Owain Williams

📰 A weekend without internet access

Owain.Codes reflects on a recent Bank Holiday trip to Dundee, where limited internet access prompted a return to offline coding. He emphasizes the joy of problem-solving without AI assistance, advocating for unplugged time to rediscover personal creativity in programming. Owain encourages readers to experience a no-internet day for similar insights.

📰 The Silent Developer

Owain.Codes discusses the challenges of remote work for developers, particularly the loss of informal knowledge transfer that occurs in an office setting. He highlights the risks for junior developers relying on AI for coding without guidance from experienced colleagues, emphasizing the importance of critical thinking and community engagement to foster learning and growth.

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📰 OC.PowerSort 1.2.0

OC.PowerSort 17.2.0, released in April 2026, introduces recurring schedules for automated content sorting in Umbraco, enhancing efficiency and reducing manual tasks. This version supports various recurrence patterns, smart occurrence management, and maintains backward compatibility with previous versions. It aims to streamline content management workflows for diverse use cases.

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📰 Optimizing Umbraco Member Pagination From Slow to Lightning Fast

Owain.Codes discusses optimizing a client intranet's member management page by implementing database-level pagination. The original approach loaded all members into memory, causing performance issues. The new method queries only necessary data, resulting in 31x faster page loads, 100x less memory usage, and improved code maintainability through single-responsibility methods.

📰 GitKraken CLI Beginner's Guide: A Better Git CLI for Developers

GitKraken CLI, developed by Owain Williams, enhances Git's command line experience by simplifying workflows and reducing command memorization. It offers intuitive commands and guided workflows, allowing developers to work faster and avoid common mistakes. GitKraken CLI complements Git without replacing it, making it ideal for those familiar with Git's fundamentals.

📰 OC.PowerSort package

Owain Williams announces the release of OC.PowerSort, a complex package developed with Harrie Mayhem, designed for intuitive content ordering management via a dedicated dashboard. Features include scheduling sort orders and manual arrangement. Future enhancements are planned, including recurring scheduled orders. Full documentation and demonstration videos are available on GitHub and YouTube.

📰 OC.UFMFallbacks Package

Owain.Codes announced the release of a new UFM package for fallback values in Umbraco, allowing users to set a primary value for a label that defaults to another property if empty. This package supports chaining properties, HTML string manipulation, and output truncation. For more features, visit GitHub.

📰 OC.UFMMembersLookup package

Umbraco Flavored Markdown (UFM) is utilized in Umbraco 17 for property descriptions and advanced labels in the CMS backoffice. Owain.Codes encountered an issue with Member Pickers and created a package to display member property information using {mnl:pickerAlias.propertyalias}. The package is now available via NuGet.

📰 Auto-Updating Your GitHub README with Your Latest Blog Posts

Owain Williams describes a method to automate the updating of a GitHub profile README with the latest blog posts using a Python script and GitHub Actions. The setup involves fetching posts from an RSS feed, updating the README, and committing changes daily without manual intervention, ensuring the profile remains current and relevant.

📰 How I used Umbraco.AI for free

Owain.Codes discusses his experience with Umbraco.AI, a free, open-source AI integration for Umbraco CMS. He faced challenges during a demo, particularly with API access and permissions. After resolving issues with Google Gemini's free tier, he modified the source code to include the latest model, gemini-3-flash-preview, and submitted a pull request for updates.

📰 Tracking Bouldering Sessions with a Garmin Watch App and Umbraco Dashboard

Owain.Codes developed a Garmin Connect IQ watch app to track bouldering sessions at The Climbing Hangar, which uses a color grading system instead of traditional V grades. The app logs problem details, sends session data to an Umbraco-based API, and provides a dashboard for visualizing performance metrics and statistics.

📰 Upgrading Umbraco 13 to Umbraco 17 issue

Owain.Codes discusses an upgrade issue encountered while transitioning a project from Umbraco 13.13.0 to Umbraco 17.1.0. After upgrading the database, he faced a 403 Forbidden error due to insufficient permissions for the user account. By adjusting the user group in the database, he successfully initiated the upgrade.

📰 When GitKraken Desktop Runs Slow

Owain.Codes discusses performance issues in GitKraken Desktop, attributing slowdowns during startup, pull requests, and merge conflicts to interference from MemoryBytes antivirus. By adding local Git repository folders to the antivirus exclusion list, performance improved significantly, restoring the tool's intended speed. This common practice enhances development workflows without compromising system security.

📰 OC.HiddenDashboard - Umbraco Package

Owain.Codes developed a hidden dashboard for Umbraco 17, accessible via a Konami code. The package includes a playable Pac-man game and allows users to hide their own packages. The secret code is now configurable through AppSettings. Documentation is available on GitHub: OwainWilliams/OC.HiddenDashboard.

📰 When Passion Isn’t Enough: Choosing Wellbeing Over the “Perfect” Job

Owain Williams shares his journey of recognizing burnout despite having a "dream job" in the Umbraco community. He emphasizes the importance of self-awareness, stepping away from unsustainable roles, and rediscovering passion through reflection. Ultimately, he advocates for prioritizing mental health and leaning into personal strengths over external comparisons.

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💬 Learn how to use the Management API with TypeScript by Owain Williams

📰 Has the Umbraco Community lost it's Spark?

Owain Williams reflects on the decline of community engagement during Umbraco Tees Day, noting a stark reduction in shared celebrations compared to previous years. With the community dispersed across various platforms, he questions whether the vibrant Umbraco community spirit has faded or simply shifted. He invites thoughts on the future of the community.