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17 posts on Umbraco: setup, content modelling, release notes and the occasional reflection.
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At some point in a multi-site Umbraco project, someone creates a "Global" or "Shared" content node to hold whatever multiple sites need in common, and it never stops growing. The fix isn't a feature, it's deciding upfront which content is actually site-specific, which is genuinely shared, and which just looks the same today.
Just got back from vacation. For the first time in ages, I left my laptop behind. No Visual Studio. No migrations. No coding. No “Can you just…?” It felt great to unplug. I soaked up the sun, enjoyed doing nothing productive, and had a few beers. And somehow, my mind still wandered back to work. Maybe stepping away gave me the space to reflect on the last couple of years.
In a few days, I'm packing my bags for a holiday, and for the first time in ages, my laptop will stay home. No Visual Studio. No Docker containers spinning up in the background. No sneaky last-minute Git commits. And, honestly, no more of those "let me just fix this one bug real quick" moments.
There are flashy features that get everyone excited—new editors, AI integrations, shiny dashboards. They look great in a keynote and are fun to show off. But then there are those features that, quietly, just fix long-standing headaches. For me, the new Library and Elements in Umbraco 18 are absolutely in that second group.
As developers, we're always searching for ways to get our work done faster. New frameworks roll out and promise to make us blazing fast, AI tools keep booming with talk about writing half our code, and if you've ever sat through a developer conference lately, you know there's always a session on “How to be More Productive.” But after working with Umbraco since version 4, I have to be honest: those massive productivity leaps don't really come from the shiny, new, revolutionary tools.
After my blog was recently featured on umb.fyi — thanks to Matt Brailsford for that — I felt like I also owed the community a proper write-up about my very first Codegarden experience.
Some things just hang around on your bucket list forever. You tell yourself, “maybe next year,” but you never actually get around to it. For me, that's always been Codegarden.
Let's be honest—most teams know that accessibility matters. Everybody nods along when it comes up. But as deadlines creep closer and pressure ramps up, accessibility quietly slides out of focus, landing in the “we'll get to it later” pile. And we all know how rare it is to dig into that pile once the release goes live.
Most Umbraco Setups Don't Fail Immediately—They Fail Later Every new Umbraco project usually starts the same—fresh solution, everyone energized and maybe even a nice architecture diagram. For a couple weeks, life's good. Everything moves quick, flows logically, and things feel buttoned-up.
AI pops up everywhere these days. It’s in editors, IDEs, your browser—and, yes, your CMS. But Umbraco handles AI a bit differently. You won’t find any “magic” buttons or get stuck with one vendor. Instead, you get a thoughtful, flexible setup that actually keeps you in charge. And that’s where things start to get interesting.
Ever wish your Umbraco back office felt as custom as your morning coffee order? Good news—Umbraco 17 gives you the tools to craft dashboards that put the info you want front and center. No more endless clicking, no more searching for stats. Now it's just your data, your way.
By the time a patch release rolls around, expectations are usually pretty modest. You're not looking for groundbreaking features—you just want things to work better than they did yesterday. Umbraco 17.2.2 fits that brief nicely.
AI is everywhere these days. Every CMS, every SaaS platform, every tool you use has “AI-powered” plastered all over it. But if you've been working with Umbraco for a while, you'll know we like to take our own approach. And, honestly, that’s exactly what's happening with AI in Umbraco 17.
Umbraco 17 makes marketers’ daily work easier with small but meaningful improvements that make content editing, campaign management and collaboration smoother and more efficient.
Umbraco 17’s biggest wins may be the smaller, easily overlooked improvements that make everyday development smoother and can even benefit marketers along the way.
Umbraco 17 is here, and if you've been following along since the .NET Core transition, you'll know the pace of change hasn't exactly slowed down.
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