Ben Szymanski

Ben is a part-time web developer at the University of West Florida's Center for Cybersecurity and spends the rest of his time as an indie developer specializing in Umbraco and macOS projects. He discovered Umbraco during the venerable v7 days, and became an Umbraco Certified Master in March 2025.

When he's not writing code, Ben enjoys exploring his many hobbies, like cruising the Florida coast on his eFoil (electric hydrofoil), playing piano, biking, ballroom dancing, and serving as an Auxiliarist with the U.S. Coast Guard.

HTMX & Umbraco: Powertool meet Powertool

Issue No 115 • 08 April 2025

The web wasn’t meant to mimic native apps, but we've somehow turned it into exactly that. Ben explores why a hypermedia-first approach with HTMX is a refreshing alternative, and shows exactly how Umbraco developers can use it to create simpler, slicker, and smarter websites.