InfoQ Changelog

Posted by Alexandru Popescu on May 20, 2007 07:33 AM

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Version numbers are usually used on software projects, not public websites, but InfoQ will be maintaining a version number tied to new features developed for the site as a means to communicate progress to its audience. InfoQ is staffed by a full-time development team that will use Agile methodologies and iterative development to provide regular innovations to improve the user experience and create new community enhancements. Feel free to make any suggestions! You can also email bugs to bugs at infoq.com.

Changes in version 1.4 ( Sept 6, 2007)

• Addition of Architecture community to InfoQ (http://infoq.com/architecture) and all user personalization profiles
• Porting video interviews & mini-books to work on internationalized versions of InfoQ
• Numerous system updates & bug fixes to support the upcoming launch of InfoQ Japan - InfoQ will soon be available in 3 languages
• Added collapse image to interview transcripts
• Updates to our ad sponsorship reporting and management features
• Built a daily backup feature for our JCR Repository (which stores all content)

Changes in version 1.2.5 (June 22nd, 2007)

• Deployed Search widget on InfoQ posting directly to Google, after considering various alternatives
• Additional advertising capabilities - related sponsor ad unit
  

Changes in version 1.2 (May 15th, 2007)

• Performance improvements upon reaching new scalability limits.
• Capability to deploy and maintain custom-UI 'zones' within InfoQ for advertisers
• Launch of http://infoq.com/zones/Centrasite on behalf of SoftwareAG and Fujitsu
  
• Newsletters for InfoQ China
• bug fixes

Changes in version 1.1 (March 30, 2007)

Public "un-launch" of InfoQ China. Fully functional version of InfoQ.com (registration, RSS feeds, content, tagging, navigation, etc) in Chinese at http://InfoQ.com/cn. Massive amounts of work were put into this launch, spanning through 2006.

Changes in version 0.9.7 (Feb 28, 2007)

• Additional work on internationalization
• Enhancement to Community pages to allow further customization of title and rightbar (see http://info.com/agile for example)
• Fixed issue with open HTML in discussion comments messing up pages
• Fixed issue with Google reader not recognizing InfoQ feeds
• Capability to 'sponsor' a mini-book for our advertisers
• Other bug fixes

Changes in version 0.9.5 (Feb 16, 2007)

The last 2 months were spent mostly focused on preparing the codebase for full internationalization of InfoQ, in support of the future InfoQ China and Japan releases:

• the same content entities supporrt in mutiple languages
• full UTF-8 support across our stack
• additional features in our admin server to support translation of content, tagging, etc

During this time we also ran into some scalability limits of some of our code due to increasing traffic to our RSS Feeds and homepage a few fixes were deployed:

• optimized JCR queries used to populate parts of the homepage
• implemented eTag caching architecture for personalized RSS feeds to cut down CPU utilization

Various bug fixes also done during this period.

Changes in version 0.9.3 (Dec 8, 2006)

• Launched improved look and feel for topic-specific pages, such as InfoQ.com/SOA, InfoQ.com/clustering, etc
• Created and deployed a stage server
• Modified video presentations to include logo + description of the conferences they were filmed at
• begin tracking impressions for banners and text links

Changes in version 0.9.1 (October 31, 2006)

Convert format of news urls from /news to /year/month/nodename for better JCR performance and SEO

• Ability to post-date news items for editors
  
• Various bug fixes

Changes in version 0.9 (October 11, 2006)

There have been lots of upgrades and features added since the 0.8 version. We were very excited that we finally pushed live our Presentations and Interviews sections which are based on an unique UI with smart synchronization between slides or questions/answers and the video stream. In the same media content support field, we have added a new feature called Techbrief: a short video presentation.

So here is a list with the main features and fixes:

• added support for online videos:
• Presentations
• Interviews
• Techbriefs
• added support for sponsored topics: a reach content topic page (see: Java + .Net Integration)
• added Digg/Redit/Delicios links on content pages
• optimized response times for our personalized RSS feeds (an unique feature on InfoQ.com that creates your feed on-demand according to your on-site preferences)
• fixed small styling glitches and differences between page renderization in major browsers
• improved printer friendly pages

Not really a development upgrade, but I surely should mention that our editors team has grew by encorporating new members (check the About page), so the coverage and quality is continuously increasing.

Changes in version 0.8 (Aug 7, 2006)

v0.8 marks the addition of a couple of new features and also lots of fixes. Here is a short summary:

• Printing capability for for news and articles
• Improved content bookmarkability
• InfoQ Newsletter is now sent out once a week
• Contextual mapped papers (the RelatedVendorContent box)
• Improved behavior for logged in users

Changes in version 0.7 (June 8, 2006)

v0.7 was mostly a bug fix version with some new essential behind the scenes infrastructure added since the site's testing-unlaunch 3 weeks earlier.

• Content filtering strategy. While users will not see content tagged with a specific topic or tag that they have excluded, they now can see content tagged with a community that they excluded if the content is also tagged with a community that they are still part of.  Personalization for communities is inclusive, but is exclusive for topics/tags.
• Addressed bug with account activation that occured when someone requested a new verification email.
• Installed web analytics - we had  19249 unique visitors in the first 3 weeks.
• Addressed bugs behind a couple of re-occuring exceptions from the site logs.
• Ajax solution for banner/text link impression and click tracking.
• RSS feeds now only syndicate news items instead of news+exclusive content. Editors will write news items announcing new content in order for content to enter the feeds.
• Numerous minor textual enhancements across all pages of the site.

Changes in version 0.6 (May 17, 2006)

v0.6 was our initial 'unlaunch', where the site went live in time for Java One but we made clear that this was not an official launch. See unlaunch announcement. This launch was the first time the site was visible online, so there aren't any changes, but here are some interesting features:

• You can personalize which communities you view by selecting check boxes in the communities box on the left. This will work for both registered users and un-registered users. Registered users will gain the ability to filter and exclude sub tags and topics, which every piece of content at InfoQ will be tagged with.
  
• RSS feeds and newsletters are personalized for everyone on InfoQ based upon your community and content tag selections.
  
• Content starts at the top of each page to maximize readability.
  
• The AJAX-tabbed rightbar is a content-type navigator. It replaces traditional site "sections" that promote an inefficient hierarchical organization and navigation. InfoQ is a two-level navigation system, driven by personalization and content tagging, eliminating the need for a messy site map.
  
• Topics and tagging will (in time) make it easy to discover relationships between content.
  
• The discussion threading system is AJAX-ified to let you read an entire thread without clicking or scrolling. Additionally, replies can be posted in-place, avoiding the need to load multiple pages for engaging in a conversation.
• Login/Logout is ajax driven, no page refreshes.

Note: This changelog only reflects site functionality/infrastructure, NOT content.

1. Back to top

   Tired of logging in every time

   Jun 11, 2006 9:43 PM by Jerome Jar

   though it seems to be a lovely AJAX request that will not bother my reading. Or do I miss something?

   Reply

2. Back to top

   Re: Tired of logging in every time

   Jun 12, 2006 3:19 PM by Alex Popescu

   Jerome would you mind sending a bug report at bug[at]infoq[dot]com so that we can follow up on this? I would like to hear more details about the problem, so that we can fix this very soon :-). TIA, ./alex -- :Architect of InfoQ.com: .w( the_mindstorm )p.

   Reply

3. Back to top

   great piece

   Oct 29, 2007 5:37 PM by Fergal Dalton

   Hi, I am relatively new to InfoQ, this article was very informative, why so little support for multiple languages. Hopefully it will be available in more languages soon. Fergal Dalton Computer Traiing and Distance Learning. | Web Directory

   Reply

4. Back to top

   Re: great piece

   Apr 30, 2008 6:57 AM by Fergal Dalton

   ok got my answer - Free web tutorials

   Reply

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