Background: I looked at Umbraco when it was at v4 as I had a possible project which didn't happen as funding didn't materialize. I was also hoping MVC would have come out too as all my new .net development has been MVC, though I'm expert level with webforms. Fast forward a couple of years and I learn that the MVC v5 was pulled and it sounded like it was going to be webforms solely. I just found out a couple of days ago that V7 is out (MVC) and I'm thrilled but a little nervous. I am going on the assumption that this is a stable platform.
I have two and possibly three sites to developing. My first project is a very simple (perhaps only 20-30 pages) and is a migration from an HTML site, but is difficult for the owner to maintain, hence moving to a CMS is desired.
Question 1: My primary work will be creating a skin for this and I've watched all skin tutorials and it looks like mostly CSS and images,etc. Nothing too fancy. So what is the best approach to getting started? Do I start with NO starter kit? Or do I select one and then modify? I installed one of the two options that are allowed using the nuget install in visual studio. It's a Single page app - very different from what this site will be. So in installed another instance of Umbraco with no starter kit. This seems not the best way to go either - as I'm a little lost as to what to do first.
Question 2: Is it possible to install a different starter kit over one that has already been installed? Probably better to just do a fresh install.
Q3: Can I do an no starter kit installation and then once umbraco is installed, add a starter kit through the admin interface? If so, how/where do I do that?
Thank you so much for any assistance. I am usually very good once I get over the beginning humps where I know very little.
1: I like being in control, so yes, I start with no starter kit. That also helps me not to be too limited to what's already there. Different strokes for different folks: the starter kits are just there to learn from and if you're going to build a new site that isn't exactly like a starter kit, then I'd start with a clean version.
2: It might work, but it's certainly been known not to work, depending on the starter kits and who made it. Disk space is cheap, just create a new install.
3: Yes. Developer > Packages > Add starter kit.
I think you would greatly benefit from getting an account on http://umbraco.tv and go through the videos/docs there to learn how to work with Umbraco. I'd say it's much faster then trawling through starter kits and seeing what's happening there.
And as I said, starter kits are mostly there to show you what's possible and how things can fit together, as soon as you try to make a site that's a little bit more complex you'll want to start from scratch.
Most of all, my advise is: just get started, and see where it goes. From each site you do you learn what works for you and what doesn't and you can improve on the next implementation.
The basic steps I always follow:
Determine the different page types in your site (Homepage, Contact page, General text page) and make document types with their required properties and templates that are specific for the page types.
Paste in your existing HTML into those different templates, all of them will likely have the same base structure, so make sure to create a layout template and point to that layout from all of your other templates
Start replacing hard-coded HTML elements in your different templates with the properties on your document types in Umbraco.
Thanks Sebastiaan. That's very, very helpful. I have a subscription to umbraco.tv, have been watching it quite a bit and it's been helpful. And I'm finding it is not as difficult as I thought it might be to get up to speed. The only trouble I"m really having now is not being able to upload media and wondering if this is a bug related to the most recent build of a few days. I've posted separately on this (http://our.umbraco.org/forum/umbraco-7/using-umbraco-7/48225-cant-seem-to-upload-any-images) but not responses as yet.
Found the issue with the can't seem to upload images. See here:
Need getting started assistance
Background: I looked at Umbraco when it was at v4 as I had a possible project which didn't happen as funding didn't materialize. I was also hoping MVC would have come out too as all my new .net development has been MVC, though I'm expert level with webforms. Fast forward a couple of years and I learn that the MVC v5 was pulled and it sounded like it was going to be webforms solely. I just found out a couple of days ago that V7 is out (MVC) and I'm thrilled but a little nervous. I am going on the assumption that this is a stable platform.
I have two and possibly three sites to developing. My first project is a very simple (perhaps only 20-30 pages) and is a migration from an HTML site, but is difficult for the owner to maintain, hence moving to a CMS is desired.
Question 1: My primary work will be creating a skin for this and I've watched all skin tutorials and it looks like mostly CSS and images,etc. Nothing too fancy. So what is the best approach to getting started? Do I start with NO starter kit? Or do I select one and then modify? I installed one of the two options that are allowed using the nuget install in visual studio. It's a Single page app - very different from what this site will be. So in installed another instance of Umbraco with no starter kit. This seems not the best way to go either - as I'm a little lost as to what to do first.
Question 2: Is it possible to install a different starter kit over one that has already been installed? Probably better to just do a fresh install.
Q3: Can I do an no starter kit installation and then once umbraco is installed, add a starter kit through the admin interface? If so, how/where do I do that?
Thank you so much for any assistance. I am usually very good once I get over the beginning humps where I know very little.
Mike
1: I like being in control, so yes, I start with no starter kit. That also helps me not to be too limited to what's already there. Different strokes for different folks: the starter kits are just there to learn from and if you're going to build a new site that isn't exactly like a starter kit, then I'd start with a clean version.
2: It might work, but it's certainly been known not to work, depending on the starter kits and who made it. Disk space is cheap, just create a new install.
3: Yes. Developer > Packages > Add starter kit.
I think you would greatly benefit from getting an account on http://umbraco.tv and go through the videos/docs there to learn how to work with Umbraco. I'd say it's much faster then trawling through starter kits and seeing what's happening there.
And as I said, starter kits are mostly there to show you what's possible and how things can fit together, as soon as you try to make a site that's a little bit more complex you'll want to start from scratch.
Most of all, my advise is: just get started, and see where it goes. From each site you do you learn what works for you and what doesn't and you can improve on the next implementation.
The basic steps I always follow:
Thanks Sebastiaan. That's very, very helpful. I have a subscription to umbraco.tv, have been watching it quite a bit and it's been helpful. And I'm finding it is not as difficult as I thought it might be to get up to speed. The only trouble I"m really having now is not being able to upload media and wondering if this is a bug related to the most recent build of a few days. I've posted separately on this (http://our.umbraco.org/forum/umbraco-7/using-umbraco-7/48225-cant-seem-to-upload-any-images) but not responses as yet.
Found the issue with the can't seem to upload images. See here:
http://our.umbraco.org/forum/umbraco-7/using-umbraco-7/48225-cant-seem-to-upload-any-images
is working on a reply...