Written by matt | 07 November 2011

The major feature in both these versions is facebook comments, otherwise there a various bug fixes, see the changelog for more detailed info. The guide to setting up facebook comments is here and there is a facebook comments demo on the home page.

For future features, I am hoping Jcomments have a release soon, so I can do Jcomments integration in the J17 version, it looks like the Jcomments project is moving forward now, and a release will be here soon. I am also planning Google plus one integration, and better resizing of the lightbox. Otherwise I have a few dozen small improvements/bug fixes to complete.

I have set up a langauge translation page at tranifex, there is some more info about this here. The translations for J17 are coming along nicely, and managing translations online is so much easier.

Written by matt | 16 August 2011

This version has AL ratings integration as the major new feature and also the facebook share button has been changed to facebook like, as the facebook share is now depreciated. Version 3.2.1 was released last week with some bug fixes, please see the changelog for more info.

I am still waiting on Jcomments to release a J16/J17 version before I do comments integration, however I am looking at other commenting solutions, as the wait for Jcomments has been a long time. I think I have found a way for facebook comments to work with the gallery, so if all go well over the next 2 weeks, I will at least have a facebook comments solution for Joomla 1.7, and hopefully Jcomments will have a release by then. Currently I can not see any extensions that are a good alternative to Jcomments, but I am open to any ideas.

I am also planning to work on improving the lightbox and iptc/exif import once the above is done. The light box needs different options for placement of the prev/next buttons, and needs better resizing features. I also want to support the import of all iptc/exif data, not just the description.

I am also planning to implement all of the above in the Joomla 1.5 version, although most features will be added to the J17 version first, and then added to the J15 version a few weeks later.

Written by matt | 20 June 2011

This version has moderation and control of frontend form fields as new features, plus some bug fixes. I would have liked to include comments integration and ratings integration in this release, but Jcomments and AL ratings have not released a Joomla 1.6 version yet, and I have not seen any Joomla 1.6 alternatives that look as good as these two yet. It looks like a JComments release is just around the corner, and I hopefully an AL ratings release is only a few weeks away.

Once the Joomla 1.6 version has comments and ratings, it will have all the features the Joomla 1.5 version has, and I will start working on incremental updates to both these versions. This will include facebook comments, and some better lightbox resizing, and better placement of the previous/next buttons.

Sh404sef have recently released a Joomla 1.6 version, so I will be adding support for this in 3.2.1, due out in 1-2 weeks.

Detailed 3.2 info is in the changelog.

Written by matt | 10 May 2011

This is a Joomla 1.6 release. The major new features in the is release are frontend catergory and image management, ACL can be done on a per profile basis, and a Edit Own field has been added to the ACL. Full details of all changes are in the changelog. You can install version 3.1 on top of 3.0 through the Joomla installer. All php/css files will be overwritten, but no content will be lost.

It is expected there will be some bugs with 3.1, this is a big release, so 3.11 and 3.12 will be out in the next couple of weeks. Please report any bugs to me in support.

There will be full documentation written for the Joomla 1.6 version over the next few weeks. Until then, there is a brief overview of these features here:

Written by matt | 18 April 2011

This is a minor bug fix release. Joomla 1.6.2 was recently released, and some changes to Joomla meant the new profile button stopped working. I have added a fix for this in 3.0.1, nothing else has changed. More details are here. You can install 3.0.1 on top of 3.0. All php/css files will be overwritten, but no data will be lost.

Currently I am working on the 3.1 branch, where I have got the permissions to work on individual profiles as well as component wide, and I have mostly got the ‘edit own’ permission working. I have also begun getting the frontend end category creation working, and I hope to have this completed in the 3.1 release. My guess is 3.1 will be out in 4 weeks, although I can’t give an exact date yet.

Edit 20 April: The change in Joomla 1.6.2 has been reverted in Joomla 1.6.3, so the new profile button not working can also be resolved by updating to Joomla 1.6.3.

Written by matt | 29 March 2011

This is a minor bug fix update, full details are in the changelog. The focus of development over the next couple of months will be getting the Joomla 1.6 code fully developed. This includes better use of the Joomla 1.6 acl system, frontend category creation, and integration with 3rd party commenting/rating systems. The Joomla 1.5 code will continue to have regular bug-fix/small improvement releases over this time.

Written by matt | 16 March 2011

In a forum announcement earlier this year (the forum has been replaced with email support), I described the plans for the Joomla 1.6 version. These plans included dropping the frontend gallery creation part, and using Joomla 1.6 ACL (access control) to give some users access to the backend. I have had a lot of feedback about the need for frontend gallery creation, so I am now planning to include frontend gallery creation in the Joomla 1.6 version.

The frontend gallery creation will work a bit different than the Joomla 1.5 version. In Joomla 1.5, the ACL is not very good, so I made my own ACL system in the profile settings. The ACL in Joomla 1.6 is much better, so I will be improving the galleries integration with Joomla 1.6 ACL over the next 2 months. I aim to have precise control over who can access what, down to the individual owner of an item. Once this is done, I will be able to make views in the frontend, that more or less load the backend admin screens. In the Joomla 1.6 ACL, you will be able to lock down what registered users will see in these admin screens.

Written by matt | 15 March 2011

With the release of Internet Explorer 9 this week, it is time to stop support of the browser that has brought many developers close to tears. IE6 was released in 2001, and has some bugs that have been a constant source of irritation for the past decade. Current IE6 usage is estimated here.

Joomla 1.6 has already dropped support for IE6, along with Facebook and Google docs dropping full support. Popular template developers Rockettheme and Yootheme have also dropped IE6 support.

If your site still has some IE6 users, please consider installing a plugin that warns users to upgrade. Web standards need to move forward, and currently trying the support the small group that refuse to upgrade is holding the rest of the web back.

The gallery will probably still work with IE6 in future versions, as it works with IE6 now on a basic Joomla install, but I won't be testing or supporting this browser after the release of IE9.

Versions seven, eight and nine of IE will continue to be supported.