Feeds.App, Tags.App and MT 3.3
The new version of Movable Type is on its way and many of you have been "kicking the tires" by trying out the betas. It's been a pretty short, though successful, beta testing cycle that has made absorbing all of the great new features quite a challenge.
Ideally I would have had new versions of Feeds.App and Tags.App, our two commercial plugins, ready to go at the launch. I've been putting in my best effort to that end, but I'm here to concede that it is not going to happen. I'm "a bit" behind, but working hard to catch-up with Tags.App v2.0 and Feeds.App v3.0. Happily it seems both Tags.App 1.13 and Feeds.App 2.01 co-exist happily with MT 3.3.
One of the big new features of MT 3.3 is tags which overlaps with Tags.App in many respects. This was a bit of an unfortunate event from my perspective that required that I take a step back to reassess what direction (if any) to take that plugin. There is a path going forward.
Tags.App is being re-engineered to integrate with the built-in tag-engine. (This means support for tags with spaces who wrote in to ask.) Going forward Tags.App will focus on advanced use of searching, visualizing and display of tagging information. For most, the tagging functionality that is now built into MT will be sufficient. For those who want more sophisticated uses there will be Tags.App. For existing users of Tags.App, v2.0 will handle migrating all tags from the keywords field to MT's tag data table. It will be a free upgrade for all licensed users.
Another thing that has made this release cycle a busy one was putting together Feeds.App Lite for inclusion in the 3.3 release.
Those who are not users of Feeds.App may be curious to how it compares to Lite. The shortest answer I can give is Feeds.App Lite lets you syndicate titles and links. Feeds.App is everything else and then some. A lot of people will also find Lite sufficient enough for their needs, but for those who need more there is an upgrade path.
Feeds.App v3 is a major overhaul that I've been working on for many months now. The new version focuses on ease of use and installation in addition to setting the foundation for the future direction and growth of feeds. The big features are what you don't see. The core has been rewritten so that no compiled modules are required. All feeds are cached in the database -- no more setting up a cache directory and getting permissions right. The plugin has also been integrated with the new Task Manager so setting up a cron is no longer needed.
I've also taken some of the controls out of the templates and given them an interface in addition to integrating with the widgets wizard that debuted in Feeds.App Lite. There are a lot more features and refinements, but I'll stop here. Feeds.App v3 will also be a free upgrade for all licensed users.
Expect a public beta of Feeds.App in the next week or so. Tags.App will follow in the coming weeks after that.
If you have any additional questions or comments, please drop me a line. Thanks for your patience.
