Hello everyone,

SMF 2.1.4 was another sprawling release, with plenty of enhancements & fixes!  Note that we departed a bit from our normal process in 2.1.4, and improved the attachment upload process & UI.  Yes, it needed some simplification.  As much as possible, we did it in a way that minimized impacts on existing mods & themes.  We hope you like it.

What's Coming Next
We are working on a series of changes to make SMF databases more consistent with future versions of MySQL.

We think it is important to get to proper UTF8MB4 support.  This implementation will be similar to the 2.0 implementation of MySQL's "UTF8" - there will be a utility in the admin panel to change your tables from UTF8 to UTF8MB4.  Also, starting in 2.1.5, new installs will utilize UTF8MB4 going forward.

Those interested in following the progress of 2.1.5 may do so up on GitHub:
https://github.com/SimpleMachines/SMF/milestone/16

Release	Functional Updates	Technical Updates	Maintenance Focus
2.1.5	SVG support	UTF8MB4 MySQL 8+ changes	Subscriptions Attachments Notifications
2.1.6	Webp support Delete Drafts Button	PHP 8.3	Subscriptions Attachments Notifications
2.1.7	Custom Board Icons Open Redirect Link in New Window Accessibility incremental improvements	Theme Hooks	TBD
2.2.0	Theme & CSS simplification Improved Likes Reporting Admin Panel Layout Custom Profile Field Multi-Select Accessibility	Upgrader improvements Homoglyph detection	TBD
2.2.1	Anonymization upon delete Auto Image Resizing

** Forums should always stay current, to benefit from any security fixes.
** This is the current working proposal, & may change at any time!

As always, we would like to thank all contributors who help out every day on the SMF project!  SMF remains truly community driven!  If you would like to help contribute, take a peek at what is going on up on GitHub:
https://github.com/SimpleMachines/SMF

We would like to thank all the admins & users of SMF out there.  Thank you for your continued support.

Big update!

Thanks for the sneak peak of the roadmap as well

Quote from: shawnb61 on July 20, 2023, 01:00:37 AMWe would like to thank all the admins & users of SMF out there.  Thank you for your continued support.

As a user, i would like to thank the whole team. The work is awesome.

This is great! Excited to see some improvements included in the minor releases!

This is awesome, thank you for the continued development updates .

And thank you @TwitchisMental for suggesting that we move these boards up to where they are now. I know it was you because I have spies everywhere! 

*puts on a troll mask*

When you expecting the milestones to be done by?  (send your answers on a post card)

Seriously though, I mostly lurk now but its great to see this kind of post, the direction for each release is useful to know and where SMF is heading for each release has always been needed.  Just to nitpick as it is me after all ... maybe add that these releases will also include bug fixes as they are found, as you know someone will ask this so may as well make it obvious on the post!

Quote from: Steve on July 20, 2023, 01:57:19 PMAnd thank you @TwitchisMental for suggesting that we move these boards up to where they are now. I know it was you because I have spies everywhere! 

Actually it was @Diego Andrés  , I just seconded the idea .

Lol. Good idea anyway. I'm amazed you got it past the conservatives. They don't like changing anything.

Quote from: shawnb61 on July 20, 2023, 01:00:37 AMThose interested in following the progress of 2.1.5 may do so up on GitHub:
https://github.com/SimpleMachines/SMF/milestone/16

Release	Functional Updates
2.1.5	SVG support
2.1.6	Webp support Delete Drafts Button
2.1.7	Custom Board Icons Open Redirect Link in New Window Accessibility incremental improvements

Just sticking with 2.1 for now (because I just know 2.2 will be ready when it's ready)...

I assume SVG and WEBP support means they'll be accepted for inline attachments and img tags in posts, which would be cool (they can already be used, to some extent, in themes and mods).

"Delete Drafts Button" is a little ambiguous. Someone might think you are getting rid of the Drafts button.

I assume "Custom Board Icons" means backed by a hopefully-numpty-proof admin GUI (since they are already easy to do with some basic CSS, for anyone who can write CSS). That would be cool too, although someone will always build a better numpty.

"Open Redirect Link in New Window" would be convenient on mobile, so worth having as default (anyone who can't do it on desktop needs to learn about right click, which I have used for years even on internal links).

A11y improvements are always good too. 2.1 as it stands is quite usable on mobile, but could be better, even for a person with normal eyesight and fingers. For someone with visual or motor control disabilities I expect it is a bit problematic.

I did try putting some ARIA stuff in 2.1 Alpha but it was removed by someone else, presumably because "I don't know what this stuff is, and who cares about blind people anyway?". A bit of a revamp there would be a good thing.

Very nice update! Nice to see the baby roadmap too! Great stuff everyone

Quote from: shawnb61 on July 20, 2023, 01:00:37 AM...

Release	Functional Updates
2.2.0	Theme & CSS simplification

...

Is a completely new theme planned there (like: Curve3, Curveball, whatever) or will the existing Curve2 be simplified and edited?

In the second case: I just finished changing Curve2 to color variables and also got rid of something unnecessary.

Quote from: McFly on July 21, 2023, 09:38:11 AMIs a completely new theme planned there (like: Curve3, Curveball, whatever) or will the existing Curve2 be simplified and edited?

In the second case: I just finished changing Curve2 to color variables and also got rid of something unnecessary.

No. We will never REPLACE the default theme in anything less than a major version change.  So, updates would be done to Curve2.

If you make custom changes -- what you *SHOULD* do is ---
- use the system to create a duplicate theme based on the default (Curve2)
  (this will create a new theme, with a new directory including the minimum required files to have a custom theme.
- then make changes to THAT theme.
  Alter CSS as desired
  Any time you need to alter a core template file, copy the one out of default and into your custom theme directory and then make the modifications there....


I have done that with my test/workshop site (as you mention, to allow easy and consistent color changes I applied css variables)

Quote from: McFly on July 21, 2023, 09:38:11 AMIs a completely new theme planned there (like: Curve3, Curveball, whatever) or will the existing Curve2 be simplified and edited?

It would only be revamped, may or may not include template changes, mostly a CSS revision.

CSS variables would make sense though.

Of course, that's the initial idea.

There is a lot that CSS can now dow.  Nesting is also cool, but it is still very soon in deployment to browsers.  Lots of scss features are making their way into native css.

Thanks for posting the info and thanks to all the developers who are working on the upgrades

Quote from: Kindred on July 21, 2023, 10:18:19 AM...

If you make custom changes -- what you *SHOULD* do is ---
- use the system to create a duplicate theme based on the default (Curve2)
  (this will create a new theme, with a new directory including the minimum required files to have a custom theme.
...

Speaking of ... is it actually a bug or a feature that when copying the default theme the index.php in the css folder is not copied with it? 

Quote from: McFly on August 08, 2023, 03:51:06 AMSpeaking of ... is it actually a bug or a feature that when copying the default theme the index.php in the css folder is not copied with it? 

since that index.php is just a redirect - I assume that it's TECHNICALLY a bug, but it's a bug with no impact on functionality and minimal impact on anything else.

Quote from: Antechinus on July 20, 2023, 04:47:03 PMLol. Good idea anyway. I'm amazed you got it past the conservatives. They don't like changing anything.

Speaking as one of those conservative (ish) types, I'll say that my only objection to this given roadmap is the milestones. I'm an advocate for strictly following Semantic Versioning. Which means that these proposed changes will make presumed stable releases unstable.

Yes I can see that potentially being an issue, but I was not referring to the software itself. That comment was simply about the change of board position on this site.

Quote from: live627 on August 08, 2023, 08:12:04 PM

Quote from: Antechinus on July 20, 2023, 04:47:03 PMLol. Good idea anyway. I'm amazed you got it past the conservatives. They don't like changing anything.

Speaking as one of those conservative (ish) types, I'll say that my only objection to this given roadmap is the milestones. I'm an advocate for strictly following Semantic Versioning. Which means that these proposed changes will make presumed stable releases unstable.

Considering the current state of the test suite available for SMF how is one to adhere to truly semantic versioning when the entire platform is not (unit and integration), and can not be fully, tested before any release is cut? It can not be. So, cutting any x.xx(.x) release is really just applying a label. SMF is behind. Has been, will continue to be. I love the the project. Truth is truth.

Sure truth = truth...

except, in this case what you are stating is not necessarily truth - just opinion.

How is a test suite related to a standardized way of, as you say, applying labels?  Aldo, which test suite you reefer to?

we do have https://github.com/SimpleMachines/TestSuite but i dont know if that is being referenced here.

Also..  btw...   versioning has absolutely nothing to do with testing

If anyone complains, we could go the web browser route for versioning.  Make it pointless.

Unit testing is great for automation of standard tests.  But some companies depend on it so much, they don't actually QA test and then we get poorly designed features and half baked products.  I don't need to point out specific products, I'm sure everyone can think of some software that just doesn't work as it should and you questioned how it made it through testing...  That is the reason.

What's the plan for the next release and when should we expect it?

Quote from: PrimalPrime on October 02, 2023, 04:25:45 AMWhat's the plan for the next release and when should we expect it?

You can expect it as soon as it's ready 

Quote from: SleePy on August 10, 2023, 09:45:25 PMIf anyone complains, we could go the web browser route for versioning.  Make it pointless.

Nah Lakes and Mountains are already taken so why don't we name our versions after different spaceships.

SMF 'Viking'
SMF 'Pathfinder'
SMF 'Nostromo'
etc

That way nobody knows what order anything is in, and everybody gets confused!

Even sticking to real ships we have plenty of options (not a comprehensive list):

from NASA
Pioneer, Pathfinder, Viking, Ranger, Surveyor, Discovery, Mariner, Spirit, Opportunity, Phoenix, Perseverance, Ingenuity, Voyager, Galileo, Cassini,
Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis, Endeavour

From Europe
Rosetta, Herschel, Huygens, Planck, Cheops, Smile, Euclid, Plato, Ariel, Juice, Athena, Giotto, Olympus, Schiaparelli, Ulysses, Hero, Vigil,

From Russia
Sputnik, Vostok, Molniya, Zarya, Zvezda, Buran, Soyuz,

Some not suitable for various reasons, some very cool.

ah yes, the russians... ever literal --   calling their first spaceship --  "Satellite".