SilverStripe CMS and Framework 3 stable

I woke up this morning with a very nice announcement that SilverStripe 3.0 has official been released. As you know, I'm a huge fan of the SilverStripe CMS. Next week, I hope to cover SilverStripe 3 better, but with limited time this Friday you'll just have to be satisfied with a copy of the below press release.

If I'm lucky, I think I might also be able to find a video interview I did last year with SilverStripe's co-founder, Sigurd Magnusson, on the then upcoming SilverStripe 3. I had some video editing format issues that perhaps I'm a little smarter now to overcome. Stay tuned on this "developing story".

SilverStripe CMS and Framework 3 stable is out

With 3.0.0 SilverStripe released the latest version of their open source content management system today. 3.0.0 offers a powerful framework and a striking user interface in the back end.

The latest version boasts a modern and clean UI with a lot of under the hood improvements. Extensive user testing led to major interface improvements in the back end. Media insertion works easy via ‘Drag and Drop’ and URL embed. With the release of SilverStripe 3 comes the SilverStripe Framework, which is now a separate tool to build applications and sites that don’t require a CMS.

The stable version is ready to download now. Here is what’s new:

The administrative interface

• The latest version provides a brand new CMS UI for an even better user experience. The UI was reworked based on the results of several usability tests. Content editors just need basic text editor experience to keep their content and site structure up to date.

• List-view for page editing helps to structure site parts that have a lot of content and sub sites, such as the blog, in a user friendly way without rearranging the site tree.

• To embed media from YouTube, Flickr, Vimeo and many other sites, the administrator simply inserts the item's URL and the CMS will import it automatically.

The code

• The new version separated the framework from the CMS, which is now usable as its own entity. An important tool for all developers who want to create more powerful web applications.
   
• The data model layer has been rewritten to allow better performance through lazy loaded lists and expressiveness through chainable commands.

• Lots of developer API’s have been replaced, improved or newly created. Among the new API’s is GridField, which allows users to manage and display complex data in easy to use tables.

• In 3.0, SilverStripe now works with PHP 5.3+ in order to take advantage of all the PHP 5.3 features, notably namespace support.

• 3.0 comes with a responsive default theme provided by the winner of the SilverStripe Theme Contest.

The latest SilverStripe generation CMS is a milestone for the company and their open source community. 3.0 sets the ground for further changes and improvements

For a detailed list of all the features and changes in this release, please check the changelog and our upgrading guide. For more information look at the SilverStripe 3 video.