PubliSite v.4.17 Released

This release brings with it a healthy mix of new functionality, plus plenty of bug fixes and enhancements that improve what was already there. let's take a quick tour of the main new features...


Event Resources

A much requested addition to PubliSite arrives in 4.17 - the ability to add an event calendar to a site. Events are managed through PubliSite in much the same way as other resource types (images, documents, etc), so anyone who has used PubliSite before (or most people who haven't for that matter) will have an event calendar up and running in minutes. Events enjoy the same rich configurability as their document counterparts - they can be added to categories, restricted to user groups, and even restricted to individual editors.

On the front-end of the site, events can be displayed using our new JavaScript calendar plugin. Or alternatively using the new "Next Events" plugin, which, funnily enough, generates lists of forthcoming events in a flexible and configurable manner.

A final trick up the sleeve is the new Event Resource API which allows the retrieval of event lists without the need for a specific page, plugin or template. The API can even be used to pull event lists into other websites.


New Developer Role

PubliSite already has separate roles for Administrators, Editors, Restricted Editors and Public Users - 4.17 introduces a new role: Developer. This role is used to hide the more technical functionality from regular admins, keeping the interface clutter-free and preventing those who aren't too sure what they are doing from tinkering with the more important parts of the site!


Editing of CSS files

CSS stylesheets can now be edited directly through PubliSite. This is a tremendously useful feature, but with great power comes great responsibility (a badly written stylesheet can cause the whole site to disappear!) - this feature is therefore restricted to users in the Developer role.


Auto-generated site map

Another much requested addition - PubliSite now automatically generates an XML sitemap every time a page is published/un-published on the site. XML sitemaps are used by search engines such as Google to keep search results fresh and up to date, and to ensure new pages get indexed as quickly as possible.


Editable template settings

Site owners can now edit all meta data related to the site templates - names, descriptions, visibility, etc., tasks that would previously have required a support call. This capability is restricted to users in the Developer role.


These are just a few of the new features available in PubliSite 4.17. As usual, see the full release notes for full details!