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)

b2evolution 2.3.0-rc1 “Renaissance” has been released.

Download here »

This is a Release Candidate. You can consider it to be stable enough to run on any production site. Only minor cosmetic details prevent us from calling this “final"… Anyway, it is a good time to consider upgrading, no matter what version of b2evolution you are currently running. (And if you’re not running b2evo yet, it’s a good time to check it out ;))

This version brings more than bug fixes over the 2.2-beta. You will also find new widgets, more customization options, a better WordPress importer, a 2.0 version of the Miami Blue skin and – by popular demand – more SEO presets!

In addition to Aaron Wall and Stephan Spencer, this version now includes search engine friendly presets recommended by Andy Beal (Marketing Pilgrim), Michael Gray (Graywolf) and Rand Fishkin (SEOmoz).

New features in 2.3.0 are summarized below:

• Widgets
  
  • Tag cloud widget (fplanque)
  • Comment list widget (yabba)
  • Many additional widget params (yabba)
  • UI enhancements (fplanque, yabba, awall)
• Nofollow handling in comments. Can be disabled on a comment by comment basis. (fplanque)
• Skins: (fplanque)
  
  • Modular templating of comments makes it easier to customize comment display without going through PHP code.
  • WordPress compatibility layer makes it easier to port WP themes to b2evo skins.
  • Miami Blue skin ported to 2.x and included.
  • XML feeds can now optionally include full posts. (fplanque)
• Additional SEO settings:
  
  • Additional presets by Andy Beal, Rand Fishkin and Michael Gray.
  • Additional internal nofollow handling (fplanque)
• Enhanced WP importer (fplanque)
  
  • tag import
  • empty slug handling
• Installer updates (fplanque)
  
  • Better out-of-the-box experience including Blog A being pre-assigned as default.
  • Blogroll added by default to blog A & B.
• Bugfixes (yabba, blueyed, fplanque)

b2evolution 2.2.0-beta "Vegas Again" has been released.

Download here »

Among many incremental improvements and fixes, version 2.2 introduces Search Engine Optimization (SEO) presets, compiled by two of the best SEOs out there: Aaron Wall (SEO Book) and Stephan Spencer (NetConcepts). Check out the SEO tab under "Blog Settings" to see how the SEO experts would optimize your blog. And you can now have it all done in one single click! ;)

Version 2.2 also fixes a lot of small issues with 2.1 and we're now moving towards a stable 2.x release around the end of the year. Don't hold your breath though, with the new skins 2.x, upgrades are much easier than in the past. Playing with the beta will not require redoing any work when the stable comes out.

More detailed change list:

• Photoblog: (fplanque)
  
  • more accurate photo index.
  • better browsing to previous/next post in single post mode
• User interface cleanup (upload, antispam, etc.) (fplanque)
• Date archives, category pages and tag pages: it is now possible to set how many posts are displayed on each of those pages. (fplanque)
• Additional SEO settings (fplanque)
  
  • Presets by Aaron Wall & Stephan Spencer
  • It is now possible to use internal nofollows on specific links (sspencer)
• Normalized skin template names (fplanque)
• Security fixes (blueyed)
• XHTML compliance (yabba, hari)
• Bug fixes (blueyed, afwas, fplanque)

(Almost) live from Las Vegas, we are proud to announce immediate availability of b2evolution version 2.1-beta, codenamed "Las Vegas" (guess why? ;))

Download here

Let me take the opportunity to remind you that I'm at BlogWorld Expo this week and you're welcome to run me down to tell me what needs to be done next (not that I don't have a mile long todo list, but still ;))

The most important thing about this release is that the "skins 2.x" API is now stable, meaning: this is the last time you'll really need to upgrade your custom skin!

After that, you'll still be able to enhance your skin with new features if you want them, but it will be optional and won't require you to do it at the time you don't want to do it ;)

With the new skinning system, skins are not only more powerful, they are also future proof!

This is achieve with a new template tag format looking like this:
That format is for example:

$Item->issue_date( array(
   'before'      => ' ',
   'after'       => ' ',
   'date_format' => '#',
  ) );

The advantage of this form is that we'll now be able to easily add or deprecate parameters in the future without breaking backward compatibility.

More info about skins 2.x and template tags 2.x is being added to the manual.

Here is a quick rundown of changes in 2.1.0:

• New skin API is stable - all skins except "Photoblog" can be considered stable.
• More SEO settigns
• Refactored blog settings
• Enhanced commenting system:
  
  • Comment ratings
  • Cleaned up comment submission form
  • Cleaned up comment editing form
  • Better filtering of URLs entered in comment form
• User interface fixes
• Bug fixes

b2evolution 1.10.3 "Key West" has been released.

Download here!

This version fixes a handful of little bugs that have been reported on 1.10.2.

This will likely be the last 1.x release. All future releases should be on the 2.x branch ;)

Again, b2evo 1.10.3 will run skins designed for 1.8 or 1.9, so if you haven't upgraded yet, there will be no better time than now. Upgrading to 2.0 may be a little more complex for those of you who have custom skins. But upgrading to 1.10 is really easy.

This release also comes bundled with the AdSense plugin.

I’ll be in the US in November. More specifically:

• Seattle on October 31st & November 1st
• Los Angeles from November 3rd to 5th
• Las Vegas during BlogWorldExpo (November 7th to 9th)

If you would like to meet up and talk about b2evolution (or the true meaning of life — not to say both are (necessarily) related), please contact me or leave a comment :)

(and obviously, I’ll be back in Paris after that ;))

-Francois.