We just released b2evolution version 6.11.0-beta.

Among other features, it supports webmentions, as previously promised here.

2015 has been pretty intense for b2evolution! So many things have changed! If you haven’t been paying attention, or have been lagging in upgrading, now is a good time to check out what you missed…

Let’s recap what happened over the past 365 days:

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Since the beginning of the year we have been relentlessly adding features and features and more features to b2evolution v4. All the while not producing a packaged release! If you wnated to use them, you had to dig into CVS...

Ok, this has been going on for far too long now! ;)

We have stopped adding features until we make a 4.0 release! Below, you will find the final list of features that made it into the next 4.0.0-alpha release.

No new features, means we are now focusing on cleaning up some of the code that doesn't seem quite right and then we'll release the alpha. (Don't ask, I'm not giving dates any more, even if this time I can actually feel the release ;) )

This alpha release will be functional as advertised but the UI may not be polished everywhere it should. We'll do some extra polishing for the beta and stable versions.

Watch out, this is a massive release!! ;) There is a lot of extra power and new stuff under the hood! Here's the list:

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OK, it's already almost a week since I've been to Blog World Expo... and I thought I should post a quick recap...

First off, Blog World is a fun place to hang out at! I didn't take any pictures of the conference, the expo halls and the crowds but you can still check out this tweetup dinner video to get an idea of what some of us looked like on the last evening.

I have to say I'm very impressed by how twitter allows people to meet up at random places. That's how that after hours dinner took place after the end of the conference.

By the way, if you are on twitter, you might want to follow http://twitter.com/b2evolution ;)

That said, the most interesting part for me was meeting with bloggers and getting feedback on the software!

Even if I wish I had met more b2evolution bloggers, I got a lot of feedback and interesting ideas! There is nothing like real people explaining what they really want to do with their blogs! Believe it or not, a live discussion makes your point way better than a cryptic forum post! ;)

One feature I've worked on since I came back is page level caching. This is a direct result from talking with Nelson Guirado about performance issues on his host. While we cannot control the server load and speed of the hosting companies, one thing we can do is try to make b2evolution use less server resources per page, thus operate faster.

Page level caching goes a long way in that direction. Basically it caches your blog pages so that subsequent results will be served much faster and with significantly less queries to the database. This also drastically cuts down on the load time for your visitors. (You need to not be logged in to experience the cache effect).

Page caching is already available in CVS. It's also activated on b2evlution.net, including this blog you are reading right now. If you see anything odd, by all means, let me know.

For more 3.0 features, stay tuned, either here or on twitter! ;)

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.

b2evolution 2.0 comes with a brand new backoffice design a.k.a admin skin, named "Chicago":

Though not completely polished yet, we hope it reflects how much effort we're putting into the new b2evolution 2.0.

Of course, if you're nostalgic (or if your IE chokes on CSS), you can still use the legacy or the evo admin skins.

By the way, you can now switch admin skins easily from the "evobar" at the top of the screen. In case you wonder: yes that bar is also displayed on top of the public blog page... if you're logged in!

Other than that, you can see on the screenshot that the backoffice now comes with a "dashboard" which gives you fast and easy access to the items you need the most like the comments awaiting moderation (with one click buttons) as well as your recent draft posts (am I the only one repeatedly forgetting to publish my drafts? ;))

b2evolution 2.0.0-alpha will be out in a few days now.