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It was originally going to be ProofBuddy 3.0 because of all the changes, but most of the changes won't be all that noticeable so we decided to go with version 2.1. Biggest reason for staying with 2 point something - Pro users of 2.0 will be able to upgrade to 2.1 Pro for free. It just didn't seem right to charge for an update when there isn't much visibly different.
Key word is "visibly" though. Version 2.1 is a major rewrite with more changes than when we went from 1.0 to 2.0, and that's why it's taking so long. It's just that they look and functionality isn't going to change much. The bulk of the changes relate to how themes and plugins are written.
When can I download it?
Guess we should get this one out of the way first.
We don't have a timeline on release yet. We've got a list of stuff to add and get ready, and when that's done we'll release.
So what's different?
A couple months ago we had a post about the new admin look. The tabs have been moved from the top to the left side, similar to how WordPress looks. The idea is that as plugins add menu choices we didn't want them stretching the page too wide.
There will also be a Flash image uploader to take the place of the 10 little boxes on the current version, and hopefully that will be able to take the place for the Files on Server option. This is actually what I'm cleaning up right now, and it looks and works much better than the browser uploading in version 2.0.
And we're really putting a lot of time into making themes and plugins more powerful, and easier to write. Some of the functions have been moved around and rewritten to make it easier on theme and plugin authors to use. We have also spun off a site for hosting ProofBuddy plugins and themes along with documentation on how to create your own. Ultimately we'll use this site as a way to make it easier to keep your site themes and plugins updated with the latest version.
PHP 5.2
A few months ago we put out a survey to see what version of PHP everybody had running on their servers. With those results, along with the fact that PHP 4 is years out of date, we've decided to require at least PHP version 5.2 for ProofBuddy starting with version 2.1.
It wasn't a snap decision, but we feel the benefits far outweigh the cost for this requirement.
What's next?
After we get 2.1 done and out we have a list of plugins and themes to get together. They've been on the back burner while 2.1 is in development. We didn't want to get a theme or plugin working just right only to have it break with a change in 2.1.
