Umbraco Tips for Newcomers: Insights from an Outsider

Ok...maybe outsider is a bit strong of a word. Don't blame me - I had to get your attention somehow.

How about, a Friendly neighbour peeking over the CMS fence, wondering why everyone is high fiving each other and wearing Friendly branded caps.

Who is this looking over the fence?

Hello, my name is Liam Goldfinch. 👋

I am currently a Principal Systems Developer at IDHL, a digital web agency specialising in a variety of CMS and DXP solutions.

When I joined IDHL in 2013 as a Helpdesk Developer, my role was providing fast and efficient technical support for our clients, ensuring issues were resolved swiftly and effectively. My role covered a wide range of technologies - not just .NET but also bespoke PHP systems. I'm more than happy to leave those PHP days behind, especially given the ongoing WordPress vs WP Engine drama. 😅

After my role on Helpdesk, I moved to the Core Development team, where I collaborated with colleagues to build websites using Kentico and Umbraco. As I took on more responsibility, including scoping, estimating, and writing specifications for projects, I was promoted to Senior Systems Developer and more recently Principal Systems Developer.

MVP

As you've probably guessed by now, I very much specialise in a different platform. 🤔

Kentico! I specialise in Kentico and have been involved in many Kentico website builds. I regularly present at their annual conference, contribute open-source packages, participate in webinars, and I often share my experiences with the platform through blog posts on my website. As a result I have been awarded Kentico MVP status for the past three years. 🎉

So, no Umbraco?

Actually, I have worked on a number of Umbraco projects.

While my expertise lies in Kentico, which means I naturally work on far more Kentico projects, I have written several Umbraco specifications and supported the development of others.

This is why I class myself as an "Outsider" - I've been on the edge of the community for so long, yet never fully embraced it.

Although I did buy a shirt and a mug from the Umbraco Community Store, does that mean I'm officially part of the community? Funnily enough, I bought the #h5yr mug just before having a finger amputated. #h4yr 😂

My Umbraco tips for Newcomers

So, what have I discovered through my experience with Umbraco? Whether you're just starting out, or just exploring new CMS options, here are some insights from an outsider that might help make your journey smoother.

1. Know the Different Products

   Umbraco isn't just a single product - there's actually three flavours.
   
   The first and most well-known product is Umbraco CMS, a user-friendly and developer-friendly content management system. It's got all of the content management basics for marketers, while offering flexibility for developers to extend the platform.
   
   The second is Umbraco Cloud, which is Umbraco's SaaS offering. It's essentially Umbraco CMS hosted on Microsoft Azure, with added infrastructure around it for deployments. It starts off relatively affordable with shared hosting, but if you need more resources or dedicated hosting, the pricing can increase significantly.
   
   The third option is Umbraco Heartcore, which is Umbraco's headless CMS. What makes Heartcore stand out, despite being headless, it uses the same user-friendly back office that marketers love. Developers do lose out on the back office extensibility, which is a common trade off with SaaS headless CMS platforms.

2. Extending the Back Office

   I've already mentioned extending the back office a couple times, but I'm not going to pretend I know it inside out! 😂
   
   As a newcomer to Umbraco, if you're working on Umbraco 13 or earlier, I'd actually recommend steering clear of extending the back office yourself. You'd be learning a legacy tech stack based on AngularJS, which is just not worth the investment of your time.
   
   Instead, I'd recommend focusing on the new tech stack introduced when Umbraco 14 launched earlier this year. It's the modern and future proof tech stack that Umbraco will be using for the foreseeable future.

3. No Hidden Costs?

   While the core Umbraco CMS product is free, it's important to know that there are additional costs if you want DXP features that go beyond just a CMS.
   
   Umbraco offers a number of supported add-ons, each with its own pricing model. These add-ons are really useful for clients looking to enhance their digital maturity. Need form, e-commerce, or marketing tools? Just purchase the add-on and then install it to add the functionality.
   
   Umbraco Forms confused me initially, requiring a separate license to create forms felt a bit alien to me. Honestly, I thought this would be part of the core Umbraco CMS. Please change this Umbraco! 🙏

4. Training & Certification

   Did I mention I'm an Umbraco Certified Professional?
   
   I first did my initial in-person training back in 2016 for Umbraco 7, a few years later I did an online course for Umbraco 8, and then in 2023 completed the Umbraco 9 bridge certification.
   
   While I've primarily worked with Kentico over the years, I've still made time for Umbraco training courses. I would recommend them to newcomers, they are a good way to learn the basics. They'll get you up and running quicker than figuring everything out on your own.
   
   If you just want to dive straight into YouTube videos, I'd recommend looking at Paul Seal's Umbraco 13 series, or watch some of the official videos on Umbraco's Learning Base.

5. Importance of Content Modelling

   One of the key aspects when working with any CMS is content modelling.
   
   Designing and structuring your content types with right fields and relationships is really important. Doing so allows marketers to enter content easily without technical knowledge, provides a better content editing experience, and ensures content is optimised for delivering rich structured content across multiple channels.
   
   Fellow Kentico MVP Mike Wills explains this perfectly in this interview, worth a watch!

6. Community & Events

   The network of Umbraco meetups is what really impresses me. With 35 groups across 11 countries, and roughly half of those in the UK, there's a good chance you'll find a meetup nearby if you're near a city.
   
   For the past three years, I have been attending a few virtual meetups, but I especially enjoy Umbraco Leeds meetups in-person. The organisers and attendees are amazing - it's a welcoming and safe space where anyone can comfortably ask questions, a great place to network, and an excellent opportunity to learn more about Umbraco. I also like that it isn't strictly Umbraco related topics, there are talks on the wider .NET ecosystem too. For example, we've just recapped .NET Conf 2024, and it was exciting to hear about all the new features being released in .NET 9.
   
   There are also conferences and events to attend, though I haven't had the chance to go yet. The biggest event is Codegarden, but there are also smaller local events too. It's definitely worth keeping an eye our for upcoming events.
   
   You might be wondering how to keep in the loop with upcoming events? Well I'd recommend two things, join the Umbraco Mastodon a new social media platform dedicated to Umbraco, or sign up to the UMB.FYI newsletter for weekly updates.

7. Open-source

   Because Umbraco is open-source at its heart, you can take full advantage by exploring the codebase. Whether you're looking to understand how a specific area of the platform works, or need to debug an issue, it's all easily accessible.
   
   This open nature allows you to contribute yourself, through pull requests, reporting issues, and suggesting improvements.
   
   RFCs (Requests for Comments) are also discussed within the GitHub community, giving you the chance to have your own say and potentially influence future decisions.

8. Read the Documentation

   Ok, I'm not saying you need to read all the documentation - that would take forever! 🤣
   
   But if you're starting something new that you've not tried before, it is a good idea to check the documentation first before diving straight in. It will probably save you time, and you'll get an idea of what you're meant to do.

9. Open the Marketplace

   Before you start extending the back office yourself, open up the Marketplace. You might find a community built package that does exactly what you need.
   
   One community package that's caught my eye recently is Andy Boot's Client Drawer package. It gives marketers key information about the website and environment they're working on (e.g. UAT, Staging, or Production). What I really love is the change log feature. Not all marketers are involved in the day to day improvements made by agencies, so having a user-friendly change log is a fantastic feature.

10. Content Delivery API

    We've already covered that Umbraco Heartcore is Umbraco's headless CMS, but what if you want to create a headless website with content from your existing Umbraco CMS site? With the Content Delivery API, this is now possible. 🎉
    
    Once enabled, the API can be used to retrieve content items in a JSON format, then you can use your UI framework of choice to build a front-end.

11. Knowledge Center

    I recommend regularly checking the Knowledge Center to stay up to date with the product roadmap. It is a great way to get a clear view of what's coming next for Umbraco.
    
    The Umbraco team lists upcoming features, categorised into Now, Next and Later. Features under "Now" have an estimated release date, those under "Next" are in the planning stages, and "Later" are the longer term goals and objectives.

12. STS vs LTS - which to choose?

    In 2021, Umbraco changed its release cadence, aligning major LTS (Long-Term Support) version releases with .NET LTS releases.
    
    Umbraco releases a new LTS version whenever a new .NET LTS is available, and supports that version for three years.
    
    In between the LTS releases, Umbraco launches STS (Standard-Term Support) versions every six months. These offer access to newer features and functionality, but come with a shorter support timeframe (one year).
    
    So - the big question is what to build in? 🤔
    
    Everyone I have spoken to in the community has recommended sticking with LTS versions. You'll be on a stable, reliable release you can count on, with upgrades required less frequently. However, you're only delaying the inevitable, eventually you'll need to perform the upgrades anyway within that three year support window. Also, working with the current LTS (13) means you'll be using the legacy back office tech stack (AngularJS). When upgrading to the next LTS (17), you'll need to account for rewriting any back office customisations to use the new tech stack.
    
    The LTS/STS debate is definitely a new consideration for me. With Kentico, you get new features every month in simple to apply updates, and support is provided for the last 12 months of updates. Simple! 😉

Wrapping It All Up 🎁

Sorry if you were expecting more of a battle between Kentico and Umbraco since I'm a Kentico MVP, but we'll leave that for another day. 😊 Both platforms are fantastic in their own ways and are suited to different clients. Choosing the right one comes down to the specific requirements, needs of the project, and of course the budget.

I hope you've enjoyed reading through my tips and story. I genuinely hope this helps you explore the platform and become an active part of the community.

Maybe we'll cross paths at a future meetup or event? In the meantime, this is very important, don't forget this last tip: