Developer News: Roadmap for XOOPS 2.6
Posted by: MageOn 2012/7/7 18:30:00 21085 readsThis is a proposed Roadmap for XOOPS 2.6.0. Please read it, and provide us with feedback and suggestions.
The development of XOOPS 2.6 will take place in three stages. These three stages are characterized every time by the release of an alpha version. So we will have three alpha versions. These versions allow module developers have enough time to change their modules and make them compatible and fully functional with XOOPS 2.6.
Alpha 1
· Update the XOOPS Core and all classes to PHP5 (public, protected, static) and E_STRICT.
- This is the main goal of this version. Of course, some modules may have some difficulty in the beginning, but E_STRICT will help developers to minimize errors and significantly improve the quality of XOOPS.
· Create a central class "xoops", this class will help developers and will give a direct access to XOOPS API
- This class will help to simplify the development of XOOPS.
· Delete unused files in XOOPS.(cache and template_c).
· Remove the extra themes and have a single theme for the administration and user interface.
- Provide a "theme model" as a reference for all themes.
· Remove / clean up old source code.
- remove legacy code of older versions (eg. XOOPS 1.0 with the use of PHP in the themes).
- remove all HTML code found in the PHP files.
· Automatic loading of all XOOPS classes
· Do not use global variables, these variables can be used from XOOPS class (e.g. $xoopsModule -> $xoops->module).
· Create a folder for all multimedia public frameworks (jQuery, CSS, JS, images, ...).
· Create Module Class Admin to give the same admin interface for all modules, this class already exists in such frameworks, but now it is included in the core and uses HTML templates.
· moving of some libraries, such as Smarty, to the xoops_lib folder.
· Refactoring the system module.
· Extract some parts of the system module in order to recreate them as a separate module create as a module (eg. Banners).
· Adding a new feature: System Extensions.
- Now some modules in the admin will be called Extensions (eg. Protector). Some features of the current System module are removed and recreated as Extensions. Added to XOOPS (eg. Avatars, Smiles, User ranks, ...).
- All these Extensions are runing as modules, but they cannot be renamed, and they will be shown in a separate menu module
· Integration of CSS Frameworks Bootstrap from Twitter.
· Removal of all queries for the block templates and modules.
- Now, XOOPS reads directly the templates for each part.
· Reduction of queries in all pages.
· New theme in the Admin interface.
· New theme in the User interface.
· New contact form.
- Use of templates.
- Forms Validation with HTML5 attributes.
- CSS3 and HTML5 compatibility.
Alpha 2
· Adding a theme manager in the system module.
- This section allows you to manage themes like modules so you can install, uninstall, or disable a theme.
- We can of course add a few settings in the theme (eg. Logo, size, etc. ..) and all these settings will be visible in the theme.
· Add of new plugins.
- Comments.
- Notifications.
- Image manager.
- Search.
· Integration of PDF library.
· Content module.
- In order to easily add content "out of the box" .
· Menu Module.
- This system allow to create all kind of menus.
Alpha 3
· Integration of rewrite mode in XOOPS.
· New connectors to access the data bases.
· Modification of blocks positions.
Beta
· Adding other features..
· Bugs fixed
RC
· Correction of the latest bugs.
Estimated Dates (Subject to change!)
Version Alpha 1: July 2012
Version Alpha 2: September 2012
Version Alpha 3: October 2012
Versions Beta ( 1, …): From November to December 2012
Versions RC ( 1, …): From January to February 2013
Final Version: March 2013
This timeline seems to be long, but it is based on current available resources. If more people will get engaged in Core development, testing, and bug fixing, we'll be able to release it earlier. So it is really up to the community to speed up the process by getting involved and providing help.
XOOPS 2.6 brings many new features and several important changes in the XOOPS Core. These changes were required to keep XOOPS as a world-class CMS. The Blue Move modules might need some small modifications, but they should be pretty straight forward, and appropriate tutorials will be provided. Older modules will need to be updated to Blue Move first.
The period from July 2012 to December 2012 is necessary to make modules developer more familiar with the kernel changes, and to update their modules.
If you are interested to join the team, don't hesitate to let us know, every help is most welcome. The more help we get, the faster we'll arrive at the XOOPS 2.6.0 Final release!
Your Core Development Team
Grégory Mage (Mage) and Nicolas Andricq (MusS)
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