WordPress 3.2 plans begin to take shape

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Submitted by Bryan on

Mark Jaquith, a lead developer for Wordpress, recently posted on a WordPress developer's blog the plans for WordPress 3.2.  Below are some of the changes and features Jaquith says will be on this new version of WordPress that caught my eye. My personal comments gave been added to the side.

  • Faster release cycle than 3.1 - Project development the past few years must have been like molasses the past few years, because projects like WordPress, Joomla!, Drupal, and Mozilla Firefox are all promising quicker release cycles this year. They did appear to have their IE6 > IE7 "Sputnik" moment in 2010, didn't they?
  • Faster and Lighter - Old code and outdated technologies are being dropped from WordPress. This move isn't just to improve performance but also also to improve the writing experience. You can expect some user experience changes here too with emphasis on "distraction free writing".
  • List Tables API improvements - Finalize the API for third party use and more flexibility.
  • PHP 5.2 (5.2.4, specifically) to be required - Unbelievable, I hadn't realized that WordPress hadn't dropped PHP 4 before this release. A number of open source projects already made the commitment from PHP 4 to PHP 5 a couple years ago. Oddly WordPress is "dropping the the old, not adding the new". Why wouldn't you embrace PHP 5 all the way?
  • MySQL 5 to be required.- Relax on this one. I have yet to see a MySQL 5 upgrade requirement gone bad.
  • Upgrade improvements - Changed-files-only upgrades can be done with zero changes to core.

[Found via Weblog Tools Collection]

ocPortal bug & feature tracker update

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Submitted by ocStevenJ on

Following ocPortal's new feature tracker becoming established we wanted to make this announcement to a wider audience outside of our forum. Since the news item below there have been 11 new features added for discussion and 37, almost 20%, have been resolved.

Since the original release we are now working on Version 5 rather than 4.4 due to the amount of changes made. You can expect an announcement about this in the next few days.

Original news forum article:

Preceding the expected release of ocPortal version 4.4,  we are pleased to announce a new feature tracker which we will be using to plan future features. The tracker shows all 177 feature areas we currently have for consideration for future versions of ocPortal, laid out for anyone to see and comment on. In the past we have planned ocPortal in private so this is a huge change for us and a huge release of what were previously private plans.

The purpose of the feature tracker is to highlight current and future developments within ocPortal and allow the community to have a say and make suggestions. Each issue or feature in the database has a description of the intended functionality, a time estimation, and a clear layout of dependencies and risk management data (which gives an impression to how the developers likely see it in terms of schedule for implementation).

We hope the new feature tracker helps foster a greater feeling of inclusivity amongst our community and a real foundation for transparency and engagement. You shouldn't expect everything on this list to be "around the corner" but it does give everyone a chance to have their say, and help foster a shared vision.

The ocPortal feature tracker can be found here:
http://ocportal.com/tracker/my_view_page.php

CMS Made Simple 1.8

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Submitted by Bryan on

A new version of CMS Made Simple was released this past weekend. CMS Made Simple 1.8 offers a number of new features to enhance performance not only of the website itself, but to make doing some mundane tasks faster and easier.

Some of the more significant changes in CMS MadeSimple include:

  • Stylesheets - The {stylesheet} tag has been deprecated in favor of a {cms_stylesheet} tag. The replacement works by grabbing the content of the individual style sheets and passing them through smarty before writing them to uniquely named files in the tmp/cache directory. Processing the style sheets (individually) through smarty means that you will no longer have to search through each of the style sheets for individual colors, you can give them names.
  • Bulk-copy pages
  • New {content_module} tag - Allows modules to provide different types of content blocks for use in Content pages.
  • SSL support
  • Updated documentation
  • Clean up of language files
  • Module Manager improvements - It should now be much easier to install or upgrade modules, including all of their dependencies.

Additional details about CMS Made Simple 1.8 can be found at CMSMadeSimple.org. The latest stable version of CMSMS is available on their download page.

phpBB 3.0.6

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Submitted by Bryan on

The open source Web forum application, phpBB, is available in a new version. phpBB 3.0.6 introduces not only bug fixes and stability improvements but also some major new features.

We are very pleased to announce the availability of the phpBB "Fast and Furrious" 3.0.6 package. This release fixes numerous bugs, introduces some major features, as well as improves stability and performance. Furthermore, the internal updater has been updated to detect and solve most conflicts, resulting in a reduction of necessary manual interaction by administrators.

Please note that we urge you to update. phpBB 3.0.6 fixes bugs being quite important for a smooth operation of your forums. With this release our support team will only give support for phpBB 3.0.6, updates to phpBB 3.0.6 and conversions to phpBB 3.0.6. Submissions to our trackers for older versions will not be accepted, please make sure you update/upgrade before you submit a bug report.

Some of the new features that have been implemented in phpBB 3.0.6 include:

  • Better spam control using improved captcha options and backported 3.2 captcha plugins:
    • Classic and GD CAPTCHA
    • reCaptcha
    • Q&A CAPTCHA
    • 3D Wave

Coming soon: Wordpress 2.8

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Submitted by Bryan on

Wordpress 2.8, currently under development as a beta, is expected to be completed and released in a week or two. Until then, you can check out some of the documentation at wordpress.org to find all of the new goodies being added to this latest version of the blogging software.

Some of the highlights for Wordpress 2.8 include:

  • New drag-and-drop widgets admin interface and new widgets API
  • Syntax highlighting and function lookup built into plugin and theme editors
  • Dashboard widgets can be arranged in up to four columns
  • Support timezones and automatic daylight savings time adjustment
  • Support IIS 7.0 URL Rewrite Module
  • Faster loading of admin pages
  • Theme Browser and Installer
  • Ability to add Custom Headers
  • Configurable Views on Management Pages

For screenshots and a review of Wordpress 2.8 check out the informative ariticle written by Keith Dsouza and available at Weblog Tools Collection.

Wordpress 2.6 is more than a blog

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Submitted by Bryan on

Wordpress 2.6 was released just a couple days ago.  During the time I have covered Wordpress, I have always considered Wordpress more as blogging application and not really a full featured content management system.  However, ever since I installed Wordpress 2.5 on one of my sites, I can't help but think that Wordpress now rocks as a CMS.

If you haven't looked at Wordpress in the past year or so, I recommend that you do yourself a favor and take a look at what you may be missing out.

Below is a brief video tour of 2.6 prepared by Matt and company.

 

Drupal 6: More than a feeling

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Submitted by Bryan on

A few days ago, I mentioned that "Drupal 6 feels ready to me" for public release. Evidently, that was more than feeling as Drupal 6 was released early Wednesday morning.

As a user of Drupal, let me start by saying thank you to all the developers and advocates that brought Drupal 6 to light. I've been watching Drupal 6 grow from a distance this past year and have made some observations. There is a lot more sweat, tears, and love put into Drupal than most outsiders realize. Those of us that have used Drupal during the past six years owe a lot to those of you active in the Drupal community.

You can check out the release announcement at Drupal.org for all the new features and enhancements that have been rolled into Drupal 6. Let's look at some of the highlighted features in Drupal 6 which I've listed below.

Wasabidreams: 20 things to look for in a CMS

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Submitted by Bryan on

I recently stumbled over, Wasabidreams.com.  While the site may be short on articles, it does have one article that can be used as a very good guide for selecting the right content management system for you.  The full article is titled, "Why Drupal, Joomla, Wordpress and similar software are so popular and 20 things to look for".  Whew!  Do you think the length of that title was selected to get the attention of search engines?

The article not only gives detailed explanations of twenty things to use as criteria for selecting a CMS, but also  some background as to why someone would need the use of a CMS.  As to answering the question for why open source software such as Drupal, Joomla, and Wordpress are so popular?  I think that article is a good start in answering that question, but I think there is more to the answer than just "free".  But don't let that stop you from reading the article, it's a very good CMS guide for newcomers to visit.

CMS Made Simple 1.2

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Submitted by Bryan on

Robert Cambell announced the expected release of CMS Made Simple 1.2 with the beta version expected in a couple weeks.  After the CMSMS 1.2 release all focus will be on development of a 2.0 version of the CMS.

Some of the new features and enhancements can be expected in CMSMS 1.2:

  • Graphical HTML Text editor (Frontend WYSIWYG)
  • News 2.5 has an ‘extra’ field for additional information (maybe an image)  and supports frontend article submission
  • Full permissions for the Admin Group (gid == 1) and not just the first user (uid == 1)

Asbru CMS Adds further Search Engine Optimization (Press Release)

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Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on

London, UK, August 2, 2007 -- Asbru Software has released a new major version of the Asbru Web Content Management system designed to provide control and simplicity for non-technical users while maintaining flexibility and power for developers and web designers.

Version 6.5 of the Asbru Web Content Management system adds Google Sitemap functionality, several new add-ons, and a new user interface that enables non-technical website managers to add functionality packages to their websites in just 2 clicks.

phpBB3 Release Candidate 1 (RC1) released

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Submitted by Bryan on
The official release of phpBB3 is almost near with the first release candidate now available. The following is a partial list of features that are new in this version phpBB that did not exist in 2.0.x.
  • Attachments - Attachments in posts and Personal Mail, Automatic image thumbnails,Display attachments inline
  • Unlimited Subforums - Create unlimited subforums, Display active topics of all subforums
  • Custom BBCodes - Create your own BBCodes, Add buttons to posting screen
  • Custom Profile Fields - Add new fields on user profiles, Display them at registration, Display them on the profile view

Lorelle on WP: Glimpses of WordPress 2.1

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Submitted by Bryan on

This just goes to show you how small of a world it is. Traffic to CMS Report is usually rather light over the weekend, but I noticed an increase in the number of people visiting the site Saturday and Sunday. These "new" visitors were coming from Lorelle VanFossen's Wordpress blog. She recently posted an article on some of the features expected in the yet to be released Wordpress 2.1.

Ryan Boren, one of the lead WordPress developers, has been releasing preview information on WordPress 2.1, along with some other well-know WordPress developers, testers, and users. Here are some teasers about WordPress 2.1, due out soon...

In the articles she references a post here at CMS Report where I briefly mentioned some of the new features that likely would be included in Wordpress 2.1. The migration of traffic from one blog to the next is very fascinating to me and this would make a perfect case study. Anyway, be sure to check out her post as she's compiled a lot more clues to what can be expected in Wordpress 2.1.

As a sidebar, I've noticed that Lorelle VanFossen is to Wordpress as much as Amy Stephen is to Joomla!. Over the months both women consistently blog about their favorite CMS. They of course talk about other things, but it's the CMS-talk that lures me to their sites.

Top three blogs on Drupal 5.0

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Submitted by Bryan on

If you have not heard, Drupal 5.0 went into beta last week. I had intended to write a little bit about the new features users can expect with this new version of the content management system. However, I've been so busy with a couple IT projects as well as some family events that I have not had time to even touch Drupal 5 beta 1.

Luckily, there are smarter and more dedicated people out there already posting about anything I could say about Drupal 5. The following are links to what I consider as the top three blog posts on Drupal 5.0:

Each of the posts I have listed are well worth the time spent reading if you wish to know more about the upcoming Drupal 5.