Oxwall 1.2.3

Well, it looks like three’s the charm, so get ready for another quick update.

This time we have fixed several critical errors:

  • WYSIWYG Java script glitches in Floatboxes
  • Bugs in RSS feed
  • Navigation problems (linked to hidden components)
  • Several general Mailbox issues

As always, be sure to follow instructions during the update!

Oxwall 1.2.2

Dear Oxwall users,

We are releasing the 1.2.2 version of our software to address several reported issues.

Here’s what have been fixed:

  • Event Invitation Button sometimes missing
  • Event Invitations not disappearing after an Event has begun
  • Big images messing up Mailbox Layout after upload
  • Forum Customization not being available
  • Several general layout problems
  • View Permission issues during the creation of custom pages
  • Incorrect Video Codes cut-offs
  • Improper spacing between avatars and ‘View More’ in Newsfeed
  • Missing Values disappearing in feeds
  • Unnecessary Line Wrappings in Blogs
  • Improper calculation of ready Values for Language Keys

Important Note:

Please don’t forget to update your themes for the fix to work properly.

Oxwall 1.2 Release

(Dear users, remember to follow the UPDATE INSTRUCTIONS BELLOW precisely (even with autoupdate)!

Oxwall Foundation is proud to announce the long-awaited Update to 1.2.

We consider this a major step forward, as both admins and users will see the results of the Update across the entire platform.

You might already know that this release brings you an Advanced Photo Upload, More Privacy Options, an Enhanced Newsfeed, and Improved Text Input. (For more details on these features please refer to the wonderful post by Oxwall Founder Emil). Alternatively, you can read on for a point-by-point explanation of the changes we made to the software.

CORE CHANGES

  • Enhanced Text Input

Text Input

  • My Preferences now include subscription options for Mass Mailing
  • Mass Mailing now sent only to active (non-suspended) users
  • New option to create a customizable Welcome Letter
  • Javascript Code now available throughout the site for web statistics, special effects, and other purposes
  • Favicon change in page settings
  • New option to include Avatar Upload and ‘Terms of Use’ checkbox to Registration

NEW PRIVACY PLUGIN
Privacy

Download and install this new plugin from Oxwall Store (but only after you upgrade the platform to 1.2). After the Privacy Plugin is activated in the Admin Area, network members will have several options for setting up their profile and content privacy. All other plugins across the platform will be affected correspondingly.

TWO NEW THEMES

 

          

‘Spring’                                                                                 ‘Grunge’

IMPROVED FEATURES

Advanced Photo Uploader

  • Upload up to 100 photos at once
  • Rotate and auto re-size
  • Add tags and descriptions

Newsfeed

  • Now corresponds to privacy options
  • Improved news item relevancy system (promotes only member-related news items)
  • Improved news item dynamics (shows only recent actions related to news items grouped, as opposed to several news items for every similar action)
  • The long awaited Newsfeed content customization options for admins

Instant Chat

  • Sound notifications for messages
  • ‘Friends Only’ or ‘View All’ modes

Misc

  • Mailbox captchas for sending bulk messages
  • Options to turn off file attachments and set allowed file sizes
  • Newsfeed birthday notifications
  • Various minor bug fixes

INSTRUCTIONS

Download

The new shiny Oxwall 1.2 in downloads section: www.oxwall.org/download

Update: File Permissions

IMPORTANT: There’s an old permissions problem that can affect your update process. Before you attempt to update your site (either manually or automatically) you need to set full permissions recursively on your ow_static folder. For example in Linux you need to execute chmod -R 777 ow_static command. If you work with an ftp manager here’s an article to help you.

Autoupdate

IMPORTANT:  Upgrade to Oxwall 1.2 before upgrading any plugins! Seriously, you don’t need to end up with a broken website. Upgrading is easy, just hit that button in the admin area. After that feel free to update and install all other plugins. Even if after platform update your site seems to be broken, keep updating plugins. You should be fine in the end.

Manual update

If you want  to update manually, grab the scripts in downloads sections as well.

 

Themes

Keep in mind, themes need to be updated too. ‘Graphite’ and ‘Club’ will be auto-updated since they are in the package but other themes require your attention. Download your updated theme from the Store. If you made any changes in files, you will have to merge them with the new ones since they contain important fixes and additions. If you didn’t change anything in files directly but in admin area only, feel free to overwrite the theme folder ow_themes/your-theme

 

 

Oxwall Foundation is truly grateful to the entire community for its support and understanding during the prolonged waiting cycle, as well as assistance and feedback during the actual development. We are really proud of our work and hope that our efforts will improve your Oxwall experience even further.

 

*UPDATE*: To kill some minor bugs that aren’t showstoppers (but are annoying to know about) we’ve just pushed 1.2.1 update. Apply it with all above instructions. If you already have 1.2 working just wait for autoupdate to popup and press it with no hesitation!

A Quick Update and a Few Answers

Your blogger is back after a short summer illness (ahem) with a slew of answers to questions in the comments section.

First of all, the thing on everyone’s minds – the upcoming release. It is right around the corner at this point. The Photo Uploader is ready and so are the Privacy and Enhanced Newsfeed. The only thing that holds us back right now is the new System of Text Input. Actually, that one is practically ready to go too, and we are just testing how well it was integrated everywhere in the software. (Also, the latest hold up just happened to coincide with the wedding of one of our most talented developers. Oh, hey, congratulations to Sardar Madumarov and his lovely wife Meerim!)

Next up is the Privacy Setting for Groups. We recognize its importance and the examples in Mkeyes‘ comment are all good and valid. Unfortunately, the feature will NOT be included in the upcoming release. It is, however, on the planning board, as is reflected in our Roadmap under Group Enhancements. Initially we added the groups options in their current simplified shape with an intent of bringing them up to speed later on. It seems that the time has come just for that.

The issue with the Instant Chat Plug-in is also familiar to us. The present (simplest) solution was built on Ajax, leading up to this sort of problems, inherent for applications created with this web development method. Basically, once your network membership grows and more users begin using the plug-in at the same time, the resources drop. I can tell you that Skalfa LLC does plan to release an advanced plug-in to tackle this issue in the future. In the meantime the best way to avoid the current slowdown is to switch to a better hosting option.

Finally, the question of the Registration Approval System. Luckily, this one is easy, since we already have one in place. The feature is available under Settings. After turning it on, Admins will have to manually approve all new registered members on their websites.

Thank you once again for your patience and understanding.

More details about the upcoming Oxwall 1.2

Guys,

Judging by your questions about Oxwall 1.2 and the anticipated release date we realized that we didn’t do a good job communicating the current work in process. Even more, we gave the promise to release it within a week since that post but we didn’t keep it.

I want to shed more light on what is currently being developed and why it’s taking more than we originally planned.

1.2 is going to be a major step forward because of several changes that affect practically any aspect of current functionality. Let me atomize those changes with some more details.

1) Text input

We always knew that the current method of text input for users was temporary. We don’t believe in settling for something less than excellent and user experience for writing blogs, forum posts, etc (including adding rich text formatting and HTML) was always substandard. Until 1.2. Now we will make it WYSIWYG and add easy tools for adding custom HTML, images and subsequently videos. We will iterate until text input, HTML embed, and rich text formatting become super-convenient, fast, and efficient. Users shouldn’t notice they enter text at all – they should just use software without realizing all the underworks.

Text input rebuild is what takes a lot of time and doesn’t always want to obey the release plan dates. Particularly we are fighting several last bugs and shortcomings. We didn’t want to use heavy and clumsy solutions like TinyMCE – instead we are using a lightweight library that uses built-in browser capabilities. Those have their own trade-offs but the final result should be worth it.

2) Advanced photo upload

Photo upload is another topic that was long overdue radical enhancement. We will let you choose as many photos from your computer as you want, resize them for you, let you enter tags and descriptions for particular photos – all fast and convenient. For that task we will be using Adobe Flash plugin. In fact, we are not big fans of Flash but Java is worse. So please bear with Flash for all the convenience it will bring for any Oxwall site that has photo upload. This is almost finished, again we try to make it as easy to use as possible. When you play with it let us know how we did this time.

Flash is goofy so it certainly contributes to the release falling behind schedule.

3) Privacy and enhanced newsfeed

This is a change that will have profound penetration into all functionality across Oxwall. We are going to release a new plugin that will introduce basic levels of access for user’s content. All other plugins will be updated to reflect that.

Some privacy aspects are mixed with the updated Newsfeed plugin. It will also contain new items grouping for better content flow. This sounds vague of course but you will be able to see what I’m talking about when the update is there.

The update newsfeed will also allow to choose which types of content get in the streams – something that a lot of users ask us in private and public. First we thought it was a good idea to make it with one-size-fits-all approach but with more and more sites using Oxwall it starts proving itself wrong. Oxwall powers a lot of diverse communities nowadays and we understood we shouldn’t decide for you. Hope you will find that flexibility useful.

Yeah, yeah but WHEN?

Ouch, I hoped to avoid this question. Because of the nature of this update (broad horizontal changes across all plugins) we will have to ask Skalfa staff for help. Did you know Skalfa runs a free hosted Oxwall solution – Wall.fm?

After internal testing we will update select number of Wall.fm users first – probably next week (sounds familiar, I know). We will gather feedback for up to one week, then help Skalfa update Wall.fm completely and gather feedback again.

These measures are going to bring you super-stable core and plugin updates – just like your site deserves. Preferably all you will have to do is push buttons in admin area as usual. The downside: you will have to wait a little bit more.

We realize we are behind schedule but that is fine. Instead we give you quality, piece of mind, and a lot of thought put in this work. Hope you enjoy it.

Thanks,
Emil
Oxwall Foundation