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Pods 2.0 and How You Can Help

Where is Pods 2.0? Why isn’t it out yet?

The Pods project is funded by donations, developers contributing their time towards support and coding, and users who provide bug reports to help us know what isn’t working. The Pods 2.0 release is the biggest release we’ve had yet. Maybe we took too much on at once and maybe we should have stuck to a quicker release cycle. Either way, 2.0 contains a large amount of bug fixes, rewrites / refactoring, completely new admin / management UI, and tons of new features. It’s been a long road, but we’re getting very close to being done now that the bulk of the hard “stuff” is out of the way.

How you can help us get 2.0 out the door quickly and efficiently

  1. We could use more donations, but so could most non-profits out there ๐Ÿ™‚
  2. We could use your help in coding, if you’re a developer and are very experienced with HTML, CSS, Javascript, AJAX / jQuery, PHP, and/or MySQL, then contact us to see where you can fit in. We’re at the point in the 2.0 development cycle where we can really use some help specifically on UI elements like forms
  3. We need better documentation, if you’re a content writer or have a knack for writing how-to articles, we’re ready for you to help us begin completely rewriting our User Guide for our new site. Contact us to get access to the new site and begin.
  4. Once we begin the public testing phase (Alpha / Beta / Release Candidates), we’ll be depending on our users and developers to help us find any bugs so we can squash them for a speedy final release. Your help will greatly appreciated!

Everyone gets credit for their participation

If you’ve donated (and opted-in to being acknowledged), contributed code, helped provide support, submitted bug reports, or any others from a large list things – you’ll be called out and given credit on our new site Contributors area. The more you do in the community, the more points you get. It’s not a contest or a game, points just show the level of your contributions and will help document your abilities to anyone who would doubt it!

When will Pods 2.0 be out?

It all depends on our contributors. I’m just one cog in a large wheel, and I have a personal life with a new baby that I’d like to spend my time enjoying. That doesn’t mean that I don’t have time for Pods, it’s just that I can’t do this all on my own ๐Ÿ™‚ I’m asking that you help where you can so that we all can enjoy Pods 2.0 to it’s fullest.

Your contribution can help make a difference, so any of the above mentioned ways you can contribute can really help our release cycle for 2.0

In the future we’ll focus on a Google Chrome / Firefox-like rapid release cycle to get out cool features to you quickly and efficiently. 2.0’s changes and rewrites were necessary for it’s growth, but it’s taken a long time to finish. If we didn’t do it this way, I have no doubt that we’d be alienating an entire community with too many UI changes from release to release.

So…. Rapid Release Cycle like Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox? Yay, quicker releases!

Going forward, smaller releases, shorter waits, and more cool features. There will be no more BIG releases for Pods which result in a longer development cycle that would mean longer for you to wait. If you have any questions regarding the new Rapid Release Cycle for Pods after 2.0 is out, check out the Rapid Release page in the Mozilla Wiki. Contribute where you can.. otherwise just sit back and wait for the storm to hit.

5 thoughts on “Pods 2.0 and How You Can Help”

  1. Thanks for all of your hard work on PODS 2.0 Scott. The project wouldn’t be a shadow of what it is without all of your incredible contributions. I’ve donated the modest amount I can in $, and wish I could donate something in coding.

    I might possibly be able to contribute via documentation but not until I’ve cleared some other projects I’m tied up with right now.

    Enjoy that baby! That’s the priority… PODS can wait. It will still be here when you come back. ๐Ÿ™‚

    • Thanks for the donation! That does help, even modest amounts help ๐Ÿ™‚

      Let us know when you get some time, we’d love your help with documentation.

      And yep, baby is being enjoyed ๐Ÿ™‚

  2. Scott, A whole bunch of us donated to you ages ago and you promised a release within two weeks… it’s well over this now and nothing seems to be happening ๐Ÿ™ I understand sometimes things take longer to produce than one might initially think, but this is getting a little worrisome! From your appeal you made it sound as though Pods2 was almost done and just needed a final push… What’s going on?

    • Hey, I don’t know if you donated to the Kickstarter itself or separately, but I’ve been leaving public updates on the Kickstarter with progress reports and screenshots:

      http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/sc0ttkclark/pods-development-framework-20/posts

      Basically, I was able to work on Pods for the amount of time I initially needed. The only problem was that I didn’t count on some big schedule conflicts with Jonathan who was handling a lot of the UI at that point. In the end, I had to contract a few developers to do the work, along the way hitting other delays with them as well. Unfortunately, the more time I spend on the frontend and getting it perfected with the other developers, the less time I have to spend on the remaining backend components.

      The donation drive was able to cover my costs to take a few weeks out of my schedule to devote entirely to Pods, but unfortunately since then I’ve been catching up on projects that were put on the side burner in order for that to happen. Things didn’t sync up as well as I had hoped, and I don’t really blame Jonathan or any of the developers who I contracted, it’s just part of the risks I was taking when I set out to knock out Pods 2.0 in the short period of time that I had. It’s very tough to find developers who are both very experienced AND available to start at a moments notice, so I’ve had to deal with what I’ve got to avoid letting in anything that would be sub-par.

      We’re getting very close though, recently @chriscarvache joined the efforts and is making a ton of progress. While I’m still catching up on my project backlog, I have time on Wednesdays and on the weekends to work on things, so I’m coordinating with Chris during the week to keep things going forward on his side. I’ve given him a blank check, so even if it ends up costing more than the Kickstarter, I think it’s totally worth it.

      As anyone who has dealt with running an open source project, it’s very tough to find and keep contributors long-term AND with high availability. That’s basically what I’ve been up against the past year and a half. I’ll be posting screenshots and a major update this Wednesday, so look for it on the Kickstarter if you’re interested in seeing what’s new. I’ll also be posting it to the @podscms Twitter account, so don’t be a stranger.

      I know you’re very anxious, and most likely quite turned off by the delay. I appreciate your patience as we move forward and hope to earn back your interest and excitement as we prepare for the Pods 2.0 Alpha testing cycle.

      • Thanks for the reply and your honesty Scott. I completely understand the problems you describe, from one perspective at least… good luck with it and please rest assured my interest hasn’t waned, I literally can’t wait… got a few projects that I’m itching to get started on that Pods2 would be perfect for – all the best!

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