2008-08-03 - Patch 02 for Bloo version 1.10 released
This patch fixes an error for newly installed Bloo version 1.10 blogs that prevents the adding or editing of post categories. It is also needed on any 1.10 blog that is using category permalinks.You can download the patch here.
2008-06-28 - Patch 01 for Bloo version 1.10 released
This patch fixes a problem with the upgrade program that occurs on webhosts that do not have gpc magic quotes turned on by default. If your upgrade from version 1.00 to version 1.10 is blowing up in the middle, you need to install this patch and re-run the upgrade. That should fix it.
2008-05-31 - Released Bloo version 1.10. Click here for the detailed release notes.
Below are the main features and fixes included in this release
- New and improved install and upgrade programs
- Title-based permalinks are now available. In other words, instead of your post permalink appearing as http://myblog/post_id=1, your permalink can look like http://myblog/posts/out-of-the-bloo-a-blog
- Beefed up security layers to protect against hacks.
- Searches now work for static pages as well as posts
- Improved the emails sent on comments and trackbacks
- Linefeed to BR tag replacements for posts and pages are now smarter. They won't add BR tags within TABLE, OL or UL tags
- General improvements in sidebar styles and organization
- Fixed a problem with the published date in the Comments RSS feed
- Fixed a problem with the Recent Comments link, which was preventing it from working
- Fixed a problem with the upgrade/install Ping that caused some blogs to hang on install
2008-03-28 - Patch 2 for Bloo version 1.00 released
This is a security patch and it is highly recommended for Bloo version 1.00 users. It plugs some known security holes in Bloo.
You can download this patch, along with Patch 1 if you haven't already got that one, here.
2008-01-26 - Patch 1 for Bloo version 1.00 released
This contains six updated files to be placed in the core subdirectory. It fixes a problem with the last published date in the comments RSS, and a syntax error on the "View Recent Comments" link (for sidebars that have not yet been customized).
2008-01-24 - Released Bloo version 1.00. This is the first full production release of Bloo. Click here for the detailed release notes.
Below are the main features and fixes included in this release
- Commenters on the blog can now edit their most recent comment after posting it. This ability lasts for several minutes
- The Private post type was created, allowing posters to create posts that can only be read by logged in posters or administrators.
- The Popular Posts extension now can have a specified time-window wherein it measures comment activity (rather than always just measuring for the life of the post)
- The blog now includes a “Lost your password?” feature, to allow users who have forgotten their password to get a new one.
- Now posters can create static pages, which are like posts but don’t display a date stamp and can only be displayed by going to the static page’s permalink URL. In other words, static pages don’t roll along in the normal post stream. This feature is useful for creating more “timeless” pages, such as an “About Me” page.
- The Bloogroll can now recognize a constant set in an overlay that specifies which Bloogroll categories to display. The constant is bloogroll_category_list, and is set in an overlay (usually Page.sidebar) using this syntax: _=bloogroll_category_list=Category 1,Category 2=_, substituting, of course, the real categories you want to display for Category 1 and Category 2
- Created the Contact extension, which allows the blog to have “Contact Me” and “Contact Post Author” links which will display forms through which users can send email messages to the blog administrator(s) or a post author without knowing the recipient’s email address
- Added links for “Older Entries”, “Newer Entries” on the Post display page to allow for navigation to older and newer posts.
- The permalink for posts is now, by default, on the post title, rather than the post time.
- Created the "Favorite Posts" SnapOn, which allows the administrator to show a list of his/her favorite posts from the blog.
- Created a Comments RSS feed.
- Created versioning in the system, which Bloo uses to detect when an upgrade is needed.
- We now have a new Bloo logo!
- Created a Trackback Send form, for sending trackbacks to other blogs.
- Form navigation is now smoother as the first field on most forms is now in focus by default.
- Changed the display of the “Everyone” security role to the more appropriately named “Guest”
- Renamed the “snapons” directory to “core”, for clarity’s sake.
- Removed the Remote Blacklist Spamicide extension SnapOn from the core release. Never much liked how this one worked (too many false-positives)
- Fixed a security vulnerability in Comments editing
- Fixed a problem with Post categories that have apostrophes in them (they were blanking out when the post was re-edited).
- The Bloogroll category drop-down was getting confused when the Category ID was greater than 10. This is fixed.
- Fixed problems with the RSS feed that caused it not to validate in certain feed readers.
- Fixed alignment problems in the post form when their were no post form extension snapons (such as Quicktags) enabled.
- Fixed a problem in the Lag Time Spam Checker extension snapon that was causing it to fail when checking trackbacks.
- Numerous other internal fixes and improvements
2007-08-03 - Released Bloo version 1.00 release candidate 2. From the release notes:
Below are the features and bug fixes included in this release:
Features
- Multiple Category Tags. Now a post can be filed under multiple categories. This one was long overdue . . .
- Modified the post changes protector extension to handle changes to the post category.
- Redesigned the layout of the post admin and post display. In particular, made changes to accommodate multiple categories
- IP Blacklist - yet another Spam fighting SnapOn for Bloo. This one allows you to blacklist certain IPs so they can't leave comments or send trackbacks
- Multiple comment protection. In the past, people who were too quick on the Submit button might see their comment hit twice. This has been fixed.
- Reworked the ThemeSelector so that the admin can select which themes he/she wants to be in the rotation. This is important because in the past, all themes showed up, even "Bloo Base", which isn't a very presentable theme.
- Added capturing of the create and modify user id to the comments and post tables. Now we can see who did what.
- Made some general improvements to the phoo base foundation classes
- Date formats are now configurable by the admin. Now the admin can set the date format for the post date, post time, and comment time display. In addition, moved Post, Comment date formats and display settings to the Look and Feel section. Just seemed more natural.
- An ampersand in a post title screws up the RSS feed. This has been fixed.
- When comments are sent to moderation, the user is not notified. Instead, they are just told “Thank you for your comment”. This has been resolved
- Those with “Everyone” status don’t have any real access to the admin panel. Fixed. Now they see a minimal administration panel, which basically just gives them the ability to edit their profile
- Error messages on login are very plain. Made 'em look nicer
- Simple Human Check display doesn’t start on its own line. Now it does.
- CommentFloodQuery was not working. This has been fixed.
- Upon upgrade or install, SnapOn and Theme lists were not shown in alpha order. They are now.
- First quote in Bloo Quote was not being selected as current upon entry of that quote into the system. Fixed.
2007-05-30 - Released a patch for the BlooQuote extension
The BlooQuote patch is now deployed to Sourceforge. You can down load it by clicking here and selecting the bloo.v.1.00rc1.patches.zip or tgz file.
This fixes a pesky problem in Bloo release candidate 1 in which the Bloo quote of the day no longer advanced. In addition, administration of the BlooQuote snapon is improved so that you can now select the quote you want to make the current quote.
Work is continuing on release candidate 2.
2007-05-11 - Released Bloo version 1.00 release candidate 1. From the release notes:
The first production release candidate of Bloo, version 1.00, has been released. You can download it here.
While it certainly doesn't represent as large a leap forward as the Beta 2 release, this first production release candidate contains some nice features, with more coming (and hopefully quickly) on release candidate 2.
New features in this release:
- TimeZone Processing - Awww yeah! I've never been a fan of the "enter the number of hours between you and GMT" form of blog timestamping. First of all, that doesn't work well with daylight savings time, and plus it just seems kind of stick-and-rock. Now, when installing or upgrading a Bloo blog, you can actually pick your timezone, and let Bloo handle the rest - it will adjust time displays for daylight savings time, etc., and you don't have to pay attention to whatever your current offset to Greenwich is. There are new date formats also that will display the timezone for you in the post timestamp. Also, all internal times are now stored in GMT. I like platonic ideals - rather than storing internal times in database tables using the server time or other such fickle measure, Bloo stores everything in GMT. If you change your timestamp on your blog, all timestamps on all posts, comments, etc, will adjust.
- Got rid of one of the SnapOn packages in Bloo - the Lists package. This was used on a lot of behind the scenes stuff but was basically superfluous. Removing it also allowed us to remove the list_types table.
- Performed other cleanups on the settings table.
- Added new Settings menus, split up the General settings into more manageable pieces, such as Blog Profile, Discussion Settings, Time Zone settings, and Post and Comment Display Settings. You can now also adjust the number of posts to display on the main page, the number of comments to show in recent commentary, and the formats to use for date and timestamps.
2007-02-18 - Released Bloo Beta version 2. From the release notes:
- Refactored the loading of SnapOns, and unified their format. Now everything in Bloo follows a common SnapOn format, whether for core SnapOns, extension SnapOns, or theme SnapOns.
- Optimized the loading of SnapOns so that the system only loads the resources it needs, rather than loading everything
- Implemented the CTCode extension SnapOn. This is a spam checker that is quite effective against both trackback and comment spam, and that doesn't require the commenter to answer questions, type kaptchas, etc.
- Improved the administrative interface
- Created the Bloo Wiki SnapOn, which gives a blog certain Wiki-ish features (such as allowing the author to enclose post titles in brackets, which converts the entry into a link to that post title. Note: this SnapOn is not part of the core release. It will be deployed eventually on the main bloo documentation site (http://outofthebloo.com) soon.
- Created the ThemeDownload SnapOn, which allows the administrator to place Theme Download links on the blog which will contain the zipped code for the current theme. Note: this SnapOn is not part of the core release. It will be deployed eventually on the main bloo documentation site (http://outofthebloo.com) soon.
- Created "pend" type overlays, which will autmatically append or prepend themselves to specified overlays. Very handy for extending the Bloo interface.
- Improved the Comments interface
- Added Theme Screenshots to the administrative interface for Themes
- Improved the Theme administration panel
- Implemented Session messages, to provide a common facility for displaying information and warnings.
- Cleaned up and upgraded the Quicktags buttons, and added Quicktags to the comments form (optional)
- Added extension SnapOns that protect the user from losing unsaved changes to posts or comments if an errant back or close button is pressed.
- Added better security checks to prevent the unauthorized loading of a SnapOn.
- Added new themes: Lush, Jill, Quentin, Monochrome.
- Now administrators can associate a blog logo image to their blog.
- Theme Credits now can appear at the bottom of the main page
- Fixed general problems with the RSS interface
- Fixed the problem with Smilies not displaying properly in edited posts and comments.
- Fixed the problem with the PopularPosts extension SnapOn that had it counting removed spam comments in the total comments count.
- And performed a lot more behind the scenes enhancements and fixes.
2006-11-10 - Released Bloo Beta. Changes (from the release notes):
- Tired of coding your own HTML? This release has two SnapOns (RichTextPostEditor and RichTextCommentEditor) that convert your post or comment composition window into a Rich Text control. Kinda nifty, although some browsers have problems with these controls. For the majority, it works great. You can enable these SnapOns in the Writing section of the SnapOn administration page.
- You can now disable Comments and Trackbacks globally for your blog, or turn them on and off on an individual post basis.
- There is now a Comments/Trackbacks Moderation page, for quickly blasting spam and troll comments to oblivion
- You can also mark individual comments and trackbacks as spam (or trolls) in the comments and trackbacks section of posts.
- There is now a RemoteBlackList spam control SnapOn - look in the Spamicide section of the Spam Administration page. This SnapOn will check each incoming comment or trackback against external lists of known spammers.
- Also, the LagTimeSpamChecker SnapOn has been created. It is useful for marking comments and trackbacks on old, dormant posts as suspected Spam.
- For long posts, you can now break them up into the intro and a longer section behind a "Read the rest of this entry" link. The QuickTags "More" button will do this for you.
- On Quicktags, they are now optional and are a SnapOn in the Writing section of the SnapOn administration page. Just activate to see the Quicktags buttons on post compose
- General Blog Settings are now available for modification in a single administration page, rather than the list you had before. Look in the General Blog Settings tab under Lists and Settings
Also fixed two bugs:
- I discovered that when editing an overlay for the first time, the editor was expanding all other overlays and SnapOns within the code of the overlay on edit. I realize that might not make sense, but - trust me - it's bad. Fixed now.
- The My Profile page was not displaying any data, making it pretty hard to edit your profile. This has been fixed.
2006-07-22 - Released Bloo alpha build 9. Changes (from the release notes):
- Created the BloogrollPosts SnapOn. This is a nifty little addition that allows you to view posts written by people in your bloogroll from within your blog. It's somewhat similar to the LJ "friends posts" feature, except this works for any blog, not just other Bloo blogs. And you don't really have to be friends with the people :-) - it gets its content off of their published RSS feeds
- Fixed the BlooPostSpellChecker SnapOn. It quit working when Google switched it to use https
- Created a comments spell checker SnapOn
- Refactored the tabbed menu items, provided better inheritance
- Made the overlay editing window bigger
- Created the Scripturizer SnapOn, which converts any Bible reference in your posts to a link to the ESV Bible
- Created, against my better judgement, a Smilies SnapOn, useful for inserting cute little smilies in posts and comments.
- SnapOns are now categorized and are organized in the SnapOn maintenance section in different tabs, one per category
- Set overflow styles in the base CSS so that sidebars and content will stay put if some content gets too wide
- Cleaned up the RSS feed coming from Bloo and added more fields to it
- Did some cleanup and code refactoring to allow for running simple queries without having to call the SnapOnFactory
- Did some small overlay work on the BlooQuote overlay so that it now uses the additive feature
- Created an additive overlay for JavaScript additions
- Rearranged the Themes and Overlay tabs in the Look and Feel section
- Added "Save and Continue Editing" in the overlay editing section (because it's a pain to have to keep switching back and forth)
- Refactored and simplified (a bit) Overlay editing
- Reworked the XML2Array parser so that it reads RSS feeds correctly
2006-06-09 - Released Bloo alpha build 8. This release included a ton of work on the overlay and themes administration. Overlay admin was cleaned up and made sturdier, if not more understandable. You can now preview a theme where it will remain your theme for an hour, but no one else will be able to see it (useful when creating a theme). Also added some rudimentary spam control and a spellchecker, based on googiespell. Cool.
2006-05-01 - Released Bloo alpha build 7. In this release there was a lot of work done on the administration panels - especially on the Look and Feel section. Administrators can now create their own themes on the fly.
2006-04-11 - Released Bloo alpha build 6.
2006-04-04 - Released the fourth build of Bloo, followed almost immediately by the fifth build. Lots of work on compatibility, themes, ease-of-use issues.
2006-03-23 - Released Bloo version 1.00.a.003. This is a pretty big release, and includes dynamic overlays, several new extensions (such as ThemeSelector, PopularPosts and ReadingList) and the departure from OVL files in favor of more standard XML. Much more can be read about this release on the development blog here.
2006-03-05 - Released Bloo version 1.00.a.002, to fix some bugs I found. You can read the release notes here for more information. The new release is available on the Sourceforge Project Page. You can also visit the Bloo Development Blog for more information and interaction.
2006-03-02 - The initial alpha release of Bloo (version 1.00.a.001) is now available! Now all I need is some alpha testers. The Developer's Blog is also ready: http://devblog.outofthebloo.com
Click here to go to the Bloo Sourceforge Project Page