I have been reseaching CMS systems for awhile now and have not found anything that really suites my needs. To be brief, I work for a college. We are looking at converting over from a static site to a CMS driven one. The upper level CMS systems I have looked at are just too restrictive when it comes to design, user management, file management, and over all site architecture.
I need something with total control of the look and feel of the site, with the ability to have a number of master pages for my pages to choose from. As far as I can tell umbraco has this.
In the higher education field user management is huge. There will be over a hundred users. Each with their own set of permissions. ex. what departments they can work in, what pages in the those departments they can edit, what types of features can they use in those departments, etc. Also in some cases they may need the ability to work with multiple department sites.
That brings me to my next question. Can umbraco handle a large site (at least a couple thousand pages) that has hundreds of departments -each with their own navigation, pages, files, forms, etc.-?
Does umbraco include a form builder? This is important for all the non-tech savy people who need a form on their department's site. If not could one be easily built and incorporated into the cms?
Really what I am looking for is a solid system that can be built upon without any real problems.
Sorry for the lengthy post, any suggestions will be much appreciated.
I am going to try and anwer some of your questions in this post.
With Umbraco you have complete control over your pages HTML/CSS etc. - There are absolutely no restrictions. The template system is based on ASP.NET masterpages and you should be able to create any kind of hierachy that you can fancy.
When it comes to data-structure etc. you are in complete control over how you want to do things in Umbraco. It's all up to you actually. I myself have not yet got that much experience with the members section of Umbraco yet but I don't think it will be a problem. But I'd better let someone more experienced answer that part. :-)
I am pretty sure that there is a form-builder out there. But I can't remember where I have seen it. But if you have some .NET and c# skills I am sure it would not be a problem to create one.
Other than the things that Jan mention, the only thing I would suggest is to check out if you want the editors to use the standard umbraco administration area. With over 100 editors, you may want to look at implementing some simple editing functions in the frontend and use members to do security checks.
The standard administration are only divided into roles (Admin, editor, writer, translator) and not groups. So depending on the exact user management requirements it may not fit. But try it out, and let us know if you have any questions about setting up permissions for either users(editiors) or members(visitors).
I've spoken to people that had several thousand pages in their Umbraco Install. So that shouldn't be an issue. However when you store them all in one folder you will get some performance issues.
There is one Form builder that I know of. It's commercial but it fits your needs I think. Find more info here,
Thanks for all the help. I will test it out as a trial -thank you Jan. That form builder also looks good. However, I just read a post somewhere that I think implied that Niels is going to be including a formbuilder in the near future.
Thanks for your help Morten. I am going to play around on a trial account and try to get comfortable with the system before I go onto my user issues.
Thanks for all the help. I will test it out as a trial -thank you Jan. That form builder also looks good. However, I just read a post somewhere that I think implied that Niels is going to be including a formbuilder in the near future.
Thanks for your help Morten. I am going to play around on a trial account and try to get comfortable with the system before I go onto my user issues.
To get started I would also recommend that you take a look at either the runway module, which you can install from the developer section or Warren Bucklyes Website starter kit, which I think can also be installed from there.
excellent questions! Wish everyone would describe their needs so well when they are first enquiring about Umbraco :-)
Here's my input on the matter:
One of the most powerfull features of Umbraco is the fact that you have COMPLETE control over your markup! Any kind of design can be implemented, and you can even easily switch designs of similar type of documents, even as a content editor with no developer skills.
You can have several logins to the backend, and limit those to what they can edit in the content tree. But you can't limit in the backend which type of information on the individual documents they can edit. And managing 100+ content editors will be a b**ch with the existing functionality. I'd go with Morten's suggestion there.
As for the form builder, if you just need to set up a bunch of "form templates" that the content editors can choose to use, you can use the AutoFormPlus package. I've also heard rumors that Niels may or may not include some sort of form building feature in the future, but knowing Niels I would bet my business on it (sorry Niels :-))
One thing else that I think needs mentioning is, that there is a slight learning curve when it comes to getting to gribs with the Umbraco framework. But trust me, it pays off in the end! I know it sounds like a sales pitch, but Umbraco is really one of the most flexible CMS' out there. And if you are looking for features that's not build into Umbraco from the start, it has a really powerfull framework that allows you to build and integrate just about anything. I haven't really found any limitations myself.
Hope it helps, otherwise do keep asking and give os more info. Umbraco's tag line is "The Friendly CMS", which means the community is always ready to help!
Yes, we'll - finally - be launching Umbraco Forms this fall. However it's a commercial product and will not be included with the free version of Umbraco. However, it'll be super tightly integrated and as smooth as Umbraco itself ;-)
To ease the learning curve, I recommend that you take a look at http://umbraco.tv and follow the Site builder videos. They're designed to get you up to speed, step by step and by the end of the first day you'll have your site implemented using the exact markup you like.
We haven't settled on final costs yet, but it'll be less than 400EUR for the huge version with all bells, whistles and integration and then we'll have a light version that'll be cheap (<100EUR) if you just need a simple formbuilder with no integration capabilities (so yes, this means you very soon will be able to purchase our products without a PRO subscription bundle :o)).
This is a bit of a surprise Niels. The plans are that Umbraco Corp. is going to sell extra functionality as loose components instead of adding them to the Pro bundle? Maybe you can eloborate on this already? Because this decision could affect others. Especially those who put a lot of time and effort in developing their own (commercial) packages. And I am not only talking about our very own superb Form Designer that's already available for download ;o)
We ofcourse already knew of your plans to come up with Forms. However, we decided to develop it ourselves because this highly requested feature wasn't available at the time (not in a userfriendly way that is). With the knowledge that our hard work would probably pay off (a bit) by people spending little money on a license without having to buy a Pro subscription (which targets bigger sites and sites in need of commercial support).
And this is probably something that most developers think of when developing new and great packages for Umbraco. :)
Maybe this isn't the place to start this discussion but I'am also wondering how store.umbraco.org fit into these new plans.
It shouldn't be a surprise - we've been open about our plans to make a form builder for very long, exactly to ensure no bad vibes with 3rd party developers. Combined with this transparency we've ensured that there's free competition in the Umbraco eco-system (contrary to the Apple App Store for instance) and I think that your form builder is a great example of this.
Regarding the store you should ask Paul Sterling - he's the one running the store.
Like I mentioned, we knew. So no (real) hard feelings! :) Competition is a good thing. In the end everbody profits.
@Dan, sure, you can find it at http://www.axendo.nl/webbouw/umbraco-packages. Everything you mentioned is already there. It can send emails and store data as seperate nodes which you can export to xml, csv, etc. Feel free to email 'info axendo nl' (fill in the gaps)
I am looking to integrate version control feature in my current .Net project. I am not sure if Umbraco could do that. I have a list of files, zip files, images and if some changes (new, modify) occured to any of these file then it should be logged in history and a new version should be available. Rollback feature would be nice to have. I am using .Net 2.0 framework, JavaScript, XML etc.
I have following questions:
1) Does Umbraco have a document management function that will allow the users of our site to upload office documents and other file types into a file library available from the site? If
2) Does it allows to keep multiple versions of a same file/document/html etc? If so how does it do? Does it use database or something? Can it shows what are the diffrences in two different version?
3) Does it provide check out/check in capability (like sourcesafe) and keep track of versioning based on the check out / check in capability.
Is umbraco right for me??
Hi all,
I have been reseaching CMS systems for awhile now and have not found anything that really suites my needs. To be brief, I work for a college. We are looking at converting over from a static site to a CMS driven one. The upper level CMS systems I have looked at are just too restrictive when it comes to design, user management, file management, and over all site architecture.
I need something with total control of the look and feel of the site, with the ability to have a number of master pages for my pages to choose from. As far as I can tell umbraco has this.
In the higher education field user management is huge. There will be over a hundred users. Each with their own set of permissions. ex. what departments they can work in, what pages in the those departments they can edit, what types of features can they use in those departments, etc. Also in some cases they may need the ability to work with multiple department sites.
That brings me to my next question. Can umbraco handle a large site (at least a couple thousand pages) that has hundreds of departments -each with their own navigation, pages, files, forms, etc.-?
Does umbraco include a form builder? This is important for all the non-tech savy people who need a form on their department's site. If not could one be easily built and incorporated into the cms?
Really what I am looking for is a solid system that can be built upon without any real problems.
Sorry for the lengthy post, any suggestions will be much appreciated.
Thank you
Hi Dan
I am going to try and anwer some of your questions in this post.
With Umbraco you have complete control over your pages HTML/CSS etc. - There are absolutely no restrictions. The template system is based on ASP.NET masterpages and you should be able to create any kind of hierachy that you can fancy.
When it comes to data-structure etc. you are in complete control over how you want to do things in Umbraco. It's all up to you actually. I myself have not yet got that much experience with the members section of Umbraco yet but I don't think it will be a problem. But I'd better let someone more experienced answer that part. :-)
I am pretty sure that there is a form-builder out there. But I can't remember where I have seen it. But if you have some .NET and c# skills I am sure it would not be a problem to create one.
If you want to have a look at Umbraco you could check out Darrens Fergusons Umbraco trials here: http://autoumbraco.darren-ferguson.com/
I hope this was usefull to you.
/Jan
Hi Dan
Other than the things that Jan mention, the only thing I would suggest is to check out if you want the editors to use the standard umbraco administration area. With over 100 editors, you may want to look at implementing some simple editing functions in the frontend and use members to do security checks.
The standard administration are only divided into roles (Admin, editor, writer, translator) and not groups. So depending on the exact user management requirements it may not fit. But try it out, and let us know if you have any questions about setting up permissions for either users(editiors) or members(visitors).
Hi Dan,
I've spoken to people that had several thousand pages in their Umbraco Install. So that shouldn't be an issue. However when you store them all in one folder you will get some performance issues.
There is one Form builder that I know of. It's commercial but it fits your needs I think. Find more info here,
Cheers,
Richard
Thanks for all the help. I will test it out as a trial -thank you Jan. That form builder also looks good. However, I just read a post somewhere that I think implied that Niels is going to be including a formbuilder in the near future.
Thanks for your help Morten. I am going to play around on a trial account and try to get comfortable with the system before I go onto my user issues.
Thanks for all the help. I will test it out as a trial -thank you Jan. That form builder also looks good. However, I just read a post somewhere that I think implied that Niels is going to be including a formbuilder in the near future.
Thanks for your help Morten. I am going to play around on a trial account and try to get comfortable with the system before I go onto my user issues.
To get started I would also recommend that you take a look at either the runway module, which you can install from the developer section or Warren Bucklyes Website starter kit, which I think can also be installed from there.
I hope you'll find it usefull for your needs.
Hi Dan,
excellent questions! Wish everyone would describe their needs so well when they are first enquiring about Umbraco :-)
Here's my input on the matter:
One of the most powerfull features of Umbraco is the fact that you have COMPLETE control over your markup! Any kind of design can be implemented, and you can even easily switch designs of similar type of documents, even as a content editor with no developer skills.
You can have several logins to the backend, and limit those to what they can edit in the content tree. But you can't limit in the backend which type of information on the individual documents they can edit. And managing 100+ content editors will be a b**ch with the existing functionality. I'd go with Morten's suggestion there.
As for the form builder, if you just need to set up a bunch of "form templates" that the content editors can choose to use, you can use the AutoFormPlus package. I've also heard rumors that Niels may or may not include some sort of form building feature in the future, but knowing Niels I would bet my business on it (sorry Niels :-))
One thing else that I think needs mentioning is, that there is a slight learning curve when it comes to getting to gribs with the Umbraco framework. But trust me, it pays off in the end! I know it sounds like a sales pitch, but Umbraco is really one of the most flexible CMS' out there. And if you are looking for features that's not build into Umbraco from the start, it has a really powerfull framework that allows you to build and integrate just about anything. I haven't really found any limitations myself.
Hope it helps, otherwise do keep asking and give os more info. Umbraco's tag line is "The Friendly CMS", which means the community is always ready to help!
Best regards,
Soeren Sprogoe
Hi Dan!
Yes, we'll - finally - be launching Umbraco Forms this fall. However it's a commercial product and will not be included with the free version of Umbraco. However, it'll be super tightly integrated and as smooth as Umbraco itself ;-)
To ease the learning curve, I recommend that you take a look at http://umbraco.tv and follow the Site builder videos. They're designed to get you up to speed, step by step and by the end of the first day you'll have your site implemented using the exact markup you like.
/n
Wow. Thanks all. This truly is one of the best communities I have come across.
Good to hear about the form builder. Do you have any idea what the cost will be?
Thank you Soeren for your advice. Once I get familier with the system I will be coming back to you and Morten for suggestions on my user issues.
We haven't settled on final costs yet, but it'll be less than 400EUR for the huge version with all bells, whistles and integration and then we'll have a light version that'll be cheap (<100EUR) if you just need a simple formbuilder with no integration capabilities (so yes, this means you very soon will be able to purchase our products without a PRO subscription bundle :o)).
This is a bit of a surprise Niels. The plans are that Umbraco Corp. is going to sell extra functionality as loose components instead of adding them to the Pro bundle? Maybe you can eloborate on this already? Because this decision could affect others. Especially those who put a lot of time and effort in developing their own (commercial) packages. And I am not only talking about our very own superb Form Designer that's already available for download ;o)
We ofcourse already knew of your plans to come up with Forms. However, we decided to develop it ourselves because this highly requested feature wasn't available at the time (not in a userfriendly way that is). With the knowledge that our hard work would probably pay off (a bit) by people spending little money on a license without having to buy a Pro subscription (which targets bigger sites and sites in need of commercial support).
And this is probably something that most developers think of when developing new and great packages for Umbraco. :)
Maybe this isn't the place to start this discussion but I'am also wondering how store.umbraco.org fit into these new plans.
Martijn, may I ask what the name of your form builder is? Where can I get more information about it?
It shouldn't be a surprise - we've been open about our plans to make a form builder for very long, exactly to ensure no bad vibes with 3rd party developers. Combined with this transparency we've ensured that there's free competition in the Umbraco eco-system (contrary to the Apple App Store for instance) and I think that your form builder is a great example of this.
Regarding the store you should ask Paul Sterling - he's the one running the store.
Niels,
Will the formbuilder include options to either save to a database, xml file, or send directly to email?
@Dan: Yes, it have custom workflows (which includes db, xml, email among other things)
Like I mentioned, we knew. So no (real) hard feelings! :)
Competition is a good thing. In the end everbody profits.
@Dan, sure, you can find it at http://www.axendo.nl/webbouw/umbraco-packages. Everything you mentioned is already there. It can send emails and store data as seperate nodes which you can export to xml, csv, etc. Feel free to email 'info axendo nl' (fill in the gaps)
I am looking to integrate version control feature in my current .Net project. I am not sure if Umbraco could do that. I have a list of files, zip files, images and if some changes (new, modify) occured to any of these file then it should be logged in history and a new version should be available. Rollback feature would be nice to have. I am using .Net 2.0 framework, JavaScript, XML etc.
I have following questions:
1) Does Umbraco have a document management function that will allow the users of our site to upload office documents and other file types into a file library available from the site? If
2) Does it allows to keep multiple versions of a same file/document/html etc? If so how does it do? Does it use database or something? Can it shows what are the diffrences in two different version?
3) Does it provide check out/check in capability (like sourcesafe) and keep track of versioning based on the check out / check in capability.
Any help, suggestions?
Arun, please start a new topic for this question, as it is off topic in this thread.
More people will see your question if you start your own topic.
Thank you :-)
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