Three Cheers for an Open Exponent!

Well, it's finally out there. The result of the last years worth of dedicated OIC work, and no one is more excited about getting the code out than us. We've finally got a solid platform for development that has enabled us to stack new features and custom developments on to quickly, without having to copy and paste a bunch of code around, worry about permissions, or hack together multiple modules just to get the features we want. Getting the code out an in to the hands of the community is the first step in building up a much stronger Exponent community.

Plenty of work still to be done
Despite our excitement, however, we've still got lots of work left to be done. Although on the code level the new module structure is designed to be able to take advantage of as much as possible, in many cases it's just one or two modules that are actually implementing a specific feature, like Blog with attachable comments, or news with RSS broadcast. All modules have the ability to make use of these features and will need to be “tuned” to do so.

All things considered
All things considered, we feel we're in great shape to be releasing the code, especially for those wanting to test and document. The sites we've deployed using the new codeline have been great successes, so we certainly encourage the use of the code to help us bringing the Exponent 2 codeline up to beta and GA quality. The Framework has satisfied us on a client by client basis thus far, but it's the “out of the box” features and documentation that will have to be rock solid before we'll put our Seal of Approval on a Beta and GA release.

A note on Documentation
We've got the format down, and a good base to really start getting the documentation in order, but we're still pretty light on the docs. We had a good sprint at it today, but we've still got a ways to go. Over the next few weeks, keep your eye on exponent-docs.org as we continue to flesh out and add documentation.

What to expect on the current build's installation
We've taken out the option to install default content for now. The code still has the content pack from 0.97, and it tries to install modules that are no longer in the system. So to avoid any mishaps, 'weve commented out the option on installation until we get the concept of “content packs” worked in.

You can expect much of the interface to look the same, however the interface fore module configurations is where you'll start to see the enhancements.

You'll also now see Exponent's new Slingbar (we're calling it) at the top of the page, with the majority of what used to be in the old Admin Control Panel now shows as a menu items in the Exponent menu. As we've been developing, we've just tossed in sub-menu items in the the most logical menu groups. Over time, we'd like to break out the menu in to more logical groupings, and integrate user and group based permissioning on those menus. Currently, the Slingbar is available to Admins only.

You can also expect certain features (ie configuring modules for comments, tags, and files) not to work as intended. As I mentioned above, there are a good handful of modules that still need to be set up (either on the php side or view template side) to take advantage of the particular features available to them. As we move along, we'll use this as an area to offer mentoring for those eager developers wishing to help fix things up.

Getting Involved
I've detailed out Contributor Guidelines which describes the various Exponent Teams breakdown, along with the popper places to go and procedures to follow in order to get rocking with the new code. So check it out, and get signed up on Launchpad. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave us a comment below or contact us directly. You can look us up on Launchpad if you don't already have our emails.