Our award-winning Site Builder is now Umbraco 12 compatible.
As we've done with every major Umbraco release, we've promptly responded with an upgraded version of our award-winning uSkinned Site Builder. Say hello to Site Builder v5, fully adapted for Umbraco version 12.
You can be assured that we've done more than just update the version number. Site Builder v5 comes with an array of exciting new features and enhancements that we're sure you're going to love.
But before we unpack some of the goodies in Site Builder v5, let's briefly touch on what's new in Umbraco 12...
Umbraco 12: in a nutshell
The latest major update, Umbraco 12, introduces an exciting feature: the Content Delivery API. This new addition enables built-in headless capabilities without the need for extra installations or building your own headless API. Simply toggle a switch and you're ready to go. Moreover, integrated support for the widely-used EF Core (Entity Framework Core) is another noteworthy update, particularly beneficial for developers dealing with custom database tables.
Also, this update includes a suite of enhanced dependencies and framework enhancements, with a major new update of ImageSharp. This guarantees your Umbraco projects are always up-to-date with the latest technology, providing you with optimal performance and security.
What's new in Site Builder 5
Selected Filters
Now, selected pill buttons will appear above your listing when using the Shop or Listing filters, providing a clear view of the chosen filters and free text search when browsing any Shop or Listing section. As well as an easy way to clear them individually or all at the same time.
Breadcrumbs component
Breadcrumb placement has been made more flexible. You can now add breadcrumb trails anywhere on your page, not just at the end.
Breadcrumbs design
The new Design options let you choose the direction of your breadcrumbs.
Expand/collapse Subpage Navigation
Navigate through your subpages with ease using the expand/collapse options next to any parent page in the Subpage navigation.
Membership sign up alerts
You can now set up email notifications for someone in your organisation to be alerted of any new member registrations.
Accessible background images
We've improved screen reader accessibility for all background images by adding role="img" and aria-label="" that will render the alternative tag for that image.
Plus lots more
We've incorporated various enhancements, fixed minor bugs, and made updates to improve several aspects of Site Builder. For more details, do check out the changelog.
Get started today
With Umbraco 12, users should install directly using NuGet. You can now find uSkinned Site Builder as a package on both NuGet and Umbraco Marketplace. You can follow the steps below to get started.
Download and install Umbraco 12 with uSkinned Site Builder via NuGet
Run this snippet in the command line to get started with Umbraco 12.0.1 and uSkinned Site Builder 5.0.0:
# Ensure we have the latest Umbraco templates dotnet new -i Umbraco.Templates::12.0.1 # Create solution/project dotnet new sln --name "MySolution" dotnet new umbraco --force -n "MyProject" --friendly-name "Administrator" --email "admin@example.com" --password "1234567890" --development-database-type SQLite dotnet sln add "MyProject" #Add Packages dotnet add "MyProject" package uSkinnedSiteBuilder --version 5.0.0 dotnet run --project "MyProject" #Running
You will now have uSkinned Site Builder for Umbraco 12 successfully installed and running on your local machine with an SQLite database.
The above code snippet was generated using the Package Script Writer created by Paul Seal from Codeshare.
Upgrade from Site Builder V4 to V5
If you're already running uSkinned Site Builder 4.x for Umbraco 11.x then that's no problem at all, we've got the perfect guides to help you upgrade to the latest version.
Licensing
As with the previous versions, uSkinned Site Builder is still a licensed product. This means that to run in full you will need to purchase a domain license from our website.
To activate your uSkinned Site Builder license, go to the uSkinned Member's Portal. Go to licenses to create and download your license, if you do not have any available licenses then you will need to purchase a license before you can get up and running.
Activate your license
Please download your license file and add the file to the ~/umbraco/Licenses directory of your Umbraco installation.
Once you've downloaded and added your license file to the correct directory location, please restart your application and then log in to the CMS.
If everything has been installed correctly then you will see a valid license message and version numbers of both Site Builder and Umbraco on your dashboard.
How to buy a license
New Customers
Head over to our pricing page and choose the best plan for you.
Existing Customers
If you've purchased Site Builder within the past year then login to the uSkinned Members Portal now to create and download your license.
If you purchased a Site Builder license more than a year ago, then you will need to purchase an extended support license before you can upgrade to 5.0. Login to the uSkinned Members Portal to find out.
Free Trial
Sign up for our no-obligation, Microsoft Azure-hosted free trial of uSkinned Site Builder.
Host with uSkinned
Seamless hosting, Umbraco and uSkinned are preinstalled on a world-class and secure platform. Experience the easiest and most affordable way to launch a uSkinned powered website. Talk to us about Hosted uSkinned Websites today.
If you have any questions, feel free to leave them in the comment section or reach out to our team at any time.
#h5yr
About the author
Paul Daly
I am a co-founder and the Creative Lead at uSkinned. It's my responsibility to lead the design and frontend coding efforts for all of our products as well as across each team, including Marketing, Branding, Content and Support.