XOOPS 2.5 RC Released

mamba's picture
Submitted by mamba on

The XOOPS Development Team is pleased to announce that a new version of the Top 5 Finalist of 2010 Packt Open Source CMS - XOOPS 2.5.0 RC is available for download.

(Don't forget to vote for XOOPS: read here)

ScreenshotThe XOOPS 2.5.0 release is a major redesign of the System Module which has been AJAX-ed with jQuery done mainly by Nicolas Andricq (ForMusS), Cointin Maxime (kraven_30), and Grégory Mage (Mage). Other major contributors include Trabis, Voltan, Kris_fr, and Marco. Some of the new features are truly amazing, like the visual placement of blocks, and we're sure that the users will love them

Other major improvements/additions include:

  • Help System for Admin and modules (see PM module)
  • MySQL Dump in Maintenance
  • New Redirect messaging
  • Column sorting in tables
  • Smarty plugin for icon pack
  • Smarty plugin for breadcrumb navigation
  • jQuery plugins for display popup or manage drag & drop
  • File Manager (Plugin)

Coming soon: Umbraco 4.1

Bryan's picture
Submitted by Bryan on

Umbraco, an open source CMS based on Microsoft's ASP.NET, has announced the availability of Umbraco 4.1RC. The Umbraco Core Team of developers calls this version of their CMS as "the biggest update to Umbraco" ever. This release candidate for Umbraco 4.1 is packed with a laundry list of improvements in performance and stability as well as some new features.

New and improved features:

  • Enhanced preview. Browse your entire site as it looks in the future, including out-of-the-box support for all XSLT and NodeFactory based macros
  • SpellChecker. With support for more than ten languages out of the box!
  • LINQ 2 Umbraco. More a .NET Developer than an XSLT guru? You can access data via the all brand new .NET LINQ API
  • Examine. Ultra performant and stable index-based search engine. With a fluent API that developers will love
  • New XML Schema. Not only more performant, but makes it easier to understand your data and adds future support for Intellisense in Visual Studio!
  • Improved DLR support. Faster than ever and with support for Ruby too!
  • New Datatypes: Image Cropper for editor friendly image manipulation and Macro Container for easily handling of feature areas. (Needs to be manually created in the data type section in the RC)
  • Improved Mediapicker: Preview and advanced dialog with upload is now a part of the default MediaPicker (needs to be activated on the datatype in the RC)

WordPress 3.0 nears completion

Bryan's picture
Submitted by Bryan on

During the final days of May, the first release candidate for WordPress 3.0 was released to the public. In the world of WordPress, when a version of the popular blogging application becomes a release candidates it means that the official version of WordPress isn't too far behind.

What’s an RC? An RC comes after beta and before the final launch. It means we think we’ve got everything done: all features finished, all bugs squashed, and all potential issues addressed. But, then, with over 20 million people using WordPress with a wide variety of configurations and hosting setups, it’s entirely possible that we’ve missed something.

WordPress logoSo what are the new features that will be included in WordPress 3.0. Personally, I'm excited about improvements in custom taxonomy and the merging of standalone WordPress with WordPress Multi-User code which WordPress is calling Multisite. Some of the highlights of WordPress 3.0 include:

Below the fold I've also included a video from WordPress.TV on WordPress 3.0 multisite.

MODx Revolution 2.0 becomes a release candidate

Bryan's picture
Submitted by Bryan on

MODx CMS, a open source Web content management system, has announced it has published the first release candidate for its upcoming flagship product, MODx Revolution. Over three years in the making, this release candidate moves MODx CMS Revolution 2.0 out of beta and brings it one step closer to the final General Release.

In addition to maintaining MODx's reputation of offering absolute freedom over design and content structure, and the ability to build sites quickly and easily that perform well with Search Engines, MODx Revolution 2.0 Release Candidate 1 comes tightly packed with more than 240 bugfixes and enhancements since its last beta release. This release offers a faster Manager, easier installation, better Rich Text Editing (RTE) for content managers, a robust Package Manager for installing Add-ons directly within the Manager, and a new native file browser for direct access of files and other website assets.

"We're excited to see Revo moving out of beta, as it takes everything great about our classic code base, and re-envisions it in a modern architecture with Enterprise-level scalability," said Ryan Thrash, MODx's co-founder. "When developers start working with Revo and experience first-hand what we've talked about for so long—let's just say I think there's going to be a lot of happy developers and site owners. Revo really is a platform on which you can build a robust, mission-critical website. Our upcoming user conference, Partner Program and Commercial Support offerings will further enhance the MODx ecosystem and demonstrate our level of commitment to the MODx platform."

Expected improvements coming in ocPortal 4.3

Bryan's picture
Submitted by Bryan on

With a release candidate out for ocPortal 4.3, you can expect a number of improvements in the upcoming official release of ocPortal. This version is a feature release that introduces a number of bug fixes since the last release as well as performance improvements and new features.

The new features expected to be included in ocPortal 4.3:

  • The "What's new" newsletter feature now allows you to easily re-order categories, change what categories are used, is better presented, and allows you to choose the reference date
  • Added link to ocPortal's bookmarks feature on the screen-actions block (commented out by default though)
  • Added Guest forum searching to OCF

Radiant CMS 0.9.0 coming soon

Bryan's picture
Submitted by Bryan on

A new version of Radiant, a Ruby on Rails content management systems, is coming soon. Radiant 0.9.0 has just been released as a release candidate.

In this release the interface for the CMS has been updated to make Radiant more stylish and compact. Apart from the stylistic changes, there are a few other significant changes to the user interface worth mentioning:

  • There are now two levels of tabs. The intent here is to provide more organization for folks that have a lot of extensions installed. The primary top level tabs are now “Content”, “Design”, and “Settings”.
  • Hot-keys have been added for saving. You can now press Ctrl+S to save a page and continue editing, or Ctrl+Shift+S to save a page and return to the index page.
  • The number of flash messages have been reduced in favor of status messages that pop up when you submit a form.
  • Support has been added for the tab key to text areas. On Safari and Firefox there is also support for multi-line indent and unindent.

There are a number of changes that did not make it into this release candidate that still may make it into the final version in one form or another. Additional features that may be added by the developers in the final version include internationalization, asset management, password reset, filter toolbar, and a revamped settings interface.

The original announcement for this release candidate has additional information and can be found at RadiantCMS.org.

XOOPS 2.3.3 RC Is Released

mamba's picture
Submitted by mamba on

After over 20,000 downloads of XOOPS 2.3.2b (see here), the XOOPS Development Team is pleased to announce the release of XOOPS 2.3.3 RC.

This release includes many bugfixes and user experience improvements, done by XOOPS Core Development Team and XOOPS community.

Some of the areas:

  • profile and pm modules improved by dhcst
  • installer improved by dugris and marco, etc.
  • theme improved by mamba, aph3x, kris and burning
  • tinymce editor improved by dugris and luciorota
  • snoopy class upgraded by julionc
  • smarty upgraded by dhcst
  • bug tracker managed by marco

Coming Soon: dotCMS 1.6.5

Bryan's picture
Submitted by Bryan on

Curently as a release candidate, dotCMS 1.6.5 is shaping up to be feature packed.  While you may want to wait for the official release, there is no reason to wait on finding out what's new with dotCMS.

The new 1.6.5 version includes almost 200 improvements and fixes.  Highlights include:

  • Widgets
  • Major Performance Improvements
    • Now uses enterprise ready JBoss Cache.
    • Velocity Files cached in memory across cluster for speedier parsing.
  • Simplified Configuration, Maintenance, Installation and Upgrades
  • webDAV file access
  • User Interface Improvements / Simplified Inline Editing
    • Less user confusion:  new user interface cleanly distinguishes content from widgets/dynamic pulls.
  • PDF export
  • Web Form Improvements
    • Online webform builder allows end users to create forms without knowledge of HTML.
  • Other Improvements:
    • Google Maps Macro.
    • TinyMCE WYSIWYG upgraded to 3.1.
  • Over 120 bugs squashed.

Another weekend with Drupal 6

Bryan's picture
Submitted by Bryan on

Yesterday evening, I spent about two hours updating my site from Drupal 5 to Drupal 6 RC 4 for another weekend test at my site. About 30 minutes was spent backing up the site and installing Drupal 6. The rest of my time was spent with tweaking things via Drupal's admin menus as well as looking at the contributed modules and themes available for D6. I'm currently using the Salamander theme and only two contributed modules, Image and CAPTCHA. I also spent some time placing snippets of PHP code in my blocks to replace many of the functions I was doing with Views. The end result is that with only two hours of work, I am just fine running CMSReport.com on Drupal 6

As I said last week, it's amazing how many people overlook the power of Drupal...even without its contributed modules. Yes, I'll be glad when the Views, Panels, and even the TinyMCE contributed modules are ready to use with Drupal 6. But I've always looked at contributed modules as modules of convenience and not necessity. I'm convinced that most people do not have to wait for Views to move onto Drupal 6. Views only automated a number of SQL tasks that can easily be done with PHP. Some Drupal users are going to object when I say it is "easy" because they are not PHP developers, but you know what, I'm not a PHP developer either. In fact, I'm kind of slow, but I seem to manage along just fine with D6.

As usual during this period of the development process, people are wondering if the new version of Drupal is ready to be released or if there will be another release candidate. Whether this is the last release candidate or not for Drupal 6 I'm not sure anyone can really say. All I will say is Drupal 6 feels ready to me.

Running Drupal 6 on the weekend

Bryan's picture
Submitted by Bryan on

As most Drupal users already know by now, Drupal 6 is currently at a Release Candidate 3 stage of development. For the Drupal community, this is a time when the developers are wanting people to test, report, and help fix any bugs found in these development version of the Drupal software. At this stage of development, Drupal.org still does not recommend Drupal 6 to be ran on the production server.

As with everything still in development, we do not recommend running release candidates on a live site. Also, always be sure to make a backup of your data before performing any upgrade or starting testing.

Although, I started CMS Report with a beta version of Drupal 4.7, I was a little more cautious when it came time to upgrade to Drupal 5. During the past few months, I've been very cautious in running the site live with Drupal 6 as I haven't wanted to distract visitors to this site from their routine due to a Drupal meltdown.

However, I have found that I'm lousy at testing software if the software is not being used "live". There just isn't the adrenaline rush I need when I play it safe. So I've decided, when time allows, that I'm going to start running my site on Drupal 6 during the weekends.

While some of the contributed modules such as Views and Panels are not yet ready to be used for Drupal 6, I'm amazed and reminded just how much the Drupal Core can support a site such as mine. Just how far along is Drupal 6 RC3? Consider this...I spent my first two hours this evening running with very few problems. To my embarrassment, I realized later in the evening that I wasn't running Drupal 6 RC3, but in fact has accidentally loaded and installed Drupal 6 Beta 3.

Drupal 4.7.11 and 5.6 fixing security issues released

Bryan's picture
Submitted by Bryan on

  New minor versions of Drupal were released this week, Drupal 4.7.11 and Drupal 5.6 (see excerpt below). In case you're wondering, I have already updgraded this site to Drupal 5.6...no problems, no worries.

Drupal 4.7.11 and 5.6 are now available for download. These are maintenance releases that fix problems reported using the bug tracking system, as well as security vulnerabilities.

Upgrading your existing Drupal sites is strongly recommended.

Download

read more

Drupal icon As a sidebar, Drupal 6 Release Candidate 2 is also out. I promise, we'll be one of the first sites to go Drupal 6 once the software goes "gold". We may break a few things, but well worth the price for some IT glory! Cool

Drupal 6 RC1 released

Bryan's picture
Submitted by Bryan on

The first release candidate for Drupal 6 has arrived. I sadly haven't been able to dig into all the new features of this release, but what what I have seen so far has been pleasant surprises.

Drupal 6 RC1 released

Following four beta releases, and with tons of bugs fixed and user interface improvements added, we are proud to present to you the first release candidate of Drupal 6.0. Although there are still a few known issues that we are working on fixing for you, we are confident that our code is stable enough for wider testing by the community. Since the last beta version was released two weeks ago, we have improved on the embedded developer documentation, strengthened several update functions to ensure that updates are properly applied for Drupal core and contributed modules, revised most user help text and form descriptions to be more understandable and accurate, made user logins more secure, improved right to left language support for several features, and improved table indexes to help with referential integrity and improve performance.

read more

 

Wordpress 2.3.1 Coming Soon

Bryan's picture
Submitted by Bryan on

A release candidate is out for Wordpress 2.3.1.  It seems like only yesterday that I installed Wordpress 2.3.  These type of updates for bug fixes are typical and, in my opinion, actually a good things to see.  Wordpress 2.3.1 will be fixing over twenty bugs. Some of the notable fixes are:

  • Tagging support for Windows Live Writer
  • A login bug that affected those with a Blog Address different than
    their WordPress Address is fixed
  • Faster taxonomy database queries, especially tag intersection queries
  • Link importer fixes

 

Is Joomla! 1.5 RC3 really a release candidate?

Bryan's picture
Submitted by Bryan on

I was really surprised not only find out that Joomla! 1.5 is going through a third release candidate, but will likely be followed with more release candidates.  In most projects, the release candidate is a nearly-done final product where the only thing left is to make sure all the i's are dotted and all the t's are crossed.  Not so with Joomla! 1.5.

Johan Janssens's writes in his post, Is Joomla! 1.5 RC3 really a release candidate?:

In the last two weeks after the release of RC3 I have seen this question popping up on forums and mailing lists. I have seen complaints about RC3 being more of a break in development then a real release candidate. Some people seem to feel that we are still adding features and making functionality changes.

In this post I will try to give, in all honesty and openness, a status update on development and provide an answer to this question.

You can read the rest of the post yourself.  One quick summary for Johan's post would be, "Joomla is experiencing growing pains".  Sometimes it's difficult for us to remember that while the original codebase for Joomla! has been around for awhile, the project itself is quite young.

Surprise! An osCommerce Online Merchant Release Candidate

Bryan's picture
Submitted by Bryan on
Good news for osCommerce fans, osCommerce Online Merchant v2.2 Release Candidate 1 was released early this month.  If you're not an osCommerce user you're probably wondering what all the fuss is about a release candidate for the open source shopping cart.  Consider this, osCommerce 2.2 first went public with Milestone 1 in early 2003 which means that the version 2.2 will be around for almost five years before it is considered "completed".  In other words, an update of any kind to osCommerce is significant to it's developers and users alike.

This osCommerce release candidate also introduces a new name for the software titled "osCommerce Online Merchant".  According to osCommerce, the new name helps strengthen their presence and marketing efforts for upcoming releases.

Pages