ImpressCMS 1.3 Alpha Now Available

Published by Skenow on 2011/1/8 (2663 reads)

The ImpressCMS Team is very happy to present the alpha release of the upcoming ImpressCMS 1.3.This version has been in development for a longer period of time than planned, but a lot of necessary work is being accomplished.

Alpha releases are solely for development and testing purposes. Those releases can be as unstable as can be. The features being introduced in the release may be incomplete, but time has come for more feedback on the design and implementation of those features. Alpha releases are not for finding bugs, that is the purpose of the Beta Release.

An Alpha Release is not suitable for running a live website - it is for feature preview and review.

What Should You Expect From ImpressCMS 1.3 Alpha?

Smaller - Once all the legacy code and duplicated code is removed, ImpressCMS will be much easier on the space required on your server, leaving more room for media files!
Better - Also, the structure of the code has seen a major overhaul, in order to comply with the current best practices for PHP5. This makes the code easier to write, and easier to maintain.
Faster - The refactoring in the ImpressCMS 1.3 release has resulted in major improvements: less memory use, speedier page loads and less SQL queries per page, making it the fastest and nimblest ImpressCMS to date.

What Is Behind ImpressCMS 1.3 Alpha?

How Can You Help?

Because of major refactoring of the core, this alpha phase is focused on verifying the core API. Download the ImpressCMS 1.3 alpha distribution, and help us verify the core functionality.

Here are some of the scenarios we'll need tested:

Different servers - Apache, IIS
Fresh installations on servers running PHP 5.2 (only the core, no additional modules)
Fresh installations on servers running PHP 5.3 (only the core, no additional modules)
Side-by-side comparisons of ImpressCMS 1.2.4 and 1.3 Alpha on the same server - number of queries, page load time and memory usage. Use whatever tools you have, in addition to the built in logger
All core functions - add/remove users, images, groups, setting preferences - every one of them!
Limited testing with existing core modules based on IPF (profile, content, the new banners module, the new podcast module and the new library module)

A new admin theme and some new functionality is being introduced to help make the admin area easier to use. Here's where we'll need your feedback:

The system dropdown menu is being categorized, instead of being a single long list
A new block for the CPanel has been created, based on the new categories
A new admin theme is included (reflex) that has a quick search feature

Trying to upgrade an existing site will not help during this release stage, nor will trying to run all your old modules on the new core.

You can participate in helping document the changes for developers
You can help prepare the new wiki
You can help create a list of the modules currently being used on live 1.2.x sites

To report or discuss anything related to this release, use the 1.3 Alpha forum topic.This version is still in a rapidly-changing state - we know there are bugs and we are continuing to refactor portions of the core. This release is stable enough to install for preview and testing, which is why we are asking for your feedback on the features and performance.

For specifics about our release stages and the criteria for them, you can read this Forum post: Release Cycles

Downloads

zip - http://sourceforge.net/projects/imp ... p/download

tar.gz - http://sourceforge.net/projects/imp ... z/download

About ImpressCMS

The goal of the ImpressCMS Project is to stimulate and promote the open source nature of the CMS in both the core and its modules and establish itself as the premiere CMS by expanding the system to meet the needs of their users now and well into the future.

ImpressCMS is -