Another weblog

Upcoming: iPhone and Android interface

Fri, 29 Jan 2010 02:14:00 -0800

One of the new features of PivotX 2.1 will be a new interface for PivotX that works on the iPhone and all Android phones. Just go to the regular address where you normally log on, and you'll see the interface that's optimized for mobile devices. We didn't try to replicate all functionality, just the essentials, that you might need when you're not close to a real computer. You can post and edit new Entries and Pages, and moderate new comments. The mobile version also supports extensions, so if you have the Google Analytics extension installed, you will get a brief overview of the most important stats.

PivotX 2.1.0 beta 3.

Sun, 17 Jan 2010 01:06:00 -0800

There was an annoying bug in the previous beta, that could severely affect performance on entrypages. This bug, and a few other issues, have been fixed in PivotX 2.1.0 beta 3. We recommend this update to all current users of the 2.1.0 betas.

The beta version can be downloaded from this location: pivotx.net/files/pivotx_210b3.zip (or pivotx.net/files/pivotx_210b3.tgz, if you prefer .tgz files). For setup instructions, I point you to our documentation: Getting the files & installing.

PivotX 2.1.0 beta 2.

Sun, 10 Jan 2010 12:07:00 -0800

We've just released PivotX 2.1.0 beta 2. Not much new features since beta 1, but we did fix a good amount of bugs, so we wanted to get an update out of the door.

The beta version can be downloaded from this location: pivotx.net/files/pivotx_210b2.zip (or pivotx.net/files/pivotx_210b2.tgz, if you prefer .tgz files). For setup instructions, I point you to our documentation: Getting the files & installing.

PivotX 2.1.0 beta 1.

Sat, 26 Dec 2009 06:43:00 -0800

Just before the end of the year we've released the first beta fo PivotX 2.1.0. A lot has been done in the past few months. We're working on some large new features, but in the meantime we want to release an update for PivotX 2.0. So, this release focuses mainly on improving the current functionality, fixing bugs and quirks, and a lot of other, minor improvements.

The beta version can always be downloaded from this location: pivotx.net/files/pivotx_210b1.zip (or pivotx.net/files/pivotx_210b1.tgz, if you prefer .tgz files). For setup instructions, I point you to our documentation: Getting the files & installing.

Below you'll find a short list of some of the more important changes since 2.0, and for a full list, you can check our SVN changelog.

A new Bookmarklet (screenshot)
Search has weighed results, greatly improving the relevancy of the results.
Multi-site support (link)
Per directory weblog support (link)
Added an XML Sitemap extension
Added a Gallery extension
Receiving and sending trackbacks
Comments now log the useragent string
Setting and changing the 404-page has been improved
A ton of tiny improvements and changes, to make the platform more stable and consistent
Internally used libraries were updated to the latest versions (jQuery, TinyMCE, etc.)
Bugs! Lots of bugs were fixed!

With the next beta, there will be official support for a few new extensions, such as the 'Ultimate Fields Extension', that let's you add extra fields to the backend for all pages and entries, and the 'Formbuilder' extension, which let's you add all sorts of forms to your site, ranging from the simplest contact-forms to eleborate order-forms with validation.

Note: PivotX 2.1 will be the last version of PivotX to fully support PHP 4.

Theme guidelines

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 02:48:00 -0800

If you make themes and want to submit them to Themes.PivotX.net please read this article. These are the guidelines to create a proper PivotX theme. If you already have some themes that you want to share with the PivotX community you can mail them to info@pivotx.net.

Development update

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 10:40:00 -0800

We know, it's been silent for a while but there's lots of stuff to talk about. And it's all good news.
There will be a maintenance release soon. PivotX 2.0.1 fixes some bugs and improves the overall performance. We're also working on PivotX 2.1.0 with a lot of new features. The feedbackforum works out great. There are many useful suggestions for improvement and many of them are going to be implemented in the following releases. Thank you for that. Keep 'em coming.

New backend interface
We made a start with a complete overhaul of the admin interface. This redesign will be implemented in two steps. The first step will be purely cosmetic. PivotX gets a 'lighter' look to make things even friendlier. The second step is a more substantial one and takes some research. We want the interface to be more flexible. It will be completely rebuilt to improve usabilty and user experience. That means the dashboard will be more flexible and all options will be regrouped if necessary.

Extensions
A lot of extensions are being rewritten, documented and published on the soon to be released extensions website. There are two noteworthy new extensions: Formbuilder and Ultimate Fields.
They do exactly as they are named. With the formbuilder you can easily include fully customizable orderforms and contactforms in entries or pages. Awesome!
The Ultimate Fields extension lets you add extra fields in the PivotX texteditor. You can add imagefields, textfields and datefields. As many as you like. It makes PivotX even more useful as a content management system.

Both extensions will be released soon, within weeks.

Documentation
There are still some blank sections in the documentation. We are working on that but could use some help. Please send us a mail if you think you can help.

Like we said, all good news :)

We are done, what should we do next?

Tue, 26 May 2009 04:35:00 -0800

Now that PivotX 2.0.0 is finally released, it's time to think about the future. Therefore we set up a Uservoicethingie so you can share your ideas and vote for your favorite suggested features. There will be new features and the dev team is constantly improving all current ones, including the interface.

Well, before visiting the Uservoice forum, here's a list of things we are working on right now:

Bookmarklets
Create a smart bookmarklet to publish messsages to your website fast without logging in to your PivotX with a browser.

Multiple websites
Say what?! Yes, it will be possible to run several websites on a single PivotX installation. Don't worry, all data (users, templates, pages, entries) will be completely seperated.

Editor in chief
We are aware of the fact that our usermanagement is somewhat of a puzzle. This one is great for ehm... editors in chief. They are allowed to make changes in all entries and pages, even the ones created by administrators. And not to frighten administrators too much; we will make sure the editor in chief is not allowed to make changes to your website configuration.

Threaded comments
Comments can get messy. Who said what and who is commenting on that? Threaded comments enable users to reply on an existing comment, and the discussion will be displayed threaded or nested.

And now it's your turn! Let us know what you think that makes PivotX even better on the Uservoice forum.

PivotX 2.0 final has been released.

Mon, 18 May 2009 12:53:00 -0800

After two years of hard work, we've just released PivotX 2.0 Final. It's rock solid, does what it has to do, and it does it well. So, now is the time to remove the 'beta' label, and present the official PivotX 2.0. Many, many thanks to Hans, Kevin, Peter and all the others who helped on the forum, with testing or well-meant constructive critisism. Without you guys, we would've never been able to create this product in the state it is in today! :-)

For setup instructions, I point you to our documentation-in-progress: Getting the files & installing. From now on, the latest version can always be downloaded from this location: http://pivotx.net/files/pivotx_latest.zip (or http://pivotx.net/files/pivotx_latest.tgz, if you prefer .tgz files)

Note: If you're upgrading from an older beta version, make sure you've read this post: Upgrading from previous beta releases.

Second Note: If you're upgrading from a Pivot 1.x version, read the following page very carefully: Especially the part about how PivotX templates work quite different from older templates, so you should expect to spend some time with them, if you want to keep them. Otherwise you can just pick a new theme from Themes.pivotx.net.

PivotX 2.0 RC 2..

Tue, 12 May 2009 11:58:00 -0800

We've just released PivotX 2.0 RC2. This is the final Release Candidate, before we release PivotX 2.0 final on monday the 18th.

Feel free to test out this release, and report any and all bugs to us, while we wrap up the last remaining tidbits before the release next week. For setup instructions, I point you to our documentation-in-progress: Getting the files & installing. From now on, the latest version can always be downloaded from this location: /files/pivotx_latest.zip (or get this file, if you prefer .tgz)

Note: If you're upgrading from an older beta version, make sure you've read this post: Upgrading from previous beta releases.

PivotX 2.0 RC released..

Wed, 11 Mar 2009 03:56:00 -0800

We're getting closer and closer to the final release of PivotX 2.0. We've just released PivotX 2.0 RC, which stands for 'Release Candidate'. This means that we think it's basically done, but we're going to have another round of real-world testing, to make sure that 2.0 final will be rock-solid. If you haven't seen what PivotX can do these days, please take a look at the Features and Screenshots pages.

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20% rise in PivotX usage!

Tue, 03 Mar 2009 13:34:00 -0800

The launch of our new website and our great software seem to have payed off. Since the official launch of PivotX.net and the release of the last beta we have seen a 20% rise in PivotX blogs on the Internet.

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Upgrading from previous beta releases

Sat, 21 Feb 2009 07:52:00 -0800

If you've upgraded an existing PivotX install before, you know that it's usually pretty easy: Just upload the files, and you're good to go. For the latest beta (12j) we had to change some things internally, though, to prevent problems later on. The most important of these are:

We renamed the 'pivot' folder to 'pivotx', to better match the official name.
For the same reason we renamed 'pivot_essentials.css' to 'pivotx_essentials.css'. You should update your templates accordingly.
We beefed up the security in the Template Engine. ^[1]

Because of this, upgrading will take a few more steps.

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PivotX.net is redesigned

Fri, 20 Feb 2009 17:30:00 -0800

Grab yourself some champagne and celebrate with us. As you can see, PivotX.net is completely redesigned.

With a fresh look, we are going forward towards the official final release of PivotX 2.0. With just a few issues to be fixed, we are finally nearing the moment of the official release. We don't think anyone is looking more forward to that moment than we are.

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