I've been a programmer for over 30 years and developing LAMP-based websites since the mid 90's. For the past 5 years I've also been exposed to Joomla as a CMS system. I now have a new position that's exclusive Umbraco and I don't get it at all.
It would appear that to create just the basics, articles and an associated menu the following would be required with Umbraco: Document type, macro, script (Razor), template, nodes, along with all the correct options selected and programming or nothing will link to the other. With Joomla, you can give the back-end to an unskilled data entry person and they can input articles in minutes and build a menu that link to the articles. It's something I would show someone in 5 minutes and they would enter the entire site for me. I'd then wrap the content in a custom template and the site was live. With Umbraco it seems even a skilled programmer can't create a menu or an article without knowledge of ASP.net and Razor.
This isn't a rant, I'm stuck with Umbraco. I need to use it. I'm just totally lost and don't even know where to begin. I've tried the Wiki and hours of Umbraco.tv and they're worthless. Have the Umbraco developers looked at other CMS systems to see how logical they are layed out and how easy they work?
My question is this: How do I make Umbraco quick and easy to implement? I'm looking for a solution where I can build a website in a half day like is possible with Joomla. I'm looking for a sulution where an unskilled data entry person can quickly and easily enter and create the entire structure of a website where all that needs to happen is the template is wrapped around their menu/articles.
Or, am I just asking too much and should put in my 2 week notice and go back to the simplicity of CMS with PHP/MySQL?
Initially Umbraco is just an empty shell (Unless with Umbraco 7 it comes with a starter kit by default, but this starter kit can be uninstalled and then you have the empty shell) - Consider it a framework, which you can setup to suit your needs.
It might also be worth getting access to http://umbraco.tv where there are many vidoes taking you through the different concepts of Umbraco. as you already know
I have access to Umbraco TV and have watched hours of it. I've also read a lot of the documenation and wiki. But, most of it either doesn't apply, for a different version of Umbraco, or just doesn't answer the question.
For example, I'm total stuck right now. I setup a document type and I can add content and select that document type. Now I need to create a sub document type. I create it, add the additional data type and save. Then, I go into the content area and try to create new content. The new sub document type is not an option. The only document type I can select is the parent. I've tried checking allowed templates, default templates, allowed child node types, allowed at root, basically everything for both the parent and the child document type and it's still not an option.
This is a typical day with Umbraco. 4 hours wasted checking every box in the system trying to get something seemingly simple to work. Nothing in Umbraco TV, the documentation, or the wiki helps.
In other content management systems, you don't even need to setup document types and media sections, razor scripts etc. just to add content. And in Umbraco, even when you do these things you get totally stuck and nothing seems to work. Then, throw in the constant crashing and restarting, kicking me out and requiring me to sign back in, losing all my opened tabs.
Maybe I should install Umbraco 9.0 that re-thinks how it should work.
New job, coming from Joomla CMS to Umbraco, totally lost...
I've been a programmer for over 30 years and developing LAMP-based websites since the mid 90's. For the past 5 years I've also been exposed to Joomla as a CMS system. I now have a new position that's exclusive Umbraco and I don't get it at all.
It would appear that to create just the basics, articles and an associated menu the following would be required with Umbraco: Document type, macro, script (Razor), template, nodes, along with all the correct options selected and programming or nothing will link to the other. With Joomla, you can give the back-end to an unskilled data entry person and they can input articles in minutes and build a menu that link to the articles. It's something I would show someone in 5 minutes and they would enter the entire site for me. I'd then wrap the content in a custom template and the site was live. With Umbraco it seems even a skilled programmer can't create a menu or an article without knowledge of ASP.net and Razor.
This isn't a rant, I'm stuck with Umbraco. I need to use it. I'm just totally lost and don't even know where to begin. I've tried the Wiki and hours of Umbraco.tv and they're worthless. Have the Umbraco developers looked at other CMS systems to see how logical they are layed out and how easy they work?
My question is this: How do I make Umbraco quick and easy to implement? I'm looking for a solution where I can build a website in a half day like is possible with Joomla. I'm looking for a sulution where an unskilled data entry person can quickly and easily enter and create the entire structure of a website where all that needs to happen is the template is wrapped around their menu/articles.
Or, am I just asking too much and should put in my 2 week notice and go back to the simplicity of CMS with PHP/MySQL?
Tim
Hi Tim and welcome to our :)
Initially Umbraco is just an empty shell (Unless with Umbraco 7 it comes with a starter kit by default, but this starter kit can be uninstalled and then you have the empty shell) - Consider it a framework, which you can setup to suit your needs.
I think that a good way to get up and running is by reading this guide on creating a basic site http://our.umbraco.org/documentation/Using-Umbraco/Creating-Basic-Site/
And then the documentation section in general is a good way to find out more stuff http://our.umbraco.org/documentation as well as the annual Umbraco calendar at http://24days.in/umbraco/2012/ and http://24days.in/umbraco/2013/
It might also be worth getting access to http://umbraco.tv where there are many vidoes taking you through the different concepts of Umbraco. as you already know
So you need to bulid up the backed from the ground so it just suit your clints needs. It is doing by create document types.http://umbraco.tv/videos/umbraco-v7/implementor/fundamentals/document-types/what-is-a-document-type/ If you don´t know it there are some free videos that you can see to understand the basic concepts of Umbraco.
http://umbraco.tv/videos/umbraco-v7/implementor/
Hope this helps you to understand what Umbraco is, and if you have further questions, then keep asking./Dennis
I have access to Umbraco TV and have watched hours of it. I've also read a lot of the documenation and wiki. But, most of it either doesn't apply, for a different version of Umbraco, or just doesn't answer the question.
For example, I'm total stuck right now. I setup a document type and I can add content and select that document type. Now I need to create a sub document type. I create it, add the additional data type and save. Then, I go into the content area and try to create new content. The new sub document type is not an option. The only document type I can select is the parent. I've tried checking allowed templates, default templates, allowed child node types, allowed at root, basically everything for both the parent and the child document type and it's still not an option.
This is a typical day with Umbraco. 4 hours wasted checking every box in the system trying to get something seemingly simple to work. Nothing in Umbraco TV, the documentation, or the wiki helps.
In other content management systems, you don't even need to setup document types and media sections, razor scripts etc. just to add content. And in Umbraco, even when you do these things you get totally stuck and nothing seems to work. Then, throw in the constant crashing and restarting, kicking me out and requiring me to sign back in, losing all my opened tabs.
Maybe I should install Umbraco 9.0 that re-thinks how it should work.
Tim
Hi Tim,
You say that, when you go into the content area and try to create new content. Your new sub document type is not an option to create.
It´s because that you need to allowed child nodetypes underneath the specific document type. Try to see this video http://umbraco.tv/videos/umbraco-v7/implementor/fundamentals/document-types/allowed-child-nodetypes/ about the subject, and there are some documentation too. http://umbraco.tv/videos/umbraco-v7/implementor/fundamentals/document-types/allowed-child-nodetypes/documentation
Hope this helps,
/Dennis
I found the best way of getting my head round it was to install some of the starter kits and see how they'd been put together. One of the better ones was the standard website mvc version http://our.umbraco.org/projects/starter-kits/standard-website-mvc
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