The future of Umbraco – 5 key takeaways from Codegarden 2024

As Umbraco Platinum partners we are always on the lookout for the latest trends and innovations to better serve our Umbraco CMS clients. Recently some of our team had the pleasure of attending Codegarden, Umbraco's annual developers conference. We left the event buzzing with new ideas and insights, and we’re excited to share our top five findings:

 

Umbraco's Roadmap & Umbraco 14:

One of the most exciting elements of the Codegarden event, is getting a glimpse into the platform's future roadmap, and this year the future of Umbraco looks as bright as ever. Most excitingly, we got an insight into Umbraco 14’s fantastic new features:

• The use of AI and integrated personas to increase personalisation.
• AI supported search functionalities, and potential 'plug and play' options.
• A continued commitment to composability, allowing developers to create truly unique products using the platform.
• Reusable Content Libraries.
• Flexible supported hosting options with Docker containers.
• Cleaned up legacy editors.

It’s fair to say that with the help of AI, these features are going to allow developers to reach new levels of personalisation, creating bespoke designs and functionalities, which have not been previously possible.

 

New Backoffice:

Following the theme of personalisation, in Umbraco 14 the backoffice is getting a host of new features. Whilst maintaining the same look and feel, we can expect to see extension-first architecture, allowing developers to heavily customize the CMS. The platform is also expected to use the latest best practices and technologies, moving away from legacy processes such as macros and Angular JS, making it a dream to work with compared to the current version. There is also a focus on accessibility, ensuring that the backoffice is as easy to work with as possible, for people with little to no website development experience.

 

Umbraco Cloud Updates:

Umbraco Cloud is a seamless, purpose-built platform, featuring a combination of the known and loved Umbraco CMS and the flexible cloud hosting services of Microsoft’s Azzure platform. Umbraco Cloud works straight out of the box, providing seamless content syncing between all environments, and automatic Umbraco security/patch updates, meaning sites are never in a vulnerable position. Upcoming new features, including the support of load balanced solutions, dedicated databases and client active directories, are set to make this service a more viable option for many sites. As a result, more sites will be able to make use of the product’s exceptionally convenient services.

 

AI Search & Integrations:

As with most technology companies, AI integration is a major focus for Umbraco going forward. In future releases we can expect to see AI Search abstractions through plug and play providers, making it even easier for AI search capabilities to be added into Umbraco websites. We can also expect to see AI personalisation though the use of Personas, which will alter site performance and visibility depending on a users previous actions, location, membership status, and more. With website users consistently expecting more personalised website experiences, these new features will allow developers to further meet consumer demands.

 

New Sustainability Package:

More than ever, website developers including ourselves, are looking for ways to make digital products more sustainable. Umbraco listened, and their sustainability team have recently released their own package titled ‘Umbraco.Community.Sustinability.’. Once installed, the package adds two new sections to the CMS – a sustainability section which shows a page-by-page breakdown of sustainability scores, and a content app, which allows users to benchmark the page weight and carbon emissions of each page whilst editing. The result is a simple yet effective addition which gives content editors a unique view into the sustainability of their edits, something which previously would require an external program, or considerable sustainable development knowledge. This package brings sustainable insights to the masses, allowing those with no sustainable development knowledge to easily adapt their edits to score higher on a recognisable sustainable rankings scale.

 

Umbraco is placing a focus on personalisation and AI, which is in line with consumer demands and expectations. As a result, developers are consistently being equipped with the tools needed to create websites which not only meet, but also exceed client briefs. It's exciting to see that the Umbraco platform we all know and love, is consistently being taken to new levels, and that Umbraco are listening to user requests. We cant wait for these new features to be released to the public, and look forward to the new possibilities that will come alongside them.