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ocProducts announces the first release candidate for ocPortal 5.0

mike-johnston Profile

ocProducts are proud to announce the launch of the first release candidate for ocPortal 5.0, our highly advanced web content management system. This version introduces a number of bug fixes, new features, usability improvements, and a wide-sweeping design overhaul.

There are a number of key changes and additions within this version of the software; The Admin zone has been given an overhaul including new drop down menus and a much more useful front page. Design change highlights include :

  • A complete redesign of the Gallery system (we know this is going to make a lot of people very happy)
  • The member profile screen has been completely redesigned
  • A restructuring of the member points screen, making the points system far more intuitive.
  • The quiz screen has been redesigned
  • Just about every side block has been revised
  • A brand new commenting interface

We have given an overhaul to commenting, RSS and ratings features. These include allowing guests to choose a display name and improving the previewing of reviews. ocPortal version 5 has been thoroughly tested with IE6 and should display properly on this browser. We do however expect to drop support for IE6 once IE9 is released.

We have put a great deal of work into the ocPortal themeing system, with the aim of making it much easier for users to make their site look just how they want it to. Users can now preview all of the templates they are working on without needing switch between several screens. Other themeing features include making it easier to edit the site logo across all zones & themes, alongside new CSS styled buttons. In addition to the aforementioned template screen preview system, you can methodically work through all the screens in the system in order to ensure your theme looks good.

The ocPortal gallery system has seen a raft of changes, including an improved edit screen and the ability to provide automatic video transcoding (this requires that ffmpeg is installed). There have also been changes and updates within the quiz feature, the events calendar, the catalogue system, the newsletter manager and CEDI.

We have added a new feature that we call “Real-time rain”, which allows you to visualise activity in your website, either in real-time or via historic playback, which you would otherwise only ever see in the form of plain-text logs. This feature is enormous fun for webmasters and is incredibly pretty.

We have made many more changes in addition to those listed above, which are too numerous to include here. If you would like more information (and we hope you do) please come and have a look at everything we have been working on over the last few months; you can find the

Full release information at http://ocportal.com/site/news/view/new_releases/ocportal_50rc1.htm

But wait, we haven't stopped there! In addition to working on version 5, we have created 30 new optional addons!

We originally announced a mere 3 addons on April 1st, and some of you fell for our fools-day double bluff. In addition to the three addons that we announced previously (ocPurrrr, ocDeadpeople and ocJester), we are launching a suite of addons that include (but are not limited to) :

  • Three new blocks to display your Amazon wishlist, Amazon affiliate sales links, and items you are selling through ebay.
  • A new spinning tag globe to replace the tag cloud block.
  • New mapping tools to display the locations of your members or locations derived from a catalogue (useful for a store locater for example).
  • A new chat bot for the ocPortal chat rooms to interact with your site visitors.
  • A replacement for the existing chatrooms which uses a Jabber chat room from your server.
  • An adminzone search stemmer allowing you to search for publishing for example and it will display results for publish.
  • A module to incorporate Google translate into your website.
  • A range of new banners to show your support for a wide range of causes within a block.
  • A crossword generator and an altered quiz module allowing you to set entrance costs and rewards for entering and completing quizzes.
  • An Enhanced shout box

For a full comprehensive list of our addons visit our updated Addons gallery through the following link: http://ocportal.com/site/downloads/misc/add-onsmodifications.htm