Version 2.9.3 is Now Available
If you haven’t already noticed, yesterday ClassiPress v2.9.3 was released which is a general bug and security patch. There are no new features as we are saving those all for 3.0 which is due out towards the end of January (assuming everything goes as planned).
I felt it was important to fix several bugs in the 2.9 branch before taking ClassiPress to 3.0. When I first started working on 2.9.3 is was supposed to have only been a small release — mainly adding support for new PayPal currencies, fixing a mail function bug, and improving the discovery of the ad thumbnail image path. Well, I ended up spending many long days cleaning up and stabilizing the product which was much needed.
So should I upgrade or not?
That’s the question most of you existing customers will ask. To contradict myself from the previous blog post, “ClassiPress v2.9.3 Coming Soon“, I recommend all ClassiPress customers upgrade to v2.9.3 because of the fixes and small security issue. If you’ve done lots of customization and don’t want to redo them all after the upgrade, I recommend manually making the upgrade by looking at the changelog.txt included with the update.
The two most important changes to make would be upgrading your fancybox script to 1.2.6+ (which will fix the IE8 bug for displaying images), and the security fix to remove ad owners jumbled email address from hidden field.
The good news for those using ClassiPress in another language, you can upgrade and use your existing .po without a hitch. I was very careful when making all the fixes not to disturb the translation text so I don’t see any issues there.
In order to download the latest version, just use your original E-Junkie download link. It will always contain the latest version. If you lost or deleted your email (shame on you), then follow the instructions under the ClassiPress FAQ.
Should I hold out for 3.0 and forget this update?
Good question and the answer can vary. It really comes down to how much work you’ve already put into customizing your theme. If you haven’t done any mods, then the upgrade is an easy process. No changes required and you just overwrite your existing /themes/classipress directory. On the other hand, if you’ve modified the ClassiPress code a ton and plan on using 3.0, it might not be worth it.
Since 3.0 will be completely rewritten, you’ll have some work ahead of you and you won’t want to do it twice. Some customers might decide to just stay on v2.9+ so they don’t have to deal with the hassle. There will be some manual migration work and if you’ve got a fairly large site, it will be a bear to do.
So here’s the official list of all fixes and changes packed into 2.9.3.
2.9.3 Fixes:
- Changed mail function to wp_mail on “report ad” and “send message” features. Resolves intl character issue and problems sending email on some hosts.
- Added support to better detect where your ad thumbnail images are located. Fixes blank thumbnails on ads for some.
- Updated plugins to the latest versions.
- Added missing cp translation tag to the word “ago” and a couple mentions of “categories”.
- Ad image zoom support for IE8 which fixes IE8 “not implemented” JS error.
- Fixed backslash bug on form fields when ad is submitted without completing all required fields.
- Security fix to remove ad owners jumbled email address from hidden field on contact ad owner sidebar form.
- Fixed IE alignment issue on contact ad owner captcha field.
- Fixed IE 6&7 peekaboo css div bug on login and other pages. Basically those pages had content disappear unless you mouse over it.
- Fixed IE hover issue now showing hand icon on home page ads.
- Cleaned up several non-compliant tags to wc3 standards.
- Widened pagination links div so it no longer wraps.
- Removed unused set_time_limit function which sometimes generated “Warning: set_time_limit() has been disabled for security reasons”.
- Fixed home page date value wrapping when format is long like November 20, 2009.
- Added new function to check for http:// in new ad URL field submission. If it’s missing, automatically add it.
2.9.3 Changes:
- Added PayPal support for five new currencies (Brazilian Real, Malaysian Ringgits, Philippine Pesos, Taiwan New Dollars, and Thai Baht).
- Moved favicon admin image to local image folder.
- Added a CP version meta tag.
- Sticky ads now work on category pages. This was fixed with the WordPress 2.9 release.
This will most likely be the final release for 2.9 unless there are some critical fixes that need to be done. Now it’s full steam ahead with development on 3.0. The holidays have (and will) make it difficult to spend a lot of time on 3.0 which is why I’m setting an end of January release date.
Comments (17)
Why don’t you make ClassiPress a parent theme or theme framework? Like Hybrid or Thematic? This way all the customizations could be done in so called child themes. This theme would have much more future this way. Also I would really get rid of the fancy post a classified form or at least give people a choice. It breaks in many situations. Really, you wouldn’t believe the amount of calls and e-mails I got since I started using ClassiPress.
Hi,
next time new release comes out (security patch), please do send us an announce email. (or create announce maling list for that matter).
Thanks,
Customer.
@Jan, I’d eventually like to make ClassiPress part of a theme framework. I’m more focused on getting the requested features and redesign out first though.
@Dan, I plan on sending out a customer email soon. It’s just been very busy with the holidays and I was on a tight deadline to get the fix out. Just to calm your nerves, the security issue isn’t an urgent fix or threatening to a hacker. It’s just that v2.9.2 shows a jumbled ad owner email address in the source code on single ad pages. You would just have to figure out the numeric sequence in order to get that persons email address.
The patch just completely removes the email address from the code which makes it better for everyone.
several features I’d like from classipress which I’ve tried to combined with through plugins but broken up:
write panel:
– multi custom write panel assigned to each categories with custom modifiable custom fields
– or enable an option to switch between theme’s post a classified write panel and wordpress write panel
post page:
– custom field display box in the post page or a widget to be added to sidebar
login page:
– plugins friendly login form like register plus, captchas, or even html/js enabled section
– facebook and other accounts connect
homepage:
– categories sort and exclude
– search box with filter ability based on categories and custom fields enabled. or an option to replace with Google adsense search box for more powerful search and monetization.
– customizable carousels at the homepage featuring latest ads or top of the category pages, with options to just include the listing from the current category or simply manual insert featuring ads carousels.
– more compact layout with sidebar or header bar or footer bar at the homepage (for monetization)
– user’s ability to send invoice through email like web-invoice plugin (web-invoice don’t have multi user ability)
I’m not a customer, and I’m not programmer. these are just my feedback to classipress which I think have a lot of potential. in the end, classified ads are about the categories. the more customizable the categories, the better.
some of the features I mentioned above are for super powerful multi user CMS like ability. and if a simple classified ads website can be modified into it, it will create a whole new game for classfied ads website. because it’s now have the ability to have classified websites listing and interaction. that’s 2.0. and it has a whole new monetization possibilities.
here’s the concern: if classipress can transform and move from being just a listing service into the ‘brokering’ type service (which monetize through brokering instead of third party ads), it will completely set up a new way people see the classipress websites. it’s no longer another simple classified ads, but instead, it will be a whole new level of classified websites.
sorry for the long comment. It’s just I got frustated when I tried to install many plugins from wp. so many incompatibility that I almost give up every time. at least, just provide options to switch between the theme’s features and functions with wordpress default functions.
thanks
Hi David, any chance we can get a sneak peek at the new classipress 3.0 !!
Hi David,
I still haven’t received my copy of Classipress 2.9.3 – have you sent it to the customers?
Oops seems like the broken things on CSS and such I experienced was caused by a crashed ajax plugin. well I think it’s my mistake try to set up complex website while I’m not web programmer.
but still, my feedback for classipress are:
1. it would be much better with web 2.0 rounded buttons style
2. the price box in the post page should be only numeric and wrap the price well
3. more compact in terms of layout that providing more ads space would be better
4. adding (or an option to add) sidebar in home page and category archive would increase the potential to add much more widgets and possibilities.
just my 2 cents. great theme there.
I’m soooooo looking forward to 3.0!! To have all the functionality I currently have in my clunky, too complicated classifieds site into the clean and simple WordPress platform will be such a wonderful thing! I check in every day looking for the release! 🙂 Thanks so much for all your hard work!
Hi, sorry if you’ve addressed this already but couldn’t really find it in the forums. Will it be easier to add custom fields and labels to the post ad pages in 3.0? Looking at Eric’s directions are a bit complex for a guy like me. 🙂
Thanks.
I’m very keen on your theme but i’m just wondering does this offer any sort of user stats? For the person who places the ad?
@Sathya – thanks for your feedback. Some of your wishes will be answered in 3.0. Check out the latest screen shot of 3.0.
Of course customers have their own style of design so it’s hard to please everyone. The good news is 3.0 will be much easier to customize and for developers to redesign without having to change much of the core theme code.
@Jeff – yes.
@Nirok – each user gets their own dashboard where they can view the number of ads they currently have running but there aren’t any stats currently available. Expect 3.1 to have something like that.
Are the upgrades free?? i’m only after basic stats like page views… also i have a full functioning website at the moment and would need to integrate this into the current theme… is it fairly simple to do or would you recommend installing this onto a completely new wordpress on another directory ? is there a demo we can look at which allows you to add a listing without paying paypal aswell? so you can see it from a users POV?
Thanks for all your help this looks liek a great theme
Yes, upgrades will be free. That’s why it’s important to buy ClassiPress now and lock in your price because they will be going up once 3.0 comes out.
ClassiPress is a standalone theme so you’ll need to either run this as a second instance of WordPress in a sub-directory, or hire a developer to integrate your exesting site. I recommend running this separate.
The demo is available at the demo site.
@David: In 3.0 please make the currency symbol configurable (ie. so I can change it to Euro), also please I’d like to be able to configure whether the symbol appears before the actual amount or after, thanks.
Hi,
Is it possible to add Turkish Lira as a new currency
Many thanks first of all to David for creating a great site. I am so looking forward to getting the 3.0 version, and don’t mind waiting to make sure all goes smoothly with the transition. I think we all know how time consuming it can be just doing the smallest of things, so I take my hat off to you David. Hope it is a great business for you.
I was just looking at the screen shots for 3.0, and it looks very impressive. I am particularly pleased to see in inclusion of Taiwan $ for Paypal. There is one thing I would like to raise though. I think one of the most popular change that people may have done to their site would be to design a new header to personalize it. I have noticed that you have put the search box right in the middle of the header, and think this might be a little obtrusive to many people. Will there be an option to remove this if needed?
Thanks,
Darren
@Darren, thanks. I’m glad PayPal added Taiwan and a few more new accepted currencies as well.
There won’t be an option to remove the search box from the header but it will be easy enough to edit the header.php file and swap it out.
Discussion is closed.