Umbraco development is a massive part of our offering and day-to-work. So, though only through computer screens, we thoroughly enjoyed Umbraco's Codegarden 2023 - all the keynotes and presentations. Here are the highlights for those of you who missed out on the event.
 

The conference started with confetti cannons, and that was just the beginning of the blasts. Emma Burstow, the Director of Developer Relations, thanked the Umbraco community for their exceptional commitment to expanding the platform's functionality and all their contribution. The Umbraco Marketplace has seen a remarkable influx of integrations and add-ons from community developers within just six months of its launch. The keynote addressed some of them, but we were particularly excited about platform development announcements by Umbraco team members.

Cloud, Forms, Workflow

CTO at Umbraco, Filip Bech-Larson, jumped right into talking about the Umbraco Cloud offering and its role in accelerating development. Roadmap for this service includes, among other things, the ability to bring your own identity providers, an upgrade scheduling option (to put you in control of when the updates happen), and CI/CD custom integration (this last feature will be ready in Q3 2023). All this will undoubtedly please developers working with Umbraco products daily. 

The presentation segments on DXP's latest improvements - Umbraco Forms and Workflow - were interesting from a business standpoint. The main thing going for the Formbuilder right now is adding headless capabilities. 

How does it work? Instead of just showing the created form on the website, you can request data on it from any platform of your choice. Meanwhile, the newly tweaked and highly customizable Umbraco Workflow feature will help with organizing the content approval process. 

However, the segment that truly captivated the audience's enthusiasm was the one dedicated to... 
 

Umbraco Commerce

This new multi-currency e-commerce feature with a flexible discount engine and tons of payment gateway extensions is set to launch as soon as July 5th. And it could be a true game-changer. 


As presented by Umbraco Team Lead Matt Brailsford, the new add-on will offer limitless customization options, allowing businesses to create highly personalized shopping experiences. The UI here seems really intuitive, with clear section division and a sleek analytics display. It simplifies setting up product details, streamlines the checkout flow, and enables effortless management of incoming orders.

Incorporating e-commerce capabilities into existing websites looks more accessible than ever, and we, for sure, are excited to test it out at the earliest possible opportunity. 

Umbraco Commerce License will cost 199 euro per month. 
 

Umbraco 12, 13 and 14

Since the release of Umbraco 10, we have consistently received significant updates every few months. Now, with Umbraco 11 just out of the gate, we are only a few days away from the release of version 12, and we already hear about the upcoming versions 13 and 14. 

So, what to expect? Filip Bech-Larson talked about lazy loading, which will put you in control of the caching mechanism so the site doesn't have to load everything upfront. That will make huge, content-rich websites more efficient, and efficiency overall played a big part in the presentations throughout the conference (there was even a brief segment about how exactly upgrading to the newer version of Umbraco will help you reduce your carbon footprint).
 
However, what will please content managers and developers using Umbraco equally is the new back office. Modernized but with the same, well-appreciated intuitive UI, the new back office will be featured in Umbraco 14, which is scheduled to be released in May 2024. 
 

Headless future

Another segment that generated significant buzz at the conference was dedicated to Umbraco Headless and its API-first content management approach. 

Decoupling the front- and back-end will allow developers to harness contemporary technologies and frameworks to deliver more scalable and interactive applications. The headless architecture will empower teams of developers, editors, and creators to seamlessly deliver content across multiple channels and devices, fostering enhanced user engagement and promoting innovation.
 

First choice for exceptional digital experience 

The conference concluded by recognizing partners with awards, including categories like the most innovative custom and editing experience solutions. It showcased even more: the flexibility, developer-friendly nature, and popularity of the Umbraco platform among developers and website managers.

With a Certified Partner status and a couple of Umbraco Experts on board we are open to partner on the projects with other digital agencies and supplement their growing needs. If you happen to look for additional resources for your Umbraco dev team, give us a call.