All entries filed under “ExpressionEngine 2.0”
WooThemes released two new themes for ExpressionEngine: Delegate and The Station. These themes were previously available on other platforms but have been moved to EE.
I’m not sure what to make of the idea of using themes on EE. I’m sure they’re helpful to some people but I choose to work with EE because of its flexibility and extensibility—not because I can drop in a theme and have a blog in 22.5 seconds. Maybe it’s just me. What’s your take?
Read their entire announcement: WeeThemes Gears Into Business
In a sign that the EE 2 momentum is increasing, yet another developer has updated their add-ons for EE 2. This time it’s Newism and they’ve released two new add-ons for our delight and nerdy pleasure.
NSM Addon Updater
This new accessory (was an extension on 1.6.x) keeps you up-to-date on your installed EE add-ons. The add-on does explicitly have to support NSM Addon Updater but adding it is simple and quick. In just a few minutes I updated my First Timer extension to work with NSM Addon Update accessory.
Displaying an update to the First Timer extension.
NSM Live Look
NSM Live Look is the EE 2 version of the popular LG Live Look, which allows you to easily preview your entries before posting them live. I use LG Live Look here at EE Insider to preview every entry before it appears on the site.
Previewing an entry before posting to the blog.
Along with the launch of his new company and website, Brandon Kelly has also snuck in a nice little surprise: Wygwam 2.0. The updated WYSIWYG editor for EE now works on both EE 1.6.x and EE 2.x. In addition, it also got a new set of threads:
We went back to the drawing board for Wygwam’s custom CKEditor skin, and came up with something that does a better job of blending into your ExpressionEngine control panel, allowing you to focus on That Which Matters Most – your content.
For those of you that are already using EE 2, Wygwam 2.0 is a free upgrade for existing license holders.
This one came up a couple of weeks back in the EE Help Chat. Someone asked if there was a way to do recurring payments with Simple Commerce Module and EE. The answer is yes and no.
In the 1.6.x version of the Simple Commerce Module (included with all paid licenses of EE1 .6.x) you could not do recurring Paypal payments. But now 2.0 supports recurring payments in the new version of the Simple Commerce Module.
Read the full Simple Commerce Module documentation to get all of the details.
Today marked the first update to the EE 2.0 public beta since it’s initial release last month. Dozens of bugs were fixed, some new functionality added and even a handful of treats for hungry developers.
If you’re interested in the fine details, you should read the Change Log for the full run-down. License holders can get the update in the Downloads section of their ExpressionEngine.com account.
Last week, Ben Croker of PutYourLightsOn released a new module for ExpressionEngine 2.0: FireMail.
FireMail is a complete email tool that replaces the Communicate tab, but that reuses the best of EE’s built-in email libraries. It adds a WYSIWYG editor when composing emails, supports batch sending for sending of mass mails, and allows you to track opens, clicks and unsubscribes resulting from any email you send.
Ben was kind enough to send over a copy of the module for EE Insider to try out.
Viewing email report in FireMail
The reporting lets you view the number of unique opens, how many click the links in your emails received, the number of unopened emails, as well as how many people unsubscribed from your email list after receiving the email.
Composing an email in FireMail
Composing emails in FireMail is just as simple as using the Communicate tool but it includes WYSIWYG editing using CKEditor (the same editor on which Wygwam is based).
FireMail could be a replacement for CampaignMonitor or MailChimp, if you’re sending to low volume lists. If your email lists exceed 100-200, you should use a dedicated service (like the two just mentioned). But for small mailing lists (local clubs, churches, etc), this is a great option.
This module is available only for ExpressionEngine 2.0, costs $49.95 per site and is available now.
Additional Information
After losing some work while writing in EE, Jamie Rumbelow learned of the partially-implemented autosave feature in EE 2.0.
One of the great new features that have been implemented in the EE2 BETA is autosaving. With autosaving enabled and the publish page open, the system will repeatedly save the current post you’re working on, so if the unforgivable happens and you loose your post, you can get it back from the autosave feature. Unfortunately, in 2.0, autosave isn’t enabled by default, but it’s easy enough to do.
Jamie provides instructions on how to set that in your config.php file. As he notes in his blog post, autosave is only working for the edit form and not for the publish form when you’re creating a new entry.
Read his entire post: Enabling autosave in EE2 BETA
Additional Information
Autosave hidden configuration variable for EE 2.0
Rather than point out all of the little instances in separate entries, here’s the deal with some parameters in EE 2.0. “On” is now “Yes,” “Off” is now “No.”
The biggest change (at least as far as the first response to any EE problem is concerned) is dynamic=“off”. It’s not off, it’s no!
{exp:channel:entries limit="5" dynamic="no"}
...
{/exp:channel:entries}
This also goes for dynamic_start, relaxed_categories_mode and sticky.
So, next time someone asks why their most recent entries won’t display in the sidebar of their site, you can shout: dynamic=“no”!
It has been around a month since ExpressionEngine 2’s release, which leads us to ask you this question, readers:
What do you think of EE 2.0 beta so far?
Tell us your love, hate and fear, in the comments.
When you install ExpressionEngine 2.0, you’re given the option of also installing a default site: Agile Records.
This site includes designed templates, basic content and setup. It’s a great way for newbies and oldies alike to see how someone else builds a website in ExpressionEngine. The site was designed by Erskine Design and built by the crew at EllisLab.
Agile Records is a fictitious record label whose site highlights some of the major components of using ExpressionEngine. If you’re new to EE 2.0, consider installing Agile Records as the default templates. The option is available when you run the installation wizard.
Read more about the Agile Records design in an interview with Erksine Design at the EE Blog.
Last week I announced the availability of the beta ebook of my book ExpressionEngine 2.0: A Quick-Start Guide.
One of the many great things about buying from The Pragmatic Programmers is that you also get mobile versions (when available) of the books you purchase. My book is available in three convenient ebook formats:
- PDF, for reading on your laptop
- epub, for iPhone
- mobi, for the Kindle
To read the book on your iPhone or iPod Touch you can use Stanza, a free book reader in the App Store. For the Kindle, simply download the mobi version, mount the Kindle to your computer and then drag the book onto the Kindle.
Happy Reading!
I’m happy to announce that my book, ExpressionEngine 2.0: A Quick-Start Guide, is now available in ebook format from The Pragmatic Programmers. The print edition will follow and will also be available in all major bookstores (Amazon, B&N, etc).
The book is part of PragProg’s “Beta Book” program, which is a great way to get books out early and get feedback from the community. Buying the beta ebook entitles you to the complete, professionally indexed and copyedited, published version of the ebook and any updates between now and then (they notify you when there’s a new version available). You also have the option of buying both the beta book (which you get immediately) and pre-ordering the print book (which you get later, once it’s in print).
The First Book on EE 2.0
This book covers EE 2.0 only. There’s an entire chapter on the new File Manager and one on some advanced techniques for making your templates more flexible and powerful. Just like with my screencasts, the goal was to teach you the best practices of building websites in EE 2.0. The book is written in straight-forward prose that guide you each step of the way towards completing your first EE 2.0 website. You can read the table of contents and a couple of excerpts over at the PragProg website.
Code Included
All of the code used or referenced in the book is available in a compressed file, as a separate download. Additionally, when reading the ebook you can click on the gray box above the code samples and download that snippet of code. It’s like magic!
Running EE 2.0
I put together a simple website for the book and it is, of course, powered by ExpressionEngine 2.0 PB. It’s running a recent build and is deployed directly from my SVN repository using Capistrano.
Available Now!
The gerbils are ready and waiting to build your PDF copy of the book. Get ahead and learn EE 2.0 now with the ExpressionEngine 2.0 Quick-Start Guide.
Snippets are a new feature in EE 2.0 that allow you to store bits and pieces of code. “Great, Ryan, but this sounds like Global Variables” you’re thinking to yourself. Yes, but better.
Snippets are a native implementation of the Fresh Variables module on 1.6.8. Unlike normal User-defined Global Variables, the code you place in the Snippets is parsed (very early on during the parse order) by ExpressionEngine.
Get familiar with them by reading the official Snippets documentation.
A new build of the ExpressionEngine 2 Beta has been released. Updates include:
- Fixed bug (#10164) Updating language text in installer that referenced Core Installations.
- Fixed bug (#10179) Moved “Create New Custom Field” button to the right of the page to be more consistent with other pages.
- Fixed bug (#10189) Resolved PHP Error in Fruit Theme Template Manager
- Fixed bug (#10368) Resolved an error where clicking links in the News and Stats accessory would cause you to leave the page.
- Fixed bug (#10378) Resolved an write mode would not close due to javascript error.
- Fixed bug (#10184) Resolved an error where custom fields were not being added to the correct field group.
- Fixed bug (#10333) PHP error in the custom profile data tag.
- Fixed bug (#10342) Incorrect success message content in the mailing list editor.
- Fixed bug (#10380) Fixed an error where a selected page would not re-populate when editing an entry.
- Fixed bug (#10175) Resolved PHP error on global variables manager.
- Changed home page ‘modify’ section links for pages module to link to the module’s home page
- Fixed a bug with default accessory installation in the Trial version.
- Fixed a bug where My Account area will produce an error in PHP4 environments.
- Fixed a bug (#10367) where the default channel assignment in the channel options could be wrong when editing an entry.
Kudos to the EE team for pushing these updates out so quickly.
It’s a small thing, but very useful, especially to those who are new to ExpressionEngine.
The “Help” button in the main navigation of the EE 2.0 Control Panel changes its link depending on where you are in the Control Panel. So, if you’re on the homepage of the CP, the Help button links off to the Control Panel Home Page page of the docs. When viewing the Snippets screen, the Help button helpfully links to the Snippets documentation.
Nice bit of detail in the 2.0 Control Panel.
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