phpns

2.2.5 released

Posted by alecwh on Monday August 23, 2010 4:35 pm

Phpns 2.2.5 has been released. Sorry for the delay! See the CHANGELOG:

• Stability improvements with shownews.php
• Integration wizard much more reliable
• Updated README
• New template variables
  • {category} works
  • {full_name} works
• Shownews.php pre-include variable additions
  • $phpns['timeframe'] added, specifying dates of articles to display
  • $phpns['from_author'] added, specify article author
• Re-computation of SEF urls fixed on article editing
• Template improvements
• Other minor bug fixes

You can download it here. A patch can be found here. To install the patch, upgrade to at least 2.2.4 and overwrite all files.

This release is also the first release to contain sponsored updates. If you have specific feature requests that would benefit your company or organization, you can hire me to work on those changes (currently Phpns is feature-frozen). If these changes are beneficial for all Phpns users, chances are they will be included in the release (like this one). If you're interested, get in contact with me.

Thanks for your support! If you want to donate to the project, click here.

Downtime explanation

Posted by alecwh on Friday June 18, 2010 12:19 am

We recently switched servers (on adelais.net) and the resulting downtime lasted slightly longer than expected. On the bright side, everything is a lot more organized now, and the demo panel has been upgraded to 2.2.4.

Expect a new release (2.2.5) within the next few days.

2.2.5 in the works

Posted by alecwh on Thursday April 08, 2010 5:35 pm

Version 2.2.5 of Phpns is expected within the next month or so. I've gotten a hefty load of bug reports (both on Bitbucket and by email) that I need to prioritize and work on before the release, so please be patient. Also, I'm glad to say that apparently Phpns is becoming more popular than it was, compared to last year. Our website gets around a hundred hits a day (not bad for a software project) from everywhere in the world. I'm getting help emails from people in China that I can't read!

Version 2.2.5 should focus on bug fixes throughout the system, some small UI improvements, possibly a different WYSIWYG editor (depending on browser compatibility, etc, comment if you have a suggestion), and other changes that will remain unannounced.

As always, all patches and donations are welcome!

Bug mania

Posted by alecwh on Tuesday January 19, 2010 2:19 pm

Over the last few weeks I have gotten a considerable amount of bug reports on our bug tracker. I have not gotten time to answer any of these as I am traveling abroad. I plan on sorting through the reports when I return to the United States.

Also, I appreciate the "thanks" emails that I have been receiving. They are very encouraging, so thanks.

2.2.4 released

Posted by alecwh on Tuesday October 20, 2009 6:14 pm

Phpns 2.2.4 fixes many issues with previous versions, as well as improves the entire user interface with a new theme!

• Ended "patch" nonsense. (All future version will be actual versions...)
• New default theme, UI enhancements
• Removed codepress as template editor (no longer maintained, broken)
• Fixed IE, Safari, Firefox 3.5+ article saving bug (button grays out)
• Fixed other bugs dealing with https://
• Fixed various typos
• Fixed other minor issues
• Updated docs with new development info

You can download it here. A patch can be found here. To install the patch, upgrade to at least 2.2.3 and overwrite all files. The screenshots page has been updated with new images.

Thanks for your support! If you want to donate to the project, click here.

Final call for bugs

Posted by alecwh on Tuesday September 15, 2009 10:32 pm

Hello everyone, the next version of Phpns will be released soon. If you are aware of any bugs in Phpns, big or small, please report them very soon!

Report bugs here!

Help us code! Contribute to Phpns!

Posted by alecwh on Thursday July 30, 2009 2:08 am

Hi again everyone, it's been an eventful day on the Phpns website.

To add to the excitement, I have just finished organizing a way for the community to seriously start helping with development. I have created a new page on how to contribute to Phpns. I'm serious about this--I seriously want to get all of you involved in this project.

To anyone who is interested in helping the project, take the plunge! Phpns needs a lot of work, so I've made a clear outline of how to submit code changes to us.

This is your chance to help an open source project. Get involved! Your contributions will be publicly recognized. Get the code with:

Bug tracking notice

Posted by alecwh on Wednesday July 29, 2009 6:14 pm

For context of this article, please read our prior announcement regarding Mercurial and Bitbucket.

We are now officially moving our bug tracking service from Launchpad to Bitbucket. We were careful in making this decision, as it does have some negative effects. But, it comes with some very positive ones! Bitbucket's issue tracking software is cleaner, easier, and downright more friendly than it's Launchpad counterpart. Bitbucket also allows for anonymous bug reporting, which means you no longer need to register an account to report bugs!

Please start using the Bitbucket tracker for all bugs, issues, proposals, etc. now. I will still be monitoring the Launchpad site for a few weeks, but I won't be checking there as much after that.

In this next version of Phpns, this information will be included in the About page and manual. Your installations now have out-of-date bug reporting info--we'll get it fixed!

Please leave any comments, questions, concerns, and issues you have with this in the comments section.

Switch to Mercurial, Bitbucket

Posted by alecwh on Wednesday July 29, 2009 1:09 pm

Hello everyone!

I know, I know our track record with sticking to a version control system is quite bad. First we started with Subversion, then we switched to Bazaar, and then moved to git, and then moved back to Bazaar, and now...

We're using Mercurial for SCM, and consequently Bitbucket for online collaboration.

This switch was made yesterday, for the following reasons:

• Manageability. I have other projects on Bitbucket, and I would rather keep all my projects on the same service.
• I love Mercurial. I admit that most current SCM systems (like git, bzr) are almost practically identical for the simple end-user, but Hg some minor user interface differences that I like.
• BitBucket and Mercurial are fast. Pushing to Launchpad with Bazaar took a significant amount of time. With these new tools, I only wait about 5-7 seconds. Not only that, Bitbucket displays the changeset immediately, where Launchpad took a few minutes to process it (so I remember).
• Anonymous bug reporting. Now, you don't need to register in Launchpad to help with the project--just report a bug!
• I can't get used to Launchpad. This may seem a little ridiculous, but it's actually a major factor in this switch. Because version control is so tightly connected with the development process, and thus the developer, these tools *must* be comfortable, or else they become frustrating. Mercurial, and Bitbucket, are simple, streamlined, and fast. These tools make my job easier, so it makes sense to use them.
• I don't like how tight Launchpad and Bazaar are. It makes sense, as Launchpad and Bazaar are operated by the same company... but the relationship is hard-coded in. It feels like if you're using Bazaar, you should be using Launchpad as well.

I'll be updating the site with new links to the repository soon. For now, check out Phpns on Bitbucket using this link: http://bitbucket.org/alecwh/phpns/.

Also, there are some cool features on Bitbucket that I'm going to be taking advantage of soon. I'll keep you posted!

Thanks for the thanks

Posted by alecwh on Monday June 22, 2009 1:13 pm

Over the last couple of months, I've gotten a few thank-you messages from Phpns users (located in the U.S., China, Brazil, and Egypt). These emails are very encouraging, and worth tons more than you think. Every time I get a simple thank you for managing this project (among others), I honestly smile--it makes my day better. These messages remind me why I'm developing Phpns!

So, in lieu of donations (although, please do if you can), a thank-you email/letter (contact info) would be totally awesome.

That is all, enjoy your day!