Umbraco CMS is one of the most well-known content management systems today. Many businesses are considering switching from their existing platforms to Umbraco. With this rising demand, Umbraco development is also booming. While there are many Umbraco development experts in the market, there are still some common mistakes that developers commonly make and should be avoided.
But how?
Well, this content piece will walk you through the common Umbraco development mistakes that happen and how you can avoid them. Let’s get started.
10 Umbraco development mistakes with their solution
- Disregard Content Modelling Best Practices
- Lacking Cache Management
- Complicated Coding
- Ignoring Version Control Approaches
- Neglecting User Permissions and Roles
- Overlook Mobile and Responsive Design
- Poor Error Handling Methods
- Pay No Attention to Security
- Not Leveraging the Power of Community
- Deployment Without Proper Testing
These are some of the usual pitfalls in the Umbraco development that can be avoided with minimal effort. Let’s dive into the details of each issue and understand how you can avoid them.
Disregard Content Modelling Best Strategies
Mistake: The very first mistake developers often make is forgetting to structure their content models in a way that’s easy for others to understand. They tend to use flat or unstructured content models, which makes it difficult for others to interpret the code or resolve any related query. Such an approach can also lead to confusion about the purpose of certain modules or functions.
How to Avoid: Before jumping into development, create a well-structured content strategy. A scalable and reusable content architecture design using nested content, compositions, and document types. Make it a habit to comment on complex parts of your code and document the expected output for better understanding.
Tools: Miro for Brainstorming, Figma for Diagramming
Lacking Cache Management
Mistake: Depending entirely on real-time database queries to handle Caching issues can lead to performance bottlenecks.
How to Avoid: Umbraco includes built-in output caching and examines indexing to improve site performance. Developers should understand how to strategically implement and verify caching at different levels.
Tools: Umbraco built-in cache system
Complicated Coding Style, URLs and Media Paths
Mistake: The biggest mistake is creating a complex coding style that often arises when developers try to solve problems that have not even occurred yet. This leads to hard to maintain code built around unnecessary features intended for potential future use. Moreover, manually entering URLs in templates or code which makes it challenging to understand for others the proper media path.
How to Avoid: Umbraco offers built-in helpers like @Url.Content and media pickers, enabling developers to keep things organized, dynamic and future-proof. Write code only for existing requirements and introduce complexity only when it is necessary. The code should be clean and easy to understand, even for new team members joining the project.
Tools: Models Builder, Routing & URLs
Ignoring Version Control Approaches
Mistake: Improper use of version control – such as infrequent commits or incorrect branching can result in overwriting teammates work and complicate the project’s history. Additionally, developers often allow content changes to go live instantly without proper review, which can lead to unintended issues in production.
How to Avoid: It is advisable to use Umbraco’s content approval workflows and version history to manage and secure content. Follow the best practices with Git or any other version control system. Commit small and frequent changes. Create branches for specific features or bug related issues. Regularly update, merge and resolve conflicts.
Tools: uSync, Git
Neglecting User Permissions and Roles
Mistake: It is crucial to secure data and manage permissions for backend access. Giving admin level access to all back-office users can be risky, as any unintended actions from their end could lead to serious setbacks.
How to Avoid: Define customized roles and permissions for individuals based on their responsibilities. Assigning appropriate access permissions to content editors, marketers and developers is essential to maintaining security and ensuring proper control over the system.
Tools: Backoffice
Overlook Mobile and Responsive Design
Mistake: Developers sometimes overlook testing the site on multiple devices to ensure it performs well and proves its responsiveness.
How to Avoid: It is essential to implement responsive layouts using a grid system thoroughly and testing your site across various devices.
Tools: BrowserStack Live
Poor Error Handling Methods
Mistake: Failing to catch errors or not providing meaningful error messages can make debugging a nightmare, as unexpected issues may crash the app or render it unusable. An improper error handling method might cause issues later.
How to Avoid: Use best practices to avoid generic error messages. Use catch blocks where needed.
Tools: Log4j or Sentry to keep an eye on the errors
Pay No Attention to Security
Mistake: Paying attention to the site security is crucial. Common security mistakes like exposing sensitive data, using outdated libraries, or failing to sanitize user inputs can leave the application or site vulnerable to cyberattacks.
How to Avoid: Update dependencies regularly. Use environment variables for sensitive data. Employ libraries for sanitizing input.
Tools: SSL Labs
Not Leveraging the Power of Community
Mistake: Umbraco has a large and skilled developers’ community. Yet, developers often spend time solving common issues from scratch during the development—essentially reinventing the wheel for features that already have community-tested solutions.
How to Avoid: Explore and get quick answers from the community for your common development issues. Use the time saved to learn and update new skills and focus on enhancing and improving your site’s functionality.
Tools: SEO Checker, uSkinned, or uMarketingSuite
Deployment Without Proper Testing
Mistake: It often happens that developers make changes directly on the live site, which can sometime lead to data loss. Making changes in the live environment without proper precautions can result in setbacks if critical data is lost.
How to Avoid: Always perform thorough testing before deployment and minimize direct changes in the live environment. Test all updates in staging or development environments first and use deployment tools to ensure a controlled and safe release process.
Tools: Umbraco deploy, uSync controlled release
Considering these 10 Umbraco development mistakes and their solution can help you save your lots of time—that you can instead use to enhance your site’s features and functionalities. Avoiding these common Umbraco development mistakes will enable you to build a more secure, high-performing and scalable website.
Need expert assistance?
There are several professional Umbraco development service providers all around the world, if you are looking for any Umbraco development service or migration services for your business, you can contact them.