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Preventing Bots from Submitting the Form
Over the next few days, we are going to be showing some snippets of new and exciting features that is coming very soon! Today’s is the form submission security. There is a lot of new behind-the-scenes features that allow us to automatically detect when a script is attempting to login, but one of the new frontend ones is the inability to submit (login) into any form unless they move the scrollbar over. All this is done through Javascript, so if you forget, you can just scroll it over without having to re-login. Pretty nifty, huh?
1.7.0 Beta 2 Released
I’m very excited to announce the immediate release of beta 2, and is now available to all beta testers, and on the demo.
While beta 2 was mostly bug fixes, and behind the scene changes, here are a few of the changes:
- Better pagination
- Live search on the left column
- Shopping cart visual changes in frontend
- Overall smaller footprint in terms of file size.
While these weren’t major, it did fix a few bugs. I’m mostly excited for beta 3 which will revolutionize the way online invoicing, project management, and contact management is done. You can count on that! Stay tuned for more blog posts about Beta 3!
Posted in Everything Else
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Live Search in Beta 2
Since we’re slow on beta 2, I wanted to show off one of the new features that’s in Beta 2 – live search. The live search will quickly allow you to search your portfolio entries, products, services, projects, clients and finally invoices! Whew that wasn’t fun to type, nor was it fun to program!
Here’s the lovely (tiny) picture showing it off:
Live Search
Posted in Feature Showcase
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Delay on Beta 2
Hi Folks,
Sorry for the delay. Something has popped up (as usual with software!) that has caused some delays in shipping Beta 2. We’re working on it now!
My apologies again.
Posted in Everything Else
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1.7.0 Beta 2 Is Coming
Hi All,
Beta 2 is planned for a release late this week. While it fixes a numerous bugs, it does offer a new module system. Previously if any customizations were done with FP, it was very difficult if not near impossible to upgrade to the latest version.
The module system allows us to isolate these changes, so upgrading is very easy to do. This is very exciting for us as we have tons of modules planned to enhance Freelancer Panel!
Be on the lookout later this week for another post about the release, with a full changelog. But be ready for Beta 3, which is going to have a huge list of changes and improvements. I can’t wait!!
Posted in Beta Releases
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1.7.0 Beta 1 Features
It’s been a bit since the first beta was released, but there’s no public change list. So here it is!
Frontend
- Complete new design
- Full theme support
- User has the ability to adjust languages on-the-fly
- Content is cached better, decreasing page load times
AdminCP
- Updated table, with more useful information
- Ability to add any type of entry in multiple languages
- Much easier to filter, sort, and search any type of entry
- Pagination in multiple tables
- Invoices support custom fields, are much easier to manipulating in both adding and modifying
- Invoices can now be based off of an existing product, service, project, or an hourly rate (with breakdowns)
- Administrators (will be renamed shortly to “staff” as a separate level) now have the ability to be assigned to certain projects, and components
- Ability to control all language and theme settings
- Slight UI improvement on Taxes
- Payment modules now are completely modular, and API documentation comes supplied with adding your own module. All current modules were rewritten in the same format that any developer can create theirs in.
- Defined the difference between a “Third Party Gateway” (ie PayPal), and a “Merchant Account” (ie Authorize.net)
- Several UI improvements
- Tickets can now have an owner, be assigned, and controlled
- Full support for SSL
- Invoices now have full support of “transactions”
Clients
- Download types can be controlled for products, and projects through configuration
Global
- More modular programming
- Slight performance increase throughout the app
- New PHP 5.3 requirement allows use of PHP’s new namespace feature
- Fully documented API – allows license holder to add new clients, check client status etc. I would love to get feedback on the types of hooks everyone needs/wants to fully develop around this.
Posted in Beta Releases, General News
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Changes in Software & Company
Hi All,
It’s been quite a busy few months. On the public frontend, it barely looks like the software or company still exists! It’s honestly quite the contrary. Below are some of the exciting things that we’ve been working on.
Removal of Leased Licenses
Back in early Spring we announced the plans to finally ax the leased licenses of Freelancer Panel in early summer. Well, we’ve finally did just that. All current plans are grandfathered in, but there are no plans for it to return now, or ever.
Plan Changes
In the near future a new subscription option will be coming. We’re really working hard on this, and we think it’s going to be great. With the new plans, our current Owned License will always see a price change. Unfortunately all signs are pointing to that the price will increase from its currently discounted rate. This will be well announced when a definite timeline has been set. Current customers will be grandfathered in again.
1.7.0 Release Line
At the time of writing this, 1.7.0 Beta 1 is the latest version of the beta. We are very close releasing Beta 2, which is mostly bug and slight UI fixes. It’s really nothing special. For Beta 3 we have some very large plans, so expect a delay between the two. Beta 3 will change the way we think and work with FP every single day. FP’s idea is great on paper, and was great over 5 years ago, but it needs a major overhaul and we’re doing just that.
When 1.7.0 is released, all current customers will have a very small window to upgrade for free. After that you must renew your support/downloads to obtain it after that.
We’re Here & Working
I just want to nail that point home again. We’ve been around releasing the 1.6.x line, and then making huge backend changes for 1.7.x line. We’re here and working harder than ever. We’re really excited to be changing the way we do software.
Also, this is a slightly new blog design!
Posted in General News
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1.6.2 has been Released!
This email was just sent out to all of our customers.
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Hello Everyone,
I am very happy to announce that 1.6.2 has been released. Between 1.6.1 and 1.6.2, a lot of bugs were fixed, introduced some new functionality, and added some much requested features such as: taxes, custom invoice fields, and better email piping. It is NOT a security release, but upgrading is still highly recommended.
If you are running anything greater than 1.5.0, the first thing you want to do is backup all files and the database. Then upload all files (if you have made any customizations, be sure not to upload those files), and then run install/upgrade.php. You can also read the additional information in install.html.
A lot has changed in the structure of our business, which is a bit assumed due to the length since the last release. I have opened a thread on FP.org (where all customers are welcome and encouraged to register and post at), located at: http://www.freelancerpanel.org/showthread.php?p=87#post87
This thread covers everything from what happened to 2.0, the changes in how FP is being developed, and more importantly, the plans for 1.7, the next major version.
Please also remember that 1.6 was our last attempt at keeping FP PHP4 compatible. Starting with 1.7, Freelancer Panel will require PHP 5.2.x. If you are unsure you meet this requirement, please contact your host.
As always if you have any questions, please feel free to post a thread on FP.org, or open a ticket. I’m always more than happy to help.
All the best,
Tyler Cole
Product Manager
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Freelancer Panel Townhall Meeting – 07/12/08
This email was sent to all customers a few days ago. Everyone is welcome to join, even those who are not customers.
Hello!,
I am very excited to announce the very first Freelancer Panel Townhall Meeting. One of the biggest problems with software development is that you have to take requests from customers, and then try to figure out what will everyone else think of any features. This job can be quite daunting at times, and one can really be off base with regard to what everyone wants. This is where the Townhall Meeting comes into play.
The Townhall Meeting will serve as a place for all customers to interact with staff, and customers interacting with each other as well. This is a great chance to be completely truthful and honest about what you think of Freelancer Panel.
The Townhall Meeting will be held on Saturday July 12th at 2 PM EDT (GMT – 4). The topic of this meeting will be Freelancer Panel 2.0. FP 2.0 is a complete rewrite from the ground up in terms of code, features, usability, everything! This is a perfect chance for you to drop in with your input! Myself, and everyone else, would love to hear what you have to say! And plus, you may get to see some things others don’t just yet during this Townhall Meeting!
The meeting will be in a casual environment. We already have some exciting ideas regarding 2.0, and I would love to hear what everyone has to say as well!
For more information regarding the Townhall Meeting, please see this URL:http://www.freelancerpanel.com/townhall
We have some very exciting news and ideas regarding Freelancer Panel 2.0. You will not want to miss this Townhall Meeting!
Thank you very much,
Tyler Cole
Product Manager
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