If your website is built in Umbraco version 8, it's nearing eol. This article outlines the issues that you should consider when planning your upgrade and answers some of the questions we're often asked.
What is 'eol'?
First question: what is ‘eol’? In terms of software 'eol' is the acronym for ‘end of life’ and it refers to the stage in the software lifecycle when the software version is no longer supported by the platform’s developer.
Lifecycles are a pretty standard pattern within software development as most platforms are continuously developed so they can take advantage of the latest technologies. Retiring old versions and stopping to support them, allows the manufacturer to focus their resources onto developing new and better solutions with new features and new functionality. This can also include essential bug fixes, security improvements and performance enhancements. Umbraco continuously works to improve the solution with the development and launch of new and improved versions to ensure it keeps its position as the world's leading Open Source .Net Content Management System, which inevitably means older versions eventually reach eol.
When is Umbraco 8's eol?
Umbraco 8 reaches end of life on 24th February 2025.
Will your umbraco 8 site still work after this date and what are the risks?
The short answer is yes.
Your website won’t suddenly disappear on the 24th of Feb 2025. However, from this date Umbraco will no longer support it with the most significant change being that they stop providing fixes/patches for any security issues that may arise. At bd2 we automatically implement any security patches issued by Umbraco in all the sites of our supported customers as part of our support contracts, but from this date we won’t be able to do so as the patches will no longer be issued by Umbraco.
In the online world, security attacks are a constant factor with hackers across the world looking to break into any connected systems including websites. Online security attacks are becoming increasingly sophisticated and more prevalent, that statistics from 2022 show that:
- 39% of UK businesses identified a cyber-attack.
- 21% of the 39% reported a sophisticated attack such as a denial of service, malware, or ransomware attack.
(Gov.UK, 2022, https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/cyber-security-breaches-survey-2022/cyber-security-breaches-survey-2022)
If you have not upgraded from version 8 by 24th Februrary 2025, there will inevitably be a heightened security risk to your wesite and as a result your company and its reputation.
Is an Umbraco upgrade a big task?
How long it can take to upgrade from version 8 is affected by several factors such as:
- the overall functionality of the site
- the tehnical complexity of the site
- the number of individual pages and components
- any third-party software integrations
- if there is a re-design the Ui as part of the upgrade exercise
Should you be thinking about re-designing your website at the same time as the upgrade?
This a really good question and ultimately the is decision is yours, but there are several factors to consider. If you are happy with your existing design and have no plans to re-design in the next two to three years, then we can integrate your existing Ui [user interface] with a new version of Umbraco. However, as well as inevitable changes in perceived best practice Ui design and new trends, there have also been some significant new developments and improvements in the Umbraco CMS since version 8 which you might want to take advantage of. Key amongst these is the introduction of content blocks to create pages which have introduced a whole new level of flexibility to the format of page layouts.
It's worth noting that if your site is older, and you are thinking of a re-design in the next two to three years, it would make a LOT of sense to do this as part of an Umbraco rebuild project rather than just upgrading the CMS. If you decide to leave a re-design until after the rebuild, there may be additional work to re-integrate areas of the website and could mean that you end up effectively paying twice for similar work. This could result in wasted resource which would be better spent on other areas of your business’s digital marketing.
Does umbraco have a roadmap for version releases?
Another good question and the answer is yes. Umbraco made the strategic decision to follow Micrsoft’s release cadence, because Umbraco is written in Microsoft’s .Net language. Umbraco introduced LTS [Long-Term Support] versions which are supported for two years. Versions in between these are ‘Current Releases’, and are supported for one year. Umbraco 10 is the first LTS, followed by Umbraco 13, and then in the future 17.
Once you move onto Umbraco 10, and as long as you maintain a consistent upgrade pattern from 10 to 11 then 12 and so on - which we would advise to make sure you have the latest features and patches - each upgrade should be a considerably smaller task than it is currently. Version 8 to 10 or above is significant because of the underlying Microsoft technology shift from ASP.Net to .Net Core.
When should you begin the process of upgrading or rebuilding your website?
Whilst we've talked about the need to upgrade from Umbraco 8, the reality is that ‘rebuild’ is probably a more appropriate description, because of the significant changes to the platform. The move to a newer version of Umbraco is therefore a fairly significant task so we would recommend that you start the planning process as soon as possible to ensure that the new system is fully in place before February 2025. This is even more important if you are also thinking of a re-design, as outlined, as the design work needs to be undertaken as well as the rebuild.
We are informing you now so that you have over 12 months to consider your plans internally, and to ensure we have adequate time to pan in any work you may want.
Why choose bd2?
Whilst many digital agencies are ‘CMS agnostic’ and build sites in several platforms, we made the strategic decision to focus entirely on Umbraco implementations so that we can become real experts. We have been developing websites using Umbraco since 2012 and are Gold Partners. All work is undertaken by our highly experienced and completely in-house team which incorporates Chartered Designers, dedicated Ui Developers, Umbraco Certified Developers, ISTQB Certified Testers, Agile Project Managers and Chartered Marketers.
We use our own structured delivery process which has been developed and proven through 25 years of successful project delivery. The process is a step by step approach from exploration, on to design of the user experience and interface, requirements scoping including architecture, user stories and user acceptance criteria, development of the Ui and integration with the CMS, testing, launch and we provide a comprehensive and flexible suite of support services.
What do you do next?
If you would like to discuss your options in more detail, see a demonstration of the enhancements and capabilities of the latest version of Umbraco, or arrange a workshop to start the process, please contact jon@bd2.co.uk and he'll get back to you to for a chat about it all.