ZauberCMS: The Pivot
The past month has been equal parts fun and a healthy ego-check. Just before Christmas, while adding features to my personal site (built on ZauberCMS), I ran into some friction with Blazor. Frustration bubbled up, and I set the issue aside until the holiday spirit nudged me to revisit it. Oddly enough, I usually relish tinkering with packages and features (mostly in Umbraco) during the holidays, but I just didn't have the want to look into it.
A Moment of Reflection
After some thought, I revisited why I originally built ZauberCMS. I had lost sight of my goal amidst the shiny allure of Blazor. My vision was clear: create a CMS that makes it ridiculously easy for .NET developers to build and customize websites using familiar tools - no overcomplicated JS frameworks or maddening build scripts.
Yet there I was, facing different challenges while building a .NET site. I wasn’t living up to my original promise.
Rethink & Pivot
I realised my motivation stemmed from a desire to move away from Umbraco (after 15+ years of loyalty). I even jotted down my grievances, and, unsurprisingly, I only had two:
- Package & Plugin Passion: I love creating packages and plugins, but the new back-office felt like a chore (I had tried twice to use it). I wasn’t keen on mastering verbose JS frameworks and convoluted build scripts just to have fun again.
- Direction Concerns: I had growing concerns about Umbraco's new profit-driven, market-share-focused approach, coupled with a shift toward front-end developers over actual .NET devs.
Looking at these points, it became clear: I miss the simplicity of building sites the old-fashioned way in Umbraco. My current pain wasn’t about site development at all - it was about making plugins and customising the back-office.
Then it hit me - a literal💡 moment. I’d been yearning for what I wished Umbraco had delivered: a simple MVC, traditional front-end approach with optional APIs for headless functionality, paired with a Blazor-only admin/back-office.
Enter ZauberCMS V3
So, I did just that. V3 of ZauberCMS is here, and I like to call it the best of both worlds. It offers a timeless, effortless site-building experience while delivering a highly modular and customizable admin powered by the latest Blazor. This means fewer headaches, no overreliance on JS, and a return to what I truly enjoy: developing in .NET and having fun.
(Okay, so when I say “no JS,” I’m not being 100% purist - I still use Alpine.js on my personal site because, frankly, it’s one of the few JS libraries that doesn’t drive me up the wall!)
Here’s to building on an enjoyable foundation. Where we go from here I have no idea. Will anyone else use it, again, I have no idea 😂
Getting Started
I have created a full (Proper) video showing how easy it is to get started and build your site using MVC. Have a watch below
GitHub
Finally, as always, all the code and information is available on Github