What's in store for 1.3?

With 1.2 coming out as an RC soon (next week!), it's time to start looking at what 1.3 will bring. Because of all the features we've added in each release, we've had some rather long development cycles (8 months between 1.0 and 1.1, and 1 year between 1.1 and 1.2). We'd like to shorten that up and to do it. we'll need to be more focused on each release, adding in only the best new features and improving on existing features.

So, what will be our focus for 1.3? In each of the previous releases, the developers have been implementing some behind-the-scenes code changes to leverage common core functionalities.

80% of all code a module needs is common with the same functions in other modules - there is no need to repeat the same code in several different modules when core classes can be used. This is the concept behind the IcmsPersistableObject framework (IPF). IPF is the power behind the new block administration area in 1.2, customtags, the new autotasks, mimetypes, ratings and adsense features. You will begin to see all of the areas and modules of ImpressCMS leverage these classes.

What does that give you and the users? Sorting and searching in each of the administration areas, a common look and feel for all modules, less code to upload and maintain and better performance on your site, that's what! It also gives new developers a better foundation for adding new features and functions, modules and themes to ImpressCMS, which is good for the entire community.

The biggest impact this will have in 1.3 is a completely cool administration theme and improved functionality! MrTheme has already been working on this and the preliminaries are looking awesome! I don't want this to be a spoiler, so you'll have to get through the 1.2 releases before we unveil the previews of this.

The other big impacts for 1.3 will be under the hood - we are tuning for performance. We will be looking at every class, every function and every line of code to see where we have repeated ourselves, were we can use newer methods and functions available from PHP5.0 - 5.3 and where we are not using convention over configuration.

Speaking of PHP, version 5.3.0 was just released and several changes will be necessary to be in compliance with the changes made in that version. We don't expect web hosts to be adopting PHP5.3.0 quickly, so issues won't be immediately evident, but ImpressCMS 1.3 will be 5.3.x compliant.

With all this, we'll be putting more energy into developing our developers. To do this, we will be providing online training sessions in the new methodologies, partnering developers so they can work on features together instead of isolation and disciplining ourselves to code reviews, both pre-commit and post-commit, and establishing our own code standardization, based on the Zend Framework's coding standards.

Beyond 1.3, there is more in store for 2010 - we have a lot to do!