All entries filed under “EllisLab”
The latest release of ExpressionEngine features a lot of bug fixes (always a good thing), a few snacks for everyone, and a few treats for developers.
Before you update, you should read the changelog so you know what’s different (and if it impacts your installation; it shouldn’t). The highlights blog post from EllisLab is also good.
One new snacks for everyone:
Added allow_pending_login config override to allow the Pending member group to log in.
With EE 2.9.3, the Pending member group (that comes with EE) is now allowed to log in. You have to enable this as a config override.
$config['allow_pending_login'] = 'y';
This is a small but nice feature, especially if you’re doing heavy member sites that have different states of access.
For developers, there’s now an easier way to get access to the password reset routine:
Added hooks for additional processing after a user resets their password. member_process_reset_password for front end, and cp_member_reset_password for the control panel.
For developers, these handy password reset extensions are great if you are creating SSO solutions.
There you go, EE 2.9.3. We’re only seven point releases away from EE 3, right?
Last week, EllisLab kicked off another developer roundtable. They did one previously and are now making it a monthly event.
The Developer Roundtable is a live chat with EE add-on developers and the staff at EllisLab. I dropped in on the chat last week and it was a lively and honest conversation. EllisLab is seeking input and feedback from the community that develops add-ons for their CMS.
EllisLab is collecting links to reviews of ExpressionEngine.
Have you recently published a review to your company or personal blog? Send it over to EllisLab and they’ll consider it for inclusion on their Reviews page.
Over the weekend, EllisLab release ExpressionEngine 2.9.2, just one day after the 2.9.1 release.
The release is noted as a “stability fix.” If you’re already running 2.9.1, the upgrade can be done by just changing out two files and manually updated your app_version config item. No database changes or migrations.
Announced today at Derek Jones’ EE Conference keynote presentation:
EllisLab has publicly looked for a home for CodeIgniter for the last several months.
BCIT (British Columbia Institute of Technology) is in Burnaby, British Columbia.
Fire up your update ExpressionEngines!
Today, EllisLab released ExpressionEngine 2.9.1. This is a security and stability release (meaning no new features).
This nugget at the end of the company blog post about the release should interest you:
This release contains quite a bit more security fixes than normal, but it shouldn’t cause alarm. We’ve recently opened ExpressionEngine up to white hat security researchers to report even the smallest issue. Most of the potential attacks found involve attacking yourself or the existence of a malicious admin, but we still recommend this update for all users. We’re committed to the hardening of our software to keep your data safe and remain one of the most provenly secure web platforms out there.
Read the changelog for the details on what was updated or check out their announcement blog post.
The changes were enough that EllisLab bumped the version a full point release. ExpressionEngine 2.9, available today, includes an overhaul of the conditionals parser.
Conditionals are parsed better, simple vs. advanced conditional is now a thing of the past, and there are some nice new operators; you can do simple math and more robust comparisons.
A few other nuggets:
- The hidden template indicator is now an underscore instead of a period.
- A software license page in the control panel
- Better Markdown support using Markdown Extra (yay Markdown!)
- EE requires PHP 5.3.10 now
Read their blog post for all of the changes and, if you’re into that kind of thing, I’d also recommend perusing the changelog.
In an interview on Nublue, a web design agency, EllisLab Chief Creative Officer, shared a tiny bit about ExpressionEngine 3:
Are there any elements of the design within EllisLab applications that you are particularly proud of and why?
Yes. However, those elements aren’t public yet, as they are part of ExpressionEngine 3. I came to EllisLab after ExpressionEngine 2 was released, so aside from some small tweaks here and there, ExpressionEngine 2 is largely not my work. In the curious case of ExpressionEngine 3 I’ve taken my time trying to sculpt a user experience that will feel at once both new, and familiar. From that base, I plan to iterate and improve the control panel even further.
Read the entire (short) interview
On Friday EllisLab released EE 2.8.1, a minor update that fixes a JavaScript bug.
Even though installations without add-ons are likely unaffected, we are considering this a required update for all 2.8.0 users because of the impact it has on so many popular add-ons.
You don’t have to run through the full update process and the EllisLab blog post about the release details how to manually update.
Back in October, EllisLab reminded us that EE 1 support ends tomorrow, December 7th.
This is 3 years after the EE2 public beta came out (I remember this because my ExpressionEngine book came out at the same time).
To ensure that expert help from EllisLab continues to be available for all your client sites, we encourage you to upgrade your remaining ExpressionEngine 1 sites as soon as possible.
You can upgrade each license for only $50 by clicking the upgrade button next to each ExpressionEngine 1 license that hasn’t yet been upgraded on your manage purchases page.
This site was the last of mine to move off EE 1 (took long enough, Ryan) but I’m sure many of you have sites and clients still running EE 1. Make sure they know about this support change!
EllisLab’s End of Summer Special for ExpressionEngine licenses wraps up next week. If you haven’t already taken advantage of it, you should.
$30 off will get you an ExpressionEngine license with a bit of cash in your pocket to use towards something else. Don’t miss out!
Earlier this week EllisLab released ExpressionEngine 2.7, which includes the new Grid field type, New Relic support, Markdown parsing, and more.
There is already information posted about these additions to ExpressionEngine but here’s a quick recap.
Grid, a new field type that makes it simple to include tabular data in a single field, is essentially a native implementation of Pixel & Tonic’s Matrix add-on. I will leave it up to Pixel & Tonic and EllisLab to convince you which you should use (I personally prefer Matrix). It is encouraging that EllisLab is starting to add features and make the out-of-the-box experience of ExpressionEngine more complete for how people are using their software in 2013. However, the way they went about it wasn’t exactly ideal.
New Relic, a service that makes application performance monitoring services, also gets support in ExpressionEngine 2.7. In order to use this feature you do need a New Relic account. This is very much a nod in the direction of the upper scale enterprise market.
Markdown, my favorite way of writing text for the web (and how I’m writing this post), also gets some attention in EE 2.7. Previously, you had to use the excellent Smartdown add-on from Experience Internet but those add-ons have been set free and are no longer maintained or supported. Markdown is now a native formatting option so there’s no need to install another add-on to get that functionality. Very nice.
There’s more in EE 2.7, too. Read the entire blog post by EllisLab] to get the scoop.
So, should you upgrade now? Well, that’s tough to answer.
I always wait a bit before updating so I can let some bugs shake out. EllisLab’s releases have gotten a lot better compared to earlier releases of EE 2, however there could still be bugs in there that haven’t been caught. Be careful and always back up.
Over at Mijingo I am running ExpressionEngine but I try to keep slightly behind the current version because it’s ecommerce and, well, I’d rather not have a bug interrupt my customers’ ability to get the learning materials they need.
Evaluate your situation, carefully measure and assess the risk involved in upgrading and then make your choice.
Back in June EllisLab lifted the curtain on Grid, a new field type that allows tabular data in a single field. Yes, this is what Pixel & Tonic’s Matrix does. The news of Grid was buried by the odd commentary in their blog post, but they’ve come back with more information.
Last week, EllisLab gave a closer look at Grid, including an example use (baseball player stats) and some code samples.
A Grid field can be configured with multiple columns, each capturing data with any of ExpressionEngine’s existing fieldtypes, including any Grid-compatible third-party fieldtypes. From there, each channel entry can have a dynamic number of rows in the Grid field to suit the needs of that particular entry.
Grid is currently part of the developer preview for EE 2.7 and distributed out to developers to test and adopt. I wrote this before but I expect to see 2.7 drop soon.
Hey pros! Are you in the new Pro Network?
It soft relaunched today after being shuttered by EllisLab 8 months ago.
The new Pro Network currently features 93 ExpressionEngine professionals who have demonstrated they meet the minimum requirements. The Pro Network isn’t currently open for new members but you can review the rules and guidelines for inclusion in the network.
A Professional Network listing is available to those engaged in full-time web development who have a minimum of one year experience utilizing ExpressionEngine, or that have provided targeted products and services for ExpressionEngine for at least one year.
Unlike past years, you don’t have to prove that you have completed a specific number of websites in EE but only that the “majority of your work comes from ExpressionEngine.” That would be hard to measure and, for some larger companies, near impossible to meet (unless the goal is to keep the Pro Network filled with smaller shops).
There is now a cost to join the Pro Network: $40 for freelancers and $100 for organizations. Is that enough of a barrier of entry for only the most serious? If the Pro Network is successful at driving qualified leads then I think it could and should command 10x that price.
All in all, great to have the Pro Network back!
EllisLab is hiring an additional Customer Advocate to help support their products. The job means helping EllisLab customers with their issues and questions with ExpressionEngine. You do need to have some ExpressionEngine experience (obviously), so experienced people only need apply.
You will be interacting with the best of web professionals on a daily basis, helping them troubleshoot and solve issues related to building, developing, and maintaining websites using ExpressionEngine. In addition to being experienced with ExpressionEngine, you are familiar with basic concepts behind CMS software and understand how websites are built.
Here are the perks:
EllisLab provides health benefits and 401k, work from home, flexible personal time, computer/software allowance, and absolutely no being micro-managed by cubicle super-villains.
This is only for people who are legally allowed to work in the United States.
Learn more about the position and how to apply.
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