcript (Redactor), duration (Number)
└── Entry Type: video
    └── Fields: videoUrl (URL), thumbnail (Asset), youtubeId (computed)

In Twig, differentiate display by type:

{% switch entry.type.handle %}
  {% case 'article' %}
    {% include '_blog/_article' %}
  {% case 'podcast' %}
    {% include '_blog/_podcast' %}
  {% case 'video' %}
    {% include '_blog/_video' %}
{% endswitch %}

How to Set Up Project Config for Sections?

Use YAML files for section configuration — this simplifies deployment and version control. Refer to the official documentation on Project Config. Example for a blog:

# config/project/sections/blog.yaml
name: Blog
handle: blog
type: channel
enableVersioning: true
defaultPlacement: end
propagationMethod: all
siteSettings:
  default:
    hasUrls: true
    uriFormat: 'blog/{slug}'
    template: blog/_entry
    enabledByDefault: true
entryTypes:
  article:
    name: Article
    handle: article
    hasTitleField: true
    titleTranslationMethod: site
    fieldLayout:
      - type: craft\fieldlayoutelements\TitleField
      - type: craft\fieldlayoutelements\CustomField
        fieldUid: [uid-of-body-field]
      - type: craft\fieldlayoutelements\CustomField
        fieldUid: [uid-of-categories-field]

How to Set Up Structure with Nesting?

For Structure, specify maxLevels to limit depth. For example, for a three-level catalog:

Section: services (Structure)
├── maxLevels: 3
├── enableVersioning: true
└── defaultSort: structure (manual sorting in tree)

Querying child elements:

{# Get all descendants of the current page #}
{% set children = craft.entries()
  .section('services')
  .descendantOf(entry)
  .level(entry.level + 1)
  .orderBy('lft asc')
  .all() %}

How to Set Up Translations for Sections?

In multisite mode, it is important to correctly configure translationMethod:

The choice of method depends on the scenario. For example, for a "product name" field, use site if the product is localized, or none if the name is shared across all languages.

Why Order Section Setup from Us?

Our experience — 5+ years developing on Craft CMS, over 50 successful projects. We use proven configurations, guarantee stability and performance. Setting up 5–8 Sections with Entry Types takes 1–2 days. For complex content architecture, contact us — we will evaluate your project within 1 day.

What's Included in the Setup?

• Development of Sections and Entry Types architecture
• Project Config configuration (YAML)
• Field and translation setup
• Creation of basic display templates
• Content structure documentation
• Post-launch support

Get a consultation on your project — we will select the optimal architecture.

Headless CMS: Strapi, Directus, Sanity, Contentful, Drupal

Traditional CMS works well until the designer says “I want scroll animation with parallax,” the frontend says “we need React,” and the SEO specialist asks “why is TTFB 3.4 seconds?” At that point, monolithic architecture starts to hinder everyone. I‘ve faced this dozens of times: a WordPress site with ACF balloons to 47 plugins, the admin panel slows down, and every redesign becomes a template rewrite. Headless CMS separates content management from presentation. Editors work in a convenient interface, developers get data via API and build the frontend on any stack. Sounds simple. In practice, choosing a CMS, modeling data, and setting up the API take a significant part of the project. With 7+ years and more than 50 implementations, I’ll share how to avoid common pitfalls. Contact us to discuss your project and get a preliminary estimate—we’ll help you pick the right stack.

What are the key benefits of headless CMS over monolithic?

Monolithic CMS (WordPress, Joomla, Drupal in classic mode) mixes backend and frontend. Any layout change means changing templates, often risking breaking the admin panel. Decoupled architecture gives freedom: frontend on React, Vue, or Svelte, content lives separately. Result: improved load speed (LCP often drops from 4–6 s to 1–1.5 s), security (no public admin panel), scalability (content delivered via CDN without server load). Plus the ability to reuse content in mobile apps, kiosks, email newsletters via a single API. A client we recently helped saw LCP improve from 6.2 s to 1.1 s — a 5.6× gain — and their hosting bill dropped from $400/mo to $80/mo, saving $3,840 annually.

How to choose a headless CMS for your project?

No universal tool exists. The choice depends on team, content complexity, and infrastructure. Let’s break down the key options.

Strapi — open-source, self-hosted, Node.js. Suitable for teams needing data control and API customization. Plugin architecture allows custom routes, middleware, lifecycle hooks. REST and GraphQL out of the box. Deploys in about an hour — three times faster than Drupal. Weakness: versions v4 and v5 are incompatible, migration is painful. Our experience: for startups and medium projects, Strapi offers the best balance of flexibility and speed.

Directus — also open-source, but different approach: it doesn‘t generate a schema but wraps an existing database (PostgreSQL, MySQL, SQLite) into a REST/GraphQL API. If you already have a database, Directus connects without migrations. Convenient for projects where data already lives in PostgreSQL and you need a quick admin UI + API. Saves up to 30% integration time.

Sanity — cloud CMS with real-time editor. Its distinguishing feature is GROQ (Graph-Relational Object Queries), a custom query language more powerful than REST for complex document relationships. Portable Text for structured content. Suitable for media, publishers, marketing sites with non‑standard editorial workflows. Guarantees speed even with 500+ simultaneous editors — proven on projects with minute‑by‑minute news feed updates.

Contentful — enterprise cloud CMS. Strong points: localization (up to 1000 locales), rich SDK for all platforms, Contentful Apps for custom UI. Weakness: pricing at scale and limited data model flexibility compared to open‑source alternatives.

Drupal — not headless per se, but with JSON:API and GraphQL modules, it becomes a powerful API-first backend. Strengths: maturity, granular access control, enterprise clients (NASA, weather.com). High entry barrier; for complex government or corporate portals, few alternatives exist. We use it only when strict role hierarchy and access auditing are required.

Consequences of poor content modeling

Content modeling is critical. Mistakes at this stage are costly. A typical problem: a body field of type rich text for everything. Six months later, the content manager wants to insert a video between paragraphs, add a pull quote with custom styling, embed an interactive table. Rich text can‘t handle that. Solutions: Portable Text (Sanity) or custom components in Strapi/Directus via Dynamic Zone. We always allocate 2–3 iterations with the client during design to ensure the schema covers 90% of future use cases. On one project, this saved 80 hours of rework — the modeling budget paid off threefold.

How we build projects on headless CMS

Frontend for headless CMS almost always uses Next.js (App Router) or Nuxt. For Contentful and Sanity — ISR: pages are statically generated at build time, updated via revalidatePath() when content changes via webhook. For Strapi/Directus with frequent updates — SSR with cache: 'no-store' or SWR on the client.

Case study: redesign of a corporate website for a manufacturing company. Previous site: WordPress with ACF, 200+ pages, 4 languages. Problems: TTFB 3.8 s, editors complained about slow admin. Migrated to Strapi (self-hosted, PostgreSQL), Next.js App Router. Content model: Page with Dynamic Zone (sections: Hero, TextBlock, Gallery, TeamGrid, ContactForm). Localization via Strapi i18n plugin + next-intl on frontend. Frontend deployed on Vercel with ISR, revalidation via Strapi webhook on entry.publish. According to the client: TTFB dropped from 3.8 s to 180 ms (static with CDN) — a 21× improvement. Editors got a clean interface without 47 plugins. The project came in under budget and hosting costs dropped to $80/mo from $400/mo.

Implementation process broken into stages:

1. Content needs audit — collect all content types, relationships, localization requirements, integrations.
2. Data schema design — create models, fields, validation, access roles. Document in Swagger/OpenAPI.
3. CMS and API setup — deploy chosen CMS, configure REST/GraphQL endpoints, plugins, webhooks.
4. Frontend development — connect Next.js/Nuxt, configure ISR/SSR, section components, routing.
5. Content migration (if legacy) — automated loading via API or scripts.
6. Testing — check API endpoints, regression, load testing, Core Web Vitals.
7. Deployment — configure CDN, SSL, CI/CD, monitoring.

How long does implementation take?

The standard path includes all stages. Migrating from WordPress to headless CMS takes as long as the project itself—often longer, especially if WordPress has custom fields via ACF with non‑standard structure. Our typical timelines:

Cost is calculated individually after a brief. Hosting savings from static generation can reach up to 40% monthly — for a medium site that often means $2,000–$4,000 saved per year.

Non‑obvious considerations when choosing a headless CMS

• Check if the CMS supports multisite — if you plan multiple domains, many open‑source solutions can‘t separate content by domain without workarounds.
• Clarify the history format — Strapi stores drafts only for published versions, while Directus has full audit of all changes.
• Test admin panel speed on a slow internet connection — Sanity works in real‑time via WebSocket, which can be problematic with poor connectivity.
• Evaluate complexity of custom fields — in Contentful, adding a new field requires a deploy; in Strapi, only a server restart.
• Check licensing restrictions — Strapi v5 switched to Elastic License, which may affect commercial use.

What is included

• Data schema and API documentation (Swagger/OpenAPI)
• Configured admin panel with access rights
• Editor training (2‑hour session)
• Test environment during development
• 1‑month warranty on bugs after launch
• Post‑release support (including hotfixes 24/7)

Headless CMS development is not just a tool replacement but a paradigm shift in content management. We help make this transition without downtime or data loss. Get a consultation and preliminary estimate—leave a request on our website. Order headless CMS implementation with guaranteed results.