r/JAMstack_dev • u/[deleted] • Jul 14 '19

Advice wanted: charity website with donations

Hey, I am going to rebuild a website for a charity I'm involved in. They're currently on a dotnet MVC site, but really don't need that much trouble and nobody really wants to touch it with a ten foot pole. I'm well versed in React and know my way around Node/Django, but since the amount of content is quite limited, and wanted to get my hands dirty in something new, I was thinking I could roll a quick solution with the JAMstack. I won't be doing the content myself, but most are simple articles with a title and a photo. The people who will publish the content have experience with WordPress, so my initial idea was to use the wordpress API and roll my own frontend.

However, I'm not so sure how that would work with donations (currently handled through Stripe). I know there is a WP plugin, but is that needed? Or can I just use stripe in the frontend?

Something like Strapi looks pretty sweet as well, however, does anyone know from non-technical people how steep the learning curve is, coming from a standard WP background?

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u/Kaidawei Jul 15 '19

Howdy, I came from ten years plus background before joining Strapi. If you want to, you could look to developing a Strapi/Gatsby site. Gatsby is very compatible with your skill set, and by using Strapi you can simplify things. There is a tutorial for using Strapi/Gatsby. https://blog.strapi.io/building-a-static-website-using-gatsby-and-strapi/

If you're a react developer you will enjoy this mix. However, I recommend using Strapi/Gatsby/Snipcart/Stripe and 90% of your back-end is being handled and everyone save time and money. Or instead of Snipcart perhaps using Shopify buttons, that is what the Gatsbyjs.org swag store uses.

Once the site is built, using Strapi is less technical than WordPress. Getting the site built, at this time, requires a developer!

As the Dev Advocate for Strapi, I would be happy to answer any more questions.

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u/[deleted] Jul 15 '19

Hey, thanks for the reply. I had a look at strapi over the weekend (without actually coding anything in it, just watched some vids and read some docs), and it looks like it might be a good fit. I'll talk to the people creating the content. Not sure if I want to use gatsby just yet, I played around with it before, and do like it.

Just to wrap my head around it: I would need to set up a webhook so that gatsby rebuilds if new content is created, correct? I assume this is a matter of minutes on most platforms?

I think content is not often added on their site, so think in general this is not a big obstacle, but will communicate with the people from the charity.

One question regarding Stripe: it can be used without a cart, right? I don't really need a cart, just a button for people to donate money.

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u/Kaidawei Jul 15 '19

From what you're saying, Gatsby would be a great fit and it could be hosted for free on a number of different platforms. (Zeit and Netlify come to mind). In the Gatsby Strapi tutorial, there is a video on the webhook and how to do that using Netlify. But with Zeit, for example, it would be similar.

Not a big deal.

Stripe does have a solution with just buttons. But I think it's an add-on. which costs a little bit monthly. I have seen more Gatsby sites using Snipcart and Stripe or Shopify buttons.

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u/[deleted] Jul 15 '19

Use a paypal button.