Plone 2.0 beta 1 released!

The Plone Team today released the first beta version of the upcoming 2.0 
release of Plone.

This release has numerous enhancements, and we would like to get your help 
in testing it.


  Important information
-----------------------

Feature highlights of the new Plone release is at the end of this 
document, but before you start testing the beta, read this entire mail, 
and be especially aware of the following:

- If you're not able to, or don't have time to set up a new Plone install, 
the latest CVS version is always running at http://test.plone.org - please 
create an account and help us test it.

- Plone 2.0 beta 1 does not contain any migrations at this point - so 
don't try to upgrade a 1.0 site. Migrations **will** be provided in later 
betas and in the final release, but for now you should *only* install 
Plone 2.0 beta on testing servers as newly created instances.

- Again, **do not** deploy Plone 2.0 beta on production sites. You should 
always wait for final release versions before doing any deployment of 
Plone.

- Plone 2.0 beta 1 has a number of visual inconsistencies that will be 
fixed in the beta period. Focus has been on completing the functionality 
of the system, and the final design tweaks will be done during the beta 
period. Most importantly, do not judge this first beta as representative 
for the user interface quality Plone is famous for. We have time to focus 
on the user interface and interaction design now that the feature set has 
been frozen.

- Translations will be updated in the Release Candidate phase, to minimize 
the work required from the translators. Thus, this beta of Plone will only 
have partial translations. This will be corrected in time for the final 
release, and translations updated as soon as the translators are able to 
provide them.


  About the version naming
--------------------------

Plone 2.0 was earlier referred to as Plone 1.1, but is being relabeled as 
2.0. This is mainly because of the new UI paradigms, and the general code 
structure -  there is nothing incompatible in the way it handles your 
content and workflows compared to the 1.0 version. This version has been 
in development for approximately 200 days, and we think the big 
improvements justify a 2.0 release name. This also serves as a signal to 
developers to standardize on 2.0 as a base for future developments. A big 
part of the enhancements to 2.0 are aimed towards developers, and makes 
Plone much easier to develop for.


  How you can help
------------------

- Download Plone 2.0 beta

- Install it on your test servers (do not use beta versions in deployment)

- Submit any problems you find to the "Plone Collector" - remember to 
search it before submitting a report, in case somebody else has reported 
the same bug.

- Help us fix bugs by submitting patches or by joining the Plone developer 
team (currently consists of 70 developers around the world).

- Help us write more unit tests.


  How to download and install Plone 2.0 beta
--------------------------------------------

There isn't an easy drop-in installer of Plone 2.0 beta yet - this is 
intentional, since the migrations will be added later. An installer makes 
it very easy to drop it on top of your existing Plone site, which you 
shouldn't do until we tell you that the migrations are working. So, to 
install the beta and test it, you will have to do it manually - it's a 
quick operation:

- Get Zope 2.6.2 - http://www.zope.org/Products/Zope/2.6.2 - and install 
it.

- Get CMF 1.4.1 - http://cmf.zope.org/download/CMF-1.4.1 - and put the 
contents of the 'CMF-1.4.1' directory in your Zope Products directory.

- Get Plone 2.0 beta 1 - 
http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/plone/CMFPlone2.0-beta1.tar.gz?download
and put the contents of the 'CMFPlone-2.0-beta1' directory inside your 
Zope Products directory (includes everything you need to get started - 
Formulator, BTreeFolder, FormController, QuickInstaller, GroupUserFolder).

- Start your Zope instance, and add a Plone Site from the 'Add' pulldown.

  Unit testing framework
------------------------

One important addition to Plone 2.0 is a proper unit testing framework, 
big thanks to Stefan Holek who provided us with this. We are currently 
running over 100 unit tests on Plone every night, but more are always 
better - so if you know how to write unit tests, please help out with 
adding new ones.

  Highlights of Plone 2.0 beta 1
--------------------------------

Easy install/uninstall of Products -- Installing a Product Add-on in Plone 
is now done from the Plone user interface with two mouse clicks. Thanks to 
Phil Auersperg of BlueDynamics and Alan Runyan of Runyaga LLC for the 
implementation behind this.

More effective User Interface -- Plone 2.0 beta 1 has greatly improved the 
way you interact with your content - adding content and publishing content 
are now immediately available, and it just takes a click to change the 
workflow state or add new items. Thanks to Alexander Limi of Plone 
Solutions, Bernhard Bühlmann of 4teamwork, Michael Zeltner, Joseph Geldart 
and Tom Croucher from Netalley Networks.

Modular Preferences Architecture -- Product Add-ons can add their own 
preference panels, both site-wide and user-specific. Thanks to Phil 
Auersperg of BlueDynamics and Ronan Amiciel for this.

Greatly improved validation framework -- Form validation and form 
redirection has been greatly improved in 2.0 beta 1, and is now very 
flexible and easy to use. Thanks to Geoff Davis and Helge Tesdal from 
Plone Solutions AS for this.

Full support for Groups -- Users and groups can now be administered in the 
Plone interface, assigned sharing permissions and there is also the 
concept of shared group folders. Thanks to Brent Hendricks and J. Cameron 
Cooper from Rice University, Pierre-Julien Grizel of Ingeniweb, and 
Alexander Limi from Plone Solutions.

Unit testing framework -- Plone now has over 100 unit tests that ensure 
the application's quality and functionality. Thanks to Stefan Holek for 
providing the framework, and to everybody who wrote (and keeps writing :) 
tests.

Modularized Template Architecture -- Plone's look can now be changed 
radically without touching any templates, by just using CSS. The templates 
are also more modular, making it easier to retain customizations between 
upgrades. Thanks to Michael Zeltner, Tom Croucher and Joseph Geldart from 
Netalley Networks and Alexander Limi from Plone Solutions.

Full Accessibility Compliance (WAI-AAA and Section 508) -- Plone has been 
optimized for users of screen readers and for people with visual 
impairments or other handicaps. Plone conforms to the most advanced level 
of W3C's Web Accessibility Standards (WAI-AAA), and to the US Government 
Section 508 accessibility requirements. Optimized by Tom Croucher and 
Joseph Geldart from Netalley Networks.

Usable from mobile phone browsers -- Plone is now usable and capable of 
administering your site from the most popular phone web browsers like 
Opera and Pocket Internet Explorer.

Improved migrations and CustomizationPolicies -- Applying Migrations and 
CustomizationPolicies is made more robust and is easier to use. Thanks to 
Andy McKay from Clearwind LLC and Alan Runyan from Runyaga LLC for this.

Thanks to everybody who has contributed to this release, you've done an 
excellent job. We hope that you will help us test the Plone betas, so we 
can fix any remaining issues and get the final release at the Plone 
Conference.


On behalf of the Plone Team,

-- 
__________________________________________________________________

   Alexander Limi   ·   Interaction Architect   ·   Plone Solutions

   Development · Training · Support · http://www.plonesolutions.com
__________________________________________________________________

   Plone Co-Founder   ·   http://plone.org   ·   Connecting Content

        高联合  ·  アレクサンダー リミ  ·  이미짱  ·  อเล็กซานเดอร์ ลีมิ


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