Update – January 14, 2010

I have resumed work on the new version of SkyBlueCanvas. Due to the extent of the changes, the next version will be numbered 2.0. I have not set a release date yet but the major coding is complete. I am currently working with a UI designer to create a new interface for the software. I plan to begin testing in the next couple of weeks. Thank you for your patience.

Delayed

Due to unforeseen circumstances, the release of SkyBlueCanvas v1.2 Alpha has been delayed until further notice. I apologize for any inconvenience.

I have just completed the coding for SkyBlueCanvas version 1.2. The new version is an important milestone for the lightweight CMS because it is the first version to fully implement i18n (internationalization) support, the MVC (model view controller) design pattern and a lightweight ACL (access control list) to support multiple users and access permissions.

Version 1.2 also introduces the MVC (Model View Controller) design pattern into SkyBlueCanvas. While the MVC pattern is not fully implemented, this version does lay the groundwork for us to continue to refactor the code to fully implement the pattern.

Also new in version 1.2 is support for multiple users and user groups to control access to both front end and back end content. The new access control is a lightweight ACL (access control list) that allows the site admin to restrict which users can see what content and which admins can edit which types of content.

In addition to i18n support and beginning to implement the MVC pattern, version 1.2 also includes significant improvements to the code including a completely new Skin engine for building web pages and general cleanup to nearly every class. Even with the significant changes to a lot of the core underlying code, the new version will be almost 100% compatible with sites that are currently using version 1.1.

You can browse the source code of the new version at http://www.skybluecanvas.com/1.2-development

A word of caution: the new version is at stage alpha and has not been fully tested. Additionally, any add-ons available on our downloads page are not yet compatible with the new code.

What’s to come

SkyBlueCanvas will undergo very significant changes over the next several months. The changes will be implemented gradually and carefully to minimize the impact of upgrading from earlier versions of SkyBlueCanvas. The changes will focus on improving performance, usability and to simplify the API to make extending SkyBlueCanvas much easier.

Version Planned Changes
Version 1.3 full implementation of the MVC pattern
Version 1.4 Admin UI redesign including full Ajax support
Version 1.5 New data storage structure to improve performance

Comments

One Response to “A New Milestone for SkyBlueCanvas”

  1. Fogg on January 11th, 2010 11:49 am

    I really hope you will not put too much stuff in it, because it is actually one of the most lightweight CMS and should stay like it is

    I really love it as it is, the editor and XML storage are just perfect

    not sure the MVC pattern is really required

    other stuff: yes, and first i18n (it is one of the first things I have done when I used skybluecanvas: correct some errors in special characters handling)

    thank you and keep the spirit ;-)

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