Hi,
i'm evaluating several solutions for my web developpement needs, and I'm really interested in the asp.net stack, with a good CMS on top of it.
1) I'm a developer and look to develop a lot of custom code for my specific needs. I'm looking for a CMS that will help me achieve this, not get in the way. Does Umbarco really allows to develop 100% custom features for my site.... doesn't it make it harder than starting just plan asp.net mvc ?
2) For example let's say I want to build a full custom forum system (I know there might already be solutions, but this is for the sake of example) would I be able to do it, and hook it up to Umbarco membership system ?
3) Can I use MVC pattern when developing my custom features ?
4) I was not able to find a list of complete features offered by umbarco out of the box. For example authtentification, breadcrumbs, custom content types, pagination..... what does Umbarco offers ?
I will try to answers your question about Umbraco,
1. Yes you can develop 100% custom features for your website. Umbraco is just an empty shell, that provide you the option to build a your site so it suits your clients needs. With Umbraco you have 100% control over your markup, and code.
2. Yes you will be able to build a full custom forum system, and you can hook it up to Umbraco member system. Umbraco just use the ASP Membership provider. There is already some forum packages for Umbraco. An example of a forum package for Umbraco could be the Dialogue package https://our.umbraco.org/projects/collaboration/dialogue another forum package that you could have a look at is the simpily Forums https://our.umbraco.org/projects/collaboration/simpily-forums, so as you can see it´s possible to bulid a forum using Umbraco.
4. As I say in the begining of my post, Umbraco is just an empty shell, so you need to build up every fields that the used user should be able to add information to. To understand how Umbraco works try to see these videos http://umbraco.tv/videos/umbraco-v7/implementor/, some of the are free to watch and some of them needs that you subscribe to the Umbraco TV. You can see the different plans of subscriptionhere: http://umbraco.tv/plans-signup/
As I you already know the Umbraco CMS is open source, and as you can see some people has made some packages that can be use to extend your Umbraco installation. Some of the are free to use, and some of them are commercial. The forum packages that I linked to above is free to use, but if you for instance if you want to build a webshop with Umbraco, there is commercial packages and open source packages. And example of a commercial e-commerce package could be uCommerce https://our.umbraco.org/projects/website-utilities/ucommerce and open soruce e-commerce package for Umbraco could be the Merchello package. https://our.umbraco.org/projects/collaboration/merchello
As I also said before Umbraco is using standard ASP.NET membership. Umbraco offer some pre-defined Razor / XSLT code snippets that you can use some starting point, and then add to, so it does what you need. Some of the pre-define Razor / XSLT code snippets, that Umbraco has is, breadcrumb, navigation, register member, login form, login status, edit profle, there is also code snippets for sitemap, and a gallery, or if you need a submenu, then you can use the snippet called List Child Pages From Current Page.
Some of the code shippets is only in Razor code, for instance the login, loginstatus, register member.
If anyone else have something to add please add then.
Thanks for your answer Dennis, I read it with great attention and the product seems really interesting.
Something I would still require some clarifications please:
What's the advantage of building a site and all it's functionalities with Umbraco, instead of just plain ASP.Net MVC ? What justifies the overhead added by the CMS ?
By basing your site on Umbraco you get all the content functionalities out of the box. You don't have to build the CMS part yourself. Consider Umbraco as a framework, which you can build on top of.
If you decide to go with a custom solution there is a lot of things you'll need to spend time on building yourself. By using Umbraco you get a head start and can focus on building on top of the platform instead of inventing it from scratch.
Is Umbarco a good choice for me ?
Hi, i'm evaluating several solutions for my web developpement needs, and I'm really interested in the asp.net stack, with a good CMS on top of it.
1) I'm a developer and look to develop a lot of custom code for my specific needs. I'm looking for a CMS that will help me achieve this, not get in the way. Does Umbarco really allows to develop 100% custom features for my site.... doesn't it make it harder than starting just plan asp.net mvc ?
2) For example let's say I want to build a full custom forum system (I know there might already be solutions, but this is for the sake of example) would I be able to do it, and hook it up to Umbarco membership system ?
3) Can I use MVC pattern when developing my custom features ?
4) I was not able to find a list of complete features offered by umbarco out of the box. For example authtentification, breadcrumbs, custom content types, pagination..... what does Umbarco offers ?
Thanks, Brakkar
Hi Brakkar and welcome to our,
I will try to answers your question about Umbraco,
1. Yes you can develop 100% custom features for your website. Umbraco is just an empty shell, that provide you the option to build a your site so it suits your clients needs. With Umbraco you have 100% control over your markup, and code.
2. Yes you will be able to build a full custom forum system, and you can hook it up to Umbraco member system. Umbraco just use the ASP Membership provider. There is already some forum packages for Umbraco. An example of a forum package for Umbraco could be the Dialogue package https://our.umbraco.org/projects/collaboration/dialogue another forum package that you could have a look at is the simpily Forums https://our.umbraco.org/projects/collaboration/simpily-forums, so as you can see it´s possible to bulid a forum using Umbraco.
3. I am not a backend developer, but Umbraco 7 is running MVC as default, and you can work with surface controllers and API controllers https://our.umbraco.org/documentation/Reference/WebApi/, try to see this documentation about surface contollers.https://our.umbraco.org/Documentation/Reference/Mvc/surface-controllers. Another good resource to know is the Umbraoc TV. It provides some video about how Umbraco works and what you can do with Umbraco. And as you can see there is some videos about how to work with surface controllers and API controllers. http://umbraco.tv/videos/developer/
4. As I say in the begining of my post, Umbraco is just an empty shell, so you need to build up every fields that the used user should be able to add information to. To understand how Umbraco works try to see these videos http://umbraco.tv/videos/umbraco-v7/implementor/, some of the are free to watch and some of them needs that you subscribe to the Umbraco TV. You can see the different plans of subscription here: http://umbraco.tv/plans-signup/
As I you already know the Umbraco CMS is open source, and as you can see some people has made some packages that can be use to extend your Umbraco installation. Some of the are free to use, and some of them are commercial. The forum packages that I linked to above is free to use, but if you for instance if you want to build a webshop with Umbraco, there is commercial packages and open source packages. And example of a commercial e-commerce package could be uCommerce https://our.umbraco.org/projects/website-utilities/ucommerce and open soruce e-commerce package for Umbraco could be the Merchello package. https://our.umbraco.org/projects/collaboration/merchello
As I also said before Umbraco is using standard ASP.NET membership. Umbraco offer some pre-defined Razor / XSLT code snippets that you can use some starting point, and then add to, so it does what you need. Some of the pre-define Razor / XSLT code snippets, that Umbraco has is, breadcrumb, navigation, register member, login form, login status, edit profle, there is also code snippets for sitemap, and a gallery, or if you need a submenu, then you can use the snippet called List Child Pages From Current Page.
Some of the code shippets is only in Razor code, for instance the login, loginstatus, register member.
If anyone else have something to add please add then.
Hope this helps,
/Dennis
Thanks for your answer Dennis, I read it with great attention and the product seems really interesting. Something I would still require some clarifications please:
What's the advantage of building a site and all it's functionalities with Umbraco, instead of just plain ASP.Net MVC ? What justifies the overhead added by the CMS ?
Hi Brakkar
By basing your site on Umbraco you get all the content functionalities out of the box. You don't have to build the CMS part yourself. Consider Umbraco as a framework, which you can build on top of.
If you decide to go with a custom solution there is a lot of things you'll need to spend time on building yourself. By using Umbraco you get a head start and can focus on building on top of the platform instead of inventing it from scratch.
Does this make sense?
/Jan
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