Welcome to Beta 1!

We finally made it! After three months of intense alpha testing, and many more months of development, we're ready to move into beta testing.

For a full run down of how to access the beta, see the overview page.

A reminder that beta software will contain issues. We've done a lot of testing, but only limited testing upgrading from v4, so there's likely to be issues for some depending on server OS, and other site specific factors. It's best you don't immediately update your production site. 🙂 

I want to extend my thanks to everyone that was involved in the early focus group, the very early alpha testing and the more public alpha testing. Each click, each error hit and each bug report moved us forward and I'm very grateful for your help.

Now we enter the most exciting phase, the last stretch before a full release!

You'll be able to download a little later today.

Download should be available now.

34 minutes ago, Matt said:

It will, you'll just be changing the license terms of the payments, not the product.

technically correct but a little bit of smoke and mirrors. The old licenses are perpetual with maintenance and if expired can be renewed any time. The yearly cost is $300 (2 x $150). The 'classic' terms ($199 p/yr) are closer to a subscription where you lose your license if not renewed for 24 months which may affect those of us with dormant licenses we want to reinstate later and prevent us from feeling comfortable converting. 

Will the beta be available to those of us with existing/original and fully paid-up licenses that we can also test? or is this restricted only to those who converted?   

Are there instructions on how to update an existing v4 test installation to a v5?

It looks like in order to use the beta I have to convert my license.

I understand two things about this:

1) If its not renewed every 2 years I lose the license permanently

2) It's more expensive.

Is there anything else I'm missing?

On 10/10/2024 at 4:27 PM, HighlanderICT said:

technically correct but a little bit of smoke and mirrors. The old licenses are perpetual with maintenance and if expired can be renewed any time. The yearly cost is $300 (2 x $150). The 'classic' terms ($199 p/yr) are closer to a subscription where you lose your license if not renewed for 24 months which may affect those of us with dormant licenses we want to reinstate later and prevent us from feeling comfortable converting. 

Will the beta be available to those of us with existing/original and fully paid-up licenses that we can also test? or is this restricted only to those who converted?   

Some thoughts in no particular order (and this is not directed at anyone in particular, but some food for thought for everyone)

1. The new classic terms can be more expensive - or less expensive! - for clients based on your existing selection of apps. With that said, for clients who will be paying more, I want to point out that you're getting access to all the apps at an incredible value without buying the apps (I remember when I was buying the apps, it was something like $850. To upgrade and be able to access all of the apps at only $199 is an absolute steal). 

2. On a more important note, you're getting the IPS ecosystem of apps. Even if you have no intention of using most of them,  independent communities of the future really need to think about building a website of content and resources around their forums.  Having a true standalone forum in this day and age is very hard for new starter communities. Pairing the crowd sourced conversations in Forums with the organized publishing in Pages or Blogs maximizes the organic and the organized.  

At the same time, part of the energy that IPS has invested is in building you a multi-app approach.  One example is in the activity streams: other developers have hard coded lists like New Threads or New Posts or New Images. IPS is generationally ahead in letting you pick and choose content to craft your own activity streams, which is much more advanced.

Will the new developer documentation be available soon? I'd like to start developing my apps from scratch. When can I expect it to be released? Thanks!

5 hours ago, shiobi said:

Will the new developer documentation be available soon? I'd like to start developing my apps from scratch. When can I expect it to be released?

While I agree that it would be really great to have the V5 developer documentation "sooner rather than later", you really don't have to wait for the V5 documentation before you start some development.

Use the V4 developer documentation PLUS the V5 developer blogs (https://invisioncommunity.com/developers/devblog/).

The really big thing is that in V5 it is NOT POSSIBLE to use V4 style 'HOOKS'. If you read the documentation and conclude that you need a V4 HOOK then you are going down the wrong path - read the Dev Blogs and work out how to do it under V5.

There are a few useful things that have been added since the V5 Dev Blogs were written and they're not documented yet. But, if you're only just starting to do your development then you're 99% OK if you (1) Use the V4 docs, plus (2) AVOID V4 HOOKS and (3) use the V5 Dev Blogs.

Finally, there are people in the forum who will give you pointers if you get stuck on V5 development.

John

6 hours ago, shiobi said:

Will the new developer documentation be available soon? I'd like to start developing my apps from scratch. When can I expect it to be released? Thanks!

This kind of thing will come later down the road, as things change during testing phases