New Elgg release dates

October 21, 2008 in Elgg, Social Networking, Technology, Uncategorized, open source | 1 comment

Tentative release dates have revealed for Elgg versions 1.1 and 1.5. Version 1.1 has a target date of November 3, 2008. Version 1.5 is due next February. Bear in mind these time frames are not set in stone.

Pete Harris, the Elgg dev team’s designer, has released a number of great themes requiring Elgg version 1.09. Currently, this version is only available in Elgg’s SVN repository. Users that reported they didn’t have the expertise to obtain the files via Subversion, were advised by Pete that the target release date is November 3. Those willing to learn how to use SVN can go to my blog post Elgg and Subversion.

The current Trunk of Elgg is labeled 1.09. Today brought another round of updates, while not major, requiring another database upgrade. The Elgg team is obviously focusing on this as each of the last three times I updated my Elgg files I have had to update the database.

Ben Werdmuller announced the roadmap for the Elgg 1.5 release with a list of new features. Some of these features appear to address concerns about performance and scalability including views and location caching along with the abiltiy to create multiple sites with sub-sites.

Others appear to be appearance and customization related. More themes and a basic mobile view are planned. Also mentioned were a selection of canvas layouts and improved front page layout.

User enhancements include simple media embedding into text fields. While this is currently possible through some extended tinymce plugins, they work outside the core Elgg files system.

I am sure the team will continually work to enhance database performance and usability. They have mentioned a query object allowing deeper database work and a drillable site-wide stream making it easier to hone in on what you are looking for. The metastring garbage collection will delete lingering database remnants.

Some new administrative tools are planned. They plan to further develop a submenu system with better grouping. A construction tool for form based plugins is also in the works.

Finally, we will be able to delete groups. A long awaited upgrade path from Elgg Classic will be developed, and there will be enhancements to OpenDD.

While we all look forward to these milestones, we must bear in mind that not all goes as planned. It is better to be a little later and more bug free!

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