LunarPages has published an interview with François Planque (that's me :p) — project maintainer of b2evolution.

It was about time we released an enhanced 2.4-stable! Here it is!

b2evolution version 2.4.2 "Palms" is the same awesome stable version as 2.4.1 with removed bugs and added skins! It's even nicer to use as many little quirks have been ironed out and it is also nicer to look at as it has 3 additional cool skins preinstalled: Pixel Green, Terrafirma and Vastitude (All these skins are new versions for 2.4).

Download here »

Upgrading from 2.4.1 is insanely easy too: just download this ZIP file containing only modified files from version 2.4.1 to 2.4.2 and replace the files on your server.

If you are running 2.4.0, download the complete ZIP and replace files on your server (except /conf/basic_config.php).

If you are running an older version download the complete ZIP and follow the instructions within. (This general procedure works for ALL previous versions from 0.8 to 2.4.1).

Changes summary:

• New skins (including support for default widget containers)
  
  • Terrafirma
  • PixelGreen
  • Vastitude
• Improved compatibility with older skins.
• Fixed calendar bug when entering DST on the last week of the month.
• Fixed bug with date entry (months were off by 1 month, again...)
• Fixed bug with individual post footers.
• Fixed additional minor bugs.

I am getting more and more requests for custom work around b2evolution. The problem is I cannot do it. Even if it's well paid!

I am overbooked big time! So are the other b2evolution developers. Plus, I absolutely want to save time for working on general development of b2evolution.

So I want to pass those leads out to you! If you have some decent experience with b2evolution and you are looking for freelance work, either design or development/programming, or if you have a custom development company offering those services, please let me know. Send me an email or leave a comment. Let me also know if you'd like to be listed publicly.

The most common requests I get are variations of the following:

• Can you design a skin matching my current site?

• Can you port/convert my WordPress theme to b2evolution?

• Can you help me with installation on my server?

• Can you help me integrate my blog(s) into my site?

• Can you program a plugin to do x, y or z?

• Can you help me optimize my site?

Again, if you can do any of these, I have clients for you! Drop me a line! ;)

Note: You have to discuss the details and prices with the clients yourself. I'm just passing leads to you (for free!) and then I'm out of the loop.

Edit: I have created a page listing b2evolution professionals. I will send all my leads contacts to this page and let them decide for themselves. Instructions to be listed are included on that page. ;)

b2evolution version 2.4.1 "Nevada" has been released. This is the first 2.x release we consider to be rock stable!

Download b2evolution 2.4.1 »

This version basically builds upon the already stable 2.4.0 with weeks of merciless bug fixing. There is no major fix but a lot of little things that have been ironed out.

Also, upgrading from 2.4.0 is merely a 5 minute file upload operation. There are no database changes. It is not necessary to run the install/upgrade script. And needless to say, it is not necessary to update your skins.

Upgrade is highly recommended for all users. As of May 1st, the 1.10 branch will no longer be maintained.

Major changes:

• Added some basic quicktags in simple edit mode.
• "Blog Logo" renamed to "Image / Blog logo".
• Enhanced comment forms with optional customization features. Removed extra fieldsets.
• Cosmetic enhancements.
• iPhone optimizations.
• Fixed wording in various places.
• New powered_by( array() ) skin tag (can be used to replace the long html blurb that was used before).
• Plenty of small bug fixes.

Next version should be 2.5-beta which will introduce new features and hence be less stable.

I'm currently at SxSW in Austin Texas. It was on my way back to France ;) If you're around and want to meet up, please contact me.

The SxSW website is actually powered by b2evolution (with no less than 9 blogs throughout the entire site) but they wouldn't advertise that publicly. Nor did they actually invite me here. Sadly enough, the first panel I attended here was titled "Respect!". Yeah, right...

Anyway, this is already more than enough publicity for them. But as said, I'll be happy to meet you if you're here! :)

Other than that, I'll be back home and will get some releasing done as soon as I recover from jet lag :P

It may have taken a couple weeks more than initially expected but we couldn't resist kicking off the new year by adding yet a handful of new features. So we bumped the version number to 2.4...

Nonetheless, we also spent considerable time in ironing out the remaining quirks. We call this "Release Candidate 2" just to give us an excuse if some little bug sneaked past us... but... as Danny puts it: "This is a really good release." ;)

Actually ready for production!

Download here »

Among the new stuff, you will find:

• Admin screens:
  
  • Select list for installs with more than 7 blogs. (fplanque)
  • XHTML validator, security rules and antispam checkinh can now be configured on a per usergroup basis. XHTML validation can also be specifically disabled for XML-RPC calls. (fplanque)
  • Enhanced upload screen. (fplanque)
  • Extended system checks (fplanque, blueyed).
  • Additional help icons throughout the admin interface. (fplanque)
• Podcast support: (fplanque)
  
  • enter the URL of an mp3 file into 'Link to url:' and select 'Type: Podcast'.
  • Embedded mp3 player.
  • <enclosure> support in RSS 2.
• Improved comment handling:
  
  • Do not send notification if to author if he comments on his own post (personman2).
  • Auto publish comments from users with permission to moderate comments (fplanque).
  • Option to edit comments while in antispam banning mode (fplanque).
• New skin features:
  
  • The evobar is now fixed on top of the screen.
  • New Template tags: (fplanque)
    
    • $Blog->footer_text()
    • $Item->footer()
  • Enhanced thumbnails (including PNG support). (fplanque)
• Tag URLs: (fplanque)
  
  • Cleaner tag URLs.
  • Canonic handling of tag URLs.
• XML-RPC has been debugged and reorganized. Each API is now in its own file:
  
  • Blogger API debugged (fplanque)
    
    • blogger.newPost no longer requires a cat ID ( <category>123</category> ) to be passed. It will use the first/default cat available in the targetted blog.
  • b2 API debugged (fplanque)
  • MetaWeblog API debugged (fplanque)
  • Movable Type API debugged (fplanque)
  • Added Really Simple Discoverability (RSD) support (fplanque).
• Better default install: The installer will now create the default blogs with cleaner URLs by default. We do believe these will work on 99% of the current Linux hosts. It is always possible to change the URL scheme in the Blog Settings.
• Security enhancements...
• Bug fixes (fplanque, yabba, blueyed)