a waste of words

As a picture tells tells a thousand stories, I’ve picked a few visually depictable enhancements of the upcoming Textpattern release, 4.0.5, for a first preview. There are many to choose from: The change log lists roundabout 300 changes since the 4.0.4 release.

As the 4.0.x branch is intended to serve as a solid base for existing installations, its main development focus is on bug-fixing, stability and continuity, and less on revolutionary feature additions.

But nevertheless, some enhancements are even visible at the surface.

A smarter comment submit button

• As it turns out, the spam-squashing forced comment preview is misleading uninitiated commenters into the assumption that comments are posted on the first click of a button. To clarify the need for a separate post action, both the “Preview” and the “Submit” button are visible right from the start, while only the “Preview” button is initially active.

Admin eye candy

• A small directional indicator adorns sortable table columns.
• Image dimensions and image name readout on the image edit screen.
• Truncating longish category titles helps the edit screen to keep its shape.

Back end usability

• Sites which went through several Textpattern updates had their preferences order and grouping quite messed up over time in that process. Textpattern 4.0.5 tries to set this straight by rearranging related preferences into a more intuitive order.