New Year Update

[Nick]

Now that we're into 2010, it's time for a proper progress report.

Last November, we released Hotaru 0.8.2 Beta. That gave everyone a good taste of what to expect from Hotaru, but we were promptly hacked and Hotaru was temporarily withdrawn so that we could add some CSRF protection.

Rather than rushing out a new version after that, I opted to rebuild the entire CMS. Why? Because 6 months and 30 plugins later, I felt that the original plugin system could have been better, so this was an opportunity to make some major improvements before going public with Hotaru.

And that's where we are right now. A quick glance at our Event Stream shows that barely a day goes by without further commits to the Hotaru 1.0 SVN branch.

As I write this, 22 plugins have been designed or converted to this new version of Hotaru, but there are 18 more from 0.8.2 that still need converting. They will be done this month and then we'll enter an extended period of testing during which time you can get Hotaru from the SVN.

Personally, I think it would be wise to concentrate on making a really great CMS, and not get bogged down in constantly updating .zip files and their respective forum posts - that's a huge chore for a guy who's made dozens of plugins!

So, here's the outlook for the first few months of 2010:

- Finish plugin conversion
- Testing on the SVN
- Rewrite documentation
- Training in plugin and theme development

At some point during that time, I'll convert my social bookmarking site from SWCMS, and I'm sure other members here like Carlo and Jon will also go live with Hotaru.

I could go on to talk about all the exciting plugins and features I hope to add during the year, but I'll save that for my blog. Instead, I'll just say that I love Hotaru (!), and I hope some of you will adopt it as your favorite CMS this year and get as much pleasure out of working with it as I do.

[runnertalk]

Great news! Do you think it will be ready to use on a site this month or do we have to wait till next month? I will use Hotaru on Runnertalk.net that I will relaunch when the CMS is ready for use.

Happy new year btw!!

[JonH]

Sounds great, ready for some test runs!

[Nick]

Do you think it will be ready to use on a site this month or do we have to wait till next month?

All I can say is that it will be ready for testing later this month. When that happens, I recommend you set up a test site, play around with it, and then decide for yourself if it's ready for Runnertalk.net.

[alfbrand]

Can't wait for Hotaru 1.0! I am very excited. I was researching pligg, swcms & drigg before the holidays for a new site I am building when I stumbled upon Hotaru. I was able to get my hands on a copy of the 0.8.2 Beta before you took it down and I have to say I was very impressed, and will be using it for my project. Even at beta Hotaru is superior to the competition in many ways.

If there is anything I can do to help, or if you're looking for some pre-beta testers I am available.
I am only semi-knowledgeable in PHP but I have years of experience in design, HTML/CSS, and marketing.

Happy New Year!

[Nick]

Hi Alf, welcome to Hotaru. I'm aiming to have the latest version on the SVN trunk by Sunday 10th. Then it's all hands on deck to find and fix the bugs. Stay tuned!

[nothingman]

I love Hotaru

I love Hotaru too! The quick support that Nick (and the community) gives, the hours of work that Nick has given in to adding features/fixing bugs/ is awesome. I'm not a developer, so I just contribute to hotaru by pointing out 'bugs' that I find or shooting out ideas that I feel would make hotaru 'cooler'. Can't wait to take out the SVN trunk on Sunday the 10th for a ride!

[newbieone]

I love Hotaru too! The quick support that Nick (and the community) gives, the hours of work that Nick has given in to adding features/fixing bugs/ is awesome. I'm not a developer, so I just contribute to hotaru by pointing out 'bugs' that I find or shooting out ideas that I feel would make hotaru 'cooler'. Can't wait to take out the SVN trunk on Sunday the 10th for a ride!

Have to agree with you there Nothingman, nick is a great coder and genuinely seems like a nice chap. I think we all could do with more users to help make Hotaru the CMS of choice so lets all spread the word! Tweet it, stumble it, Fbook it, and more!

[Nick]

Thank you chaps. As well as a Twitter stream, we have a Facebook page and a FriendFeed group. Please follow, fan and friend!

[smiera]

Its such a great news for everyone that you shared and helped to us. You always aiming to launch new ideas and solutions for each. So keep sharing and thanks..