Safe-CMS - Censorship is a thing of the past

Apps
163

So, it’s been a heck of a weekend, and I thought I would give an update on where the project is at the moment.

Current state

We’ve encountered (and resolved) 9 issues & enhancements, released 3 hotfix versions to resolve these and the application is now starting to feel more stable. There is a few issues on Linux, and some issues inter-operating with some domains created on other software, but those aside, we’re in a good spot.

We will be going to 1.0.0 as soon as the Linux and domain issues are resolved and then I’ll publish a MacOS version.

Where next

What is becoming plainly obvious to me is that Safe-CMS isn’t extensible enough, most users aren’t capable of writing HTML and CSS and I don’t want to force some half-assed solution which other people will have to opt out of.

As a result, I’m going to implement a simple Safe-CMS plugin layer, which allows people to easily import things like Template settings (the ability to configure colours, images, etc), post settings (much of the same), automated generation of index.html, etc.

i’m not sure exactly what this will look like yet and it’s something I need to think about, but I think it’s a good next step in making this tool more usable for the every day person.

DevCon

Also, just to mention, myself and @AndyAlban will be attending this years SAFE Network Developer Conference, we will be giving away a couple of fancy shmancy templates to a couple of lucky conference attendees. :slight_smile:

29 Likes
164

You guys are setting the bar high! Really proud to have you and @AndyAlban in the community. Making a kind of drag and drop approach like square space seems like a natural evolution for SafeCMS, great thinking @Shane!

10 Likes
165

Hello all,

Please be aware that version 0.0.6 is now live. This version may cause backwards compatibility issues, such as the loss of locally saved posts or templates. I have thoroughly tested it, but since we aren’t yet at 1.0.0 please don’t consider any specific version to be fully stable.

0.0.6 is an important landmark and adds full Unicode support to templates and posts, allowing people using characters sets outside of latin1 (ISO-8859-1) the ability to use our tool. This includes Japanese and Chinese character sets, Scandinavian character sets, Arabic character sets and other right-to-left character sets, massively increasing the potential userbase of the tool and enabling secure access for everyone.

This release can be found here: https://github.com/badcodeltd/safecms/releases/tag/0.0.6 if there are any major issues, just yell and I will release a hotfix version to resolve them. Please post any issues you find on Github (https://github.com/badcodeltd/safecms/issues) or here.

Releases will become fewer, larger and further between as time goes on, but I’m using this precious pre-release time to get out as many “painful” features and fixes as possible. As time goes on and we mature towards stability, we will encounter far fewer breaking changes.

Thanks to @sascha for bringing this issue to my attention,
Shane

15 Likes
166

Hi !

I just tested this under fedora 26 x64, with peruse 0.4.1, things work flawlessly :smiley:

Not sure if it was already proposed , but I thought it would be cool if the cms asked you if you wanted it to create a index.html at the root of the domain, if you didn’t create one. Maybe some popup or message prompting you " your post was uploaded, but your domain has no default main page / no index.html yet. do you want to create it now ?" - or something similar.

Awesome tool, you did a really strong work :clap: , I’m eager to see the next stages !!

8 Likes
167

I’m working on this as we speak! I’ve added a setting for automatic generation of index.html which updates every time you publish a new post to a given domain, with support for “excerpts” (for those who know Wordpress).

This is still on my local development machine, but will be out by the end of the weekend. :slight_smile:

10 Likes
168

Hi guys,

Just a heads up, the stable 1.0.0 general availability release of Safe-CMS has been scheduled for Sunday, 11th March. This includes the MacOS version and long-term support. :slight_smile:

27 Likes
169

Awesome!! (+20 characters)

5 Likes
170

Is there anything in particular that you would like to see tested, or should
we just continue reporting any issues on Github?

171

Just continue reporting for now, please. Use it as you plan to normally. :slight_smile:

There’s a lot of major changes coming over the next few days (automated index.html generation, the beginning commits of a theme system which allows template developers to create custom fields like uploading a header image for each post and use them in posts). Once those go live, there will likely be some more focused testing needing.

5 Likes
172

It’s been a few days since there was any major update, so here’s one for you:

I’m in the process of re-building the app from the ground up in preparation for the 1.0.0 release, fixing several issues in the application by changing the user journey (selecting a domain, then acting within that domain, instead of constantly having to re-select your domain on posts / templates / files).

This allows simpler template re-use, a much simpler user interface and post list and hopefully will remove some confusion.

This will also allow users to have different themes on each domain, where a theme is a JSON file which completely changes the functionality of Safe-CMS for that domain. For instance, within the JSON file, developers can specify custom image uploads to be added to the post upload page, extra sections to be rendered within the template, use post values (urls, custom fields, etc) within the template code, and a few more features I can’t guarantee yet so won’t talk about.

These JSON files will be available on the safecms domain within the safe network and will be one-click installable - no need to mess about with files and folders, just click and it will start working a few seconds later. To prevent a monopoly situation, where I have centralised control over this, the Safe-CMS will accept a valid JSON file from anywhere (as long as it conforms to the specification, which will also be uploaded to the safecms domain).

@AndyAlban has been working on some more built in templates for you to use, and these will be coming in 1.0.0 as well (I estimate you will have 5-6 default templates to choose from) and with the new theme system built in, each of these will allow you to change template header background colours, etc, without having to enter the HTML or CSS - massively expanding the usefulness of the tool for people without coding experience.

Here is a candid photo of Andy:

IMG_2452
IMG_24523024×4032 2.44 MB

Don’t forget: 1.0.0 comes out on Sunday and will be a major backwards compatibility break, so beta users installing the new version will likely lose their posts / templates / files (but will keep their domains, obviously). Apologies for the inconvenience here, I try to prevent compatibility breaks where I can but the themes change has hugely changed the way our local data is stored and presented.

26 Likes
173

Awesome work, have my timer on Sunday :wink:

3 Likes
174

Hello all,

Just a heads up, the 1.0.0 released will be coming out on Tuesday. :slight_smile: I’ll post some pictures and videos tomorrow night to whet your appetites - I’m just fixing some bugs before I release it, but the core is done. :slight_smile:

27 Likes
175

Hi @Shane,

Did i maybe miss the release and videos?

Excited to see the product!

3 Likes
176

@Shane hope all is ok with you?

10 Likes
177

Don’t mean to sound like I’m checking up or anything. Hope everything is OK shane? Looking forward to trying v1 out!

5 Likes
178

Dang, I am/was busting to see v1. Must be a bit happening that’s had them both tied up.

I remember seeing @Shane pop his head up a few days ago only very briefly and @AndyAlban hasn’t been around for a couple of weeks. None of my business but odd that the communication has pretty much ceased. Adding to the hoping it’s just life stuff and nothing bad :slight_smile:

(Dons tin foil hat) :alien: :sweat_smile: :rofl:

4 Likes
179

It is odd, and concerning, not to have any communication from either of them. :thinking:

6 Likes
180

Pure speculation, but I from the way things progressed with the SAFE-CMS, the next time we hear from @Shane they’ll be releasing the SAFE-CMS and Safe-Search, bringing content discovery to the SAFE network.

Maybe a little to hopeful on my part?

5 Likes
181

Maybe, does anyone know the Safe search repo? SAFE-CMS repo has been inactive recently. I hate to make too many assumptions but I do hope they are okay.

3 Likes
182

didn’t @Shane say they work as consultants or something like that … i would assume hell broke loose at some client they work for and they’re just super busy atm … or they got the flu or something else that needed their attention … i might need to disappear more or less suddenly for 2 weeks too soon … so a little bit strange but i wouldn’t worry too much yet Oo

4 Likes