We’re well into our beta testing of Stacks 3.5. It’s a huge update to the Stacks API, giving the stack developers new and powerful tools to build great stacks.
I’d like to invite everyone to download it and help out with the testing.
Can I make one little request: Please send all your beta comments, bug reports, and feature req’s directly to me. I’m available almost 24/7 on our Slack channel (please come say hi, everyone is welcome!): http://slack.yourhead.com
How much will it cost
Nothing. It’s a free update for all Stacks 3 users. Just download and enjoy.
What’s new?
A LOT. Take a look at the release notes. The 3.5 section is about a page long. And most of the changes are features (some important bug fixes too, of course). That said, most of the changes we made are “behind the scenes” in the Stacks API (did you know you can read all about it here?).
Did you add -fill in the blank- feature I asked for?
Probably not. When we make big improvements to the API we try to keep the rest of stacks as still and stable as possible. That said, we’ve enabled quite a bit more with the API: some big speed improvements and some new features. Stacks that were impossible to build yesterday, will be possible tomorrow.
Why did you only change the API?
All the 3rd party stacks that everyone knows and loves like the Foundations and Foundry frameworks that are so powerful – all of those things – rely on the Stacks API. Extending what is possible in the API – extends what is possible in Stacks. Because the 3rd party stacks are best part of Stacks – the Stacks API is the single most important feature in Stacks. Making big improvements is a huge deal.
When will stack developers use the new API?
Every developer will be different. Some are full time developers and just waiting for Stacks 3.5 to be released (they’ve already been testing this stuff or the past 6-weeks!). Others are hobbies – so give them some time, and maybe a nudge of encouragement.
I will say that’s we’ve done a ton to try to make this transition easy for those guys:
This is a free update, so nearly every Stacks user will use it immediately after release. The stack dev won’t have to worry about supporting two versions.
All new features are backward compatible – so developers don’t have to worry about fixing things that broke (if we did it right nothing did!) – so they can just focus on the new stuff.
All new features are opt-in – so developers can choose when they want to start using the new goodies.
What are some of the new API features?
Speed is a big one: We added a new pre-processing layer to templates. This gives developers the power to build stacks in almost the same way they always have – but have them be much much faster in Edit mode. Larger stacks that use Edit mode creatively will benefit the most here.
Some new and improved behavior to some controls. A good example is the Date control. It can now output localized dates (so dates can appear for your international region). Dates can also “stick” to the creation date of the stack – this makes building things like blog-posts easy.
New more-complex logical operations on control-hiding. This lets the settings of a stack present just the settings that you need to see and hide the ones that aren’t applicable. I think this is going to be a BIG change.
There’s a new security layer built in to stacks. This keeps 3rd party stacks out of the hands of pirates – and best of all – without affecting honest users or free stacks in any way at all (I’m going to give myself a pat on the back for that one: it’s very difficult to make something so invisible).
There’s so much more too – but I should probably stop. If you’re curious to learn more about the Stacks API please check out http://api.yourhead.com – and if you want to ask questions, please come chat with me on our Stacks slack channel: http://slack.yourhead.com
Which beta update notice did you get? 3.5b12 is now a beta update. If you have been on beta updates before, this is the first 3.5 beta version publicly triggered, afaik.
I don’t want to install the beta. I wasn’t sure if it was beta, because I was not getting notices of beta before. But I just updated to Sierra… not sure if that is relevant?
also: I’ll just repost this bit one more time just in case folks missed it.
Can I make one little request: Please send all your beta comments, bug reports, and feature req’s directly to me. I’m available almost 24/7 on our Slack channel (please come say hi, everyone is welcome!): http://slack.yourhead.com
thanks for all the testing! it really does help so much!!!
“This time for sure, Rocky!”
(does this joke date me? does anyone else even get it?)
Anywho… the invitation page up right now – and has been for about 12 hours – I think we’re all good now.
Also, if it’s ever down, feel free to just send me an email or a DM on twitter or wherever (I’m “Isaiah” @ most things) and I can just send the Slack invite by hand, the old fashioned way, like a caveman.
