PageLayer Version 1.0

It has been a long time since the last post and PageLayer development has been slowing down as I was busy with more work. Anyway, I found some free time to fix a few glitches and decided to release PageLayer version 1.0. Because it is now stable and in production (limited, but production none the less), I though it was the right time to reach that mark.

It was hard work for one year, and I consider this version 1.0 as an achievement: a sort of celebration. The package is complete and fully working. Distribution from a single point server works wonder and the application is updated seamlessly. Integration with other JavaScript components (i.e. LightBox; Google Analytics) is going smooth and PageLayer appears to be stable and usable on many different browsers and platforms.

From now on, I will continue to improve PageLayer but on a slower basis as I am starting in a full time position again.

One of the direction I might follow is to forget about the floating elements and go for some absolute positioning: users are confused with blocks that behave strangely to them. Floating HTML elements can be tricky and may not be the answer to an easy editing solution.

As many people around, I am having a hard time with the integration of the application's core features and the browsers native editing mode (designmode). The split between the two behaviours can be confusing and PageLayer needs more transparency on that point.

Also, users request more high level features to help during layering and editing: a single button to split a long text in two column of the same size, snaping blocks to help with drag and drop, etc.

Finally, I need to re-consider the distribution process and might give a try at "Application as a Service": PageLayer must be hosted and reachable to everyone with a simple registration process.

So I am not finished with PageLayer (I will probably never be). I am glad I got to that point and still managed to stay sane. Now, as a Front-end Architect I will continue to improve my skills hopefully for the benefit of PageLayer in a near future.

PageLayer in Production

With the version 0.4, PageLayer has now reached the production stage!

It has been running nicely for a few weeks now on a first official website and feedback is really positive. To make the experience a bit more fun, the end users work on Mac: a few fixes had to be made but it now runs smoothly in Firefox 2.0 or Safari 3, in French with UTF-8 and the PHP back-end.

The second production site is to be launched this week. And more to come quickly as it is easier than ever to build websites with PageLayer.

This is the validation long awaited to officially launch the distribution: license program to start very soon now. Version 0.4 is still considered as "Beta" but will be turned into solid 1.0 as soon as usability and features are approved.

Check out the license page at www.pagelayer.com

PageLayer Version 0.4

A new release!

Version 0.4 brings in some of the most needed features to make PageLayer a complete production tool.

The "link creation" icon now launches a nice new window to create pages, empty or from template, link to a document or just type some url.

The "Includes" engine has been completely re-factored too:
- A included file can now be updated: changes are immediately visible on very pages that use the same include (i.e. navigation )
- Or just protect an include to make it un-editable: that's handy for forms.

Lot of things have been added, updated or fixed to make PageLayer even easier and more comfortable to use.

Check it out at www.pagelayer.com