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A Guide to Useful Contentful + Gatsby Content

Jeff James
November 2nd, 2021

In addition to being one of the most powerful headless CMS platforms available today, Contentful is also one of the most popular CMS platform options for Gatsby developers to use. There are a host of really good content resources available to help you get the most out of your work with Contentful, so I’ve taken the liberty of assembling a guide to some of the most useful content that can either help you get up and running with a Gatsby and Contentful project quickly, or help you get the most out of an existing project. 

Contentful Resources from Gatsby 

We’ve published  a number of content pieces that provide information, tips, tricks, and advice for using Contentful with Gatsby. 

Contentful Solutions Page

https://www.gatsbyjs.com/solutions/contentful/

A good first-stop on your Gatsby + Contentful journey is our Contentful Solutions page, which has links to a number of useful resources. Chief among them is a link to a case study that explains how Flamingo — a woman’s body care brand from Harry’s — teamed Gatsby with Contentful to build “…a beautiful site that was inherently fast.”

Contentful Use Cases

https://www.gatsbyjs.com/use-cases/contentful/

If you want more examples of Gatsby + Contentful in action, our use cases page presents  a number of projects that highlight the best features of both. More specifically, get some quick insights on how the Islamic World Exhibit at the British Museum, Teladoc Health, and Housecall Pro benefited from using Gatsby with Contentful. Here’s a stand-out stat: In a 5-month period, the redesigned Housecall Pro website saw an increase in “…organic blog traffic by ​973%” over a 5 month period.

How To Use The Contentful Rich Text Field with Gatsby

https://www.gatsbyjs.com/blog/how-to-use-the-contentful-rich-text-field-with-gatsby

One of our newest pieces of content focused on Gatsby and Contentful is a how-to blog post by Gatsby’s Paul Scanlon (@PaulieScanlon) that demonstrates how to use Gatsby with the Contentful Rich Text Field.  Paul’s post contains detailed code samples and links to several other resources, including a Gatsby Contentful demo site

Gatsby Starter: Contentful + Gatsby Blog

https://www.gatsbyjs.com/starters/contentful/starter-gatsby-blog

From a more technical content lens, if you’re looking for a development primer on how to get started quickly with Gatsby and Contentful, we have a Gatsby Starter specifically for that. 

Sourcing Data from Contentful

https://www.gatsbyjs.com/docs/how-to/sourcing-data/sourcing-from-contentful/

Getting data sourced from Contentful into Gatsby isn’t difficult, and our handy guide provides all the information you need to get started sourcing data today.

Gatsby Source Plug-In for Contentful 

https://www.gatsbyjs.com/plugins/gatsby-source-contentful/

We have a dedicated plug-in for sourcing data from contentful, and this will help you learn the ins and outs of using it.

Connecting to Contentful Manually

https://support.gatsbyjs.com/hc/en-us/articles/360052076554-Connecting-to-Contentful-Manually

There are times when you may need to connect Gatsby to Contentful manually, and the step-by-step support article linked above should help you do that with a minimum of fuss. 

Other Gatsby + Contentful Resources 

There are some excellent resources elsewhere on the web that can help you get you up and running with Gatsby and Contentful, so I’ve listed a few of them below. 

Contentful.com: GatsbyJS and Contentful in five minutes

https://www.contentful.com/r/knowledgebase/gatsbyjs-and-contentful-in-five-minutes/

Approaching a Gatsby + Contentful tutorial from a Contentful perspective, this handy step-by-step guide walks you through setting up a Contentful site using Gatsby in under 5 minutes. Just a quick note: You’ll need a free Contentful account and GatsbyJS installed before starting the walkthrough. 

Selleo.com: How To Make A Module-Driven Blog With Gatsby And Contentful

https://selleo.com/blog/how-to-make-a-module-driven-blog-with-gatsby-and-contentful

This lengthy tutorial hosted by Selleo.com walks readers through how to set up and configure a blog using Gatsby and Contentful. I’d suggest that you set aside at least 30 minutes to work through the complete tutorial, and you’ll need a free contentful account (and a Github account) to get started.  

Building a Restaurant Example Website with Gatsby and Contentful

https://franklintarter.com/modern-content-management-gatsby-contentful

Although this blog post is a bit old — posted in 2019, and based on an earlier version of Gatsby — it still provides some great insight into how to build a simple website using Gatsby and Contentful, in this case a sample restaurant website. Written by Franklin Tarter (@franklintarter), this tutorial also touches on how to use Gatsby source plug-ins and how to use GraphQL to access content. 

Know of any other useful Gatsby + Contentful resources on the web that I haven’t listed here? Reach out to me on Twitter (@jeffjames3) with your feedback or input. 

 

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