HomeNotesBoonEx Roadmap Updated
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BoonEx Roadmap Updated

...and we have a date for you. We can't set a date for final release, or even release candidate, since testing/bugfixing time is difficult to estimate. What we can do, and what we do do, however, is set a date for the feature-final Beta version of Dolphin 7.

20th of June 2009

...is the projected date of Dolphin 7b release. The beta will be feature final, which means no new features, no major tweaks after that - just bug-fixing, performance improvements, testing and polishing. We hope to come up with real-deal final release in about 3-4 weeks after beta, but don't take my word for it.

Updated Roadmap

You can now browse the planned features and can track progress at BoonEx Trac at Dolphin Roadmap. Take a good look at the Dolphin 7 tickets list and let us know if we missed something important. We'll be gathering bug reports after Beta stage. For now - it's all features and tweaks.

Note that we have added Dolphin 6.1.5 and Dolphin 7.1 sections too. 6.1.5 is the much requested update for the current version, which should be released shortly after Hookie. The 7.1 section now serves as a placeholder for features we wanted to include but decided to postpone in order to release Hookie sooner.

We need to finalize the list for Hookie this week. Please, leave your comments with what you think should definitely be in 7.0. We all want it to be released soon, right?

Dolphin 7.1 is also planned to be released in a comparatively short period after 7.0 mostly as a pack of updates for separate modules.

So, we have a date now and the big rush is now officially under way. Buckle-up.

Plussed by

 
 
 
 

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annabel
That's still a long time to wait but we're sure it's worth waiting for.

Thanks for this update.

No indications yet about price settings ?
Andrew Boon
Will provide pricing guide shortly.
HotGate
It is good to see the amount of time being allocated to testing and debugging. That is a much better approach and we are sure it will be appreciated by other people here as well.
annabel
What about payment settings for membership ? Is SMS option included ?
Andrew Boon
Has to wait until 7.1 now. Sorry.
HotGate
Plus, we are sorry if this out of the box, but thought you would give it a reading if we post it here.

It is possible to integrate the "experts" accounts on Expertzzz with the ones on Unity. There was a debate going on why the downloads/jobs section here is dormant as compared to the one on Experts. The reason for that is that experts have to start from points "0" and have to start building up their reputation from scratch. Pls give this idea due consideration of integration see more of experts accounts with unity ones ... developers will then post their products on Unity which will then allow moderation of products and removal of crap/spam experts. We sincerely think you should announce just ONE OFFICIAL support website for Dolphin, be it Unity or be it Experts. Unity, is recommended, as its got moderation and better rules and stuff. But the only thing that stops developers from using it more often is the fact that points earned on experts can not be transferred to Unity .. so the question in their minds is "Why start from 0" ?

Hoping to hear from you on this issue as well.
Thank you for sparing time to read this.
Andrew Boon
Thank you for the advice. We'll be merging the systems into one - Dolphin-based Boonex.com site with proper moderation and with transferred points.
HotGate
That is excellent. This is exactly what we developers want.
Vovka
Will be in 7 versions of a city and the country are interconnected among themselves?
jayjay2008
Please please, facebook friendship wall for each individual user....

I think the homepage should be more unique to the individual rather than a world wide thing?
MichelSwiss
IMHO Profile page customization is much more important...
jayjay2008
So why has Twitter become so poular then? Is it based on profile custom? No it's based on status updates, thats the next big thing. Infact we are to late, that is classed as basic now.
MichelSwiss
Sorry, I don't understand that you mean about "individual homepage" and "status updates"... I am not a Twitter user...
YouDidntDidYou
**********ability to add strings of words as tags***********
had a quick look in the trac and can't see it there, good work boonex on progress....you are all stars :-)
MichelSwiss
I don't see any ticket about Photo (Video) Albums... and suppression of Shared Photo (Video).
- IMHO Shared Music still has sense -

What about the removal of the Avatars ???

Dolphin Mobile Version is now planed for D 7.1. This is a quite urgent feature as more and more users are browsing the web with mobile phones...
Andrew Boon
iPhone app will come with Dolphin 6, while the ombile version needs a lot more time and has to wait till 6.1.

We're still working on photo albums and avatars. We won't be killing avatars, but some improvements are on the way.
mastermindsro
Befriend needs a more logical solution..
Send : Click Befriend > befriend button deactivates > "invitation sent" status instead of "member already on your friend list" if the other user did not yet accepted/refused > the other user accepts/refuses invitation > befriend button re-activates only if user refused..
Receive: If you visit the profile who sent you a invitation a button with accept invitation and reject should be visible on that profile page..
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Annabel see more is right.. a SMS system for membership payment is a must.. just because is the easiest way to encourage a normal member to upgrade, I personally never payed for a membership if does not have a sms payment option.. it takes too much energy to go to the bank for such a little amount of money.. plus you want that membership "right then".. after 5 minutes max.
--
Speed improvement.. there are too many files to load and too many db queries.. optimize each template image and the header slide show images (this is mostly for the sake of the demo to load faster) which sums more than 420kb of a total of 1.4mb (front page) - so painful for dial-up users (they still exist).. I am thinking to remove it if it slows too much.. I'd rather make a random pic on each load than a slide show with 5 gigantic images.. all loading at the same time..
--
I don't know how admin panel looks, but a IP tracking for each user (history of IP's used by that user) is very important to ban the trouble makers..
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Bad word filter on all pages with comments, shoutbox, chat, forum, clubs, profile descriptions, profile names, user names etc. etc.
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website png watermark on photos if they go offline, website logo on externally embedded audio and video files with link to the website when you click on them..
and list of websites linking to that file..
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contact importer redirect after first login and skip button
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custom fields builder for sign-up/profile page, CV's for users on job classifieds
--
images, html code and more options for blogs..
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private photos, videos, music with group or selected users access..
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Facebook is a good example of what else Dolphin needs..
--
Sorry for the long text, just my ideas - only take what you guys think is important..
Cheers.
MichelSwiss
Good post :-)

Me too insist for a whole content email addresses/URLs/bad words filter !
MichelSwiss
Befriend needs a more logical solution..
Send : Click Befriend > befriend button deactivates > "invitation sent" status instead of "member already on your friend list" if the other user did not yet accepted/refused > the other user accepts/refuses invitation > befriend button re-activates only if user refused..
Receive: If you visit the profile who sent you a invitation a button with accept invitation and reject should be visible on that profile page..

Yeah :-) see more This is exactly that has to be done :-) Really important !!!
MichelSwiss
# 546 Module Files

Rather than to base this module Files on media sharing, it will be more adequate to base this new feature on Photo Album (with privacy settings)...
Related to the Profile, Files will be very useful, for example, to upload a printable (.doc, .pdf...) resume (curriculum vitae) that cannot be shared.
MichelSwiss
I don't see anything about the Promo block to be language sensitive...
MichelSwiss
About Floating menu...

If the user choose Top or Bottom position for this Floating menu, the template has to open a landing area (no hidden site content).
If the user choose Fixed option, this Floating menu will display over the site content.
okiewardoyo
i suggest to make this dolphin simpler. like facebook.
we don't need something that we don't want.

am i right MichelSwiss?
MichelSwiss
Since version 6.0 and the introduction of the Builders, it's very easy to enable/disable most of the features.
As far as I can see, Dolphin 7 will be more modular and will even allow to install/uninstall features...
Andrew Boon
As MS said - you can now hide AND uninstall modules.
totallyfreak
i see that the ticket of the GAMES section on 7.0b as been closed... but it is cancel or just completed?
mickscool
Thanks for the update..

Thanks for moving and adding ticket #574 i.e Youtube embeds / Flickr embeds into 7.0b from 7.1, I really really would like to see the feature in 7.0 :)
Andrew Boon
Should be working as soon as next ALpha build.
todaler
On November 23, 2008 you said “Oh... and yeah... when...? We're talking a couple of weeks, or so.”

On February 26, 2009 you said “- Private Preview (limited)… - Public Preview - 7-10 days after the Limited Preview…- Alpha - 7-10 days after the Public Preview….- Beta - 5-7 days after Alpha….All in all we're looking at about 5-6 weeks…”

On March 20th you said “And in about 2 weeks I hope we'll get the source code out for download.”

Now on April 13, 2009 you say “20th see more of June 2009” and also “...is the projected date of Dolphin 7b release…but don't take my word for it.”

I wish you would have said that in November instead. I have put off any and all updates to my site. I have completely, for the lack of using profanity, ‘upset’ everyone that works on our site with me all because I trusted what you said; I guess I took it at face value. I am not by any means asking for a finished product now. I am not even asking for a finished product on June 20th. What I am asking for is that you follow through with at least the source code, that you have, like you said you would. Coding takes time and trial and error. Heck if more people had the code we might be able to help you, although I could understand why you might not want ‘too many hands in the pot’. We should all know that coding takes time and if you don’t you probably shouldn’t be running a site of any kind. Personally that is why I want the code so bad, so that we can start working on our custom features and add ons that we currently have. We have an entire email system that we need to integrate. Much less some of the other small things we have done. I want to have a starting path of getting them done so they work together for when the upgrade DOES happen. As it was, this should have already been done according to your first post. It has been 16 weeks since you have posted that. It has been about 6-8 weeks since the Beta should have been released according to your post on February 26th. And then about 3-4 weeks since your post on March 20th saying “about two weeks” I don’t want to get the upgrade in 2 (or hell if even then) months and THEN have to start working on them so it winds up being 3 – 4 months when I was told it should have been done 3 or 4 months ago. And that is coming from you. You said almost one month ago that in about two weeks we would have some sort of access to the code. Now you’re saying nope… 2 more months… Again I am not asking for a finished product, I am not trying to rush or sound rude in anyway. I just want what I was told, almost promised, several times over it seems. I have been pushing off everything I was doing for my site biased on what YOU said you were going to do. And then you are not doing it.

I love the new software, In fact I have even gloated about it because everyone that works on the site said that I found great community software, and it just got a whole lot better. BUT that being said… It is hard to stay positive when I am watching everything I have done slip away because I’m pushing something off for two weeks, then that turns into 4 months and that turns into possibly 2-4 more months… All of this because of a statement that said 2 weeks, 4 and soon to be 6 months ago.

Sorry if I sound frustrated,
But I am…
MichelSwiss
I understand, but... 6.0 and 6.1 was released within the fixed timeframe but with so many bugs,,,
I am as impatient like you but I prefer BoonEx to take the needed time to make each feature as perfect as possible.
And the main part of the delay is due to the fact that BoonEx really is listening to us and trying to satisfy every of us.

If you have some experience, you know that every projects, not only programming, need much more time than expected.
mickscool
I would say, I agree with todaler and I am on the exact same boat and share the exact same feelings. I came to the dolphin world with 6.1.4 and spent like $500-600 on mods and about 4-5 months of time last year and was about to launch my site when Dolphin 7 related blogs started showing up with the dates mentioned by 'todaler'. I thought, it might not be worth spending time on installing 6.1.4 and then later upgrading it to 7.0 and it should be better to wait and it's almost 6-7 months now and I see more am nowhere close to the launch of my site. Ofcourse the money spent on 6.1.4 might go down the drain I guess...

And I am 10 years of 'software development' exp. so I am well aware of all the methodologies of software engg. and I understand it takes time but in the first place you should have mentioned this that we are looking for 6-8 months of timeframe and not 'couple of weeks'.

I understand 'Dolphin 7' looks awesome but it would had been nice if you could have released a beta version to public and we could have atleast launched our sites and disable the features that are under construction. Because we as web developers, also need time to market our sites, mod our sites and do other customizations for the site.Hope you guys listen to us and if possible release a mini beta in May or earlier :)

If not, then lets wait till June :(
MapleSwingers
MichelSwiss...I don't think it's fair to use the word 'impatient' when replying to todaler's post when he was just pointing out how frustrating it has been waiting for the product to see the light of day...and all the empty promises he has listed are facts.

Speaking of facts, in June will be 8 months since the promise was made for a new release...that's like a year and a half in 'Internet Time'. Everyone wants this software to be like facebook or like Twitter both of which are just fads...the see more 'soup du jour' if you will. Next month there will be a new killer app and you will all want boonex to make their software just like that so they will scrap version 7 and start working on version 8 so as to stay relevant with what is required to be relevant. At this point, why bother releasing anything...just keep giving us a list of features that could have been included if a release was ever to make the light of day.
Rasili
I love Dolphin make no mistake about this, I think it is one of the most powerful social networking, dating scripts ever. However technology is always changing as we can bear witness to with our own Dolphin 7. The reason for me placing this post is to get some feedback from those of us who are determined to see Dolphin become the most powerful script period bar none. Now, with all that said, there is a website that I have run across that offer very powerful features that I think dolphin should implement... see more Video Profiles, Video E-Mail, Video Dating, Video Resume, and Video Bazaar not to mention they have a powerful affiliate program in place. Now let me make myself totally clear I'm not trying to promote this site I think over all they are no match for Dolphin but they do have some interesting video features. I'm not even going to mention the website name as this has cause me negative feedback with a similar post on D7 test website. So that brings me to this question, why can't Dolphin have video e-mail? Maybe no one feel there is a real need for these video features, but it seems to me that video broadcasting and implementing video is where the internet is going. Please can I have your feedback? I have written similar post dealing with video e-mail in the past and have had very few responses, and about half of them were negative. But, I feel so strongly about these video features that I will continue to bring them up until I get some feedback especially from you Unoboonex. Is this request of mine feasible with D7 or is it even being considered? Just tell me something. I believe implementing video where ever we can with the Dolphin script is visionary thinking and looking ahead to the future. As we should already know, if a picture says a thousand words then video says it all. Forgive me everyone here for raising this issue again, I know I’m starting to sound like a broken record but I really feel that we need these features for Dolphin 7 to be light-years ahead in the game.

I would like to give a shout out to LightWolf who seems to agree with me here is his response to an earlier post I written about Video email For D 7

"I would really like the video email, that way admin can send video out about new things added and coming to site. So much more personal then newsletter. Very good idea Rasili"

Wow Light Wolf that is an excellent idea about admin sending out video newsletters to their members!!!

Thanks for your comments.

Is there anyone who would like to add input I’m really anxious to get feedback about this issue

I apologize for this long and wordy post
houstonlively
I checked out that site. I even registered. I hate to be the one to bust your bubble, but I'm not impressed in the least. Nothing seemed to work on that site. The site is crap, in my opinion. However, the concepts are easy enough to understand, so here's my two cents.

Video Profiles:

You'll have that in D7. You have it in D6, Members can record all the profile videos they want.


Video E-Mail:

I might buy into that. Perhaps in D 7.1 Member to member videos, should be reasonably see more easy to implement given the infrastructure of Dolphin




Video Dating:

I'm not sure what this means. Is it something like profile videos? ...... explain please.



Video Resume:

Sorry, but this simply is never going to fly. I can't even imagine that theatrical performers would want to use something like this. Magicians maybe.



Video Bazaar:

Most people using Dolphin are using it for some type of social networking site, so I don't see mass appeal for this amongst regular members. There might be some use here for busines to business sales. If, in D7, it s possile to include youtube videos in classified ads, you've got your 'Video Bazaar'.



In summary, much of what you ask is already possible. Video resumes...... useless in my opinion. Member to member video email might be something useful.
houstonlively
MichelSwiss and I may not agree on everything, but we definitely agree on:

Kill shared photos.

Kill shared Videos.

These two things involve basic core functionality. They are an inevitable change, and should be implemented in 7.0

To upgrade 6.1.4 site to 7.0, just create an upgrage script that organizes all existing shared media into a file structure and organize the media according to owner. Then, when a 6.1.4 site is upgraded to 7.0, members will find all of the videos and photos see more that they uploaded in a default photo or video album. Those users then can create multiple photo/video albums and move the media from the default album to any album of their choice. This is the only way that makes sense, especially where privacy controls on media are concerned.
MichelSwiss
;-))

I think that quite all Dolphin users are with us for Photo/Video Albums and Privacy settings, houstonlively :-)

Maybe you already seen that it will be a new feature: Shared Files !!!
As for me I'd like this Files feature to be done as Photo Albums, not as Shared media... What do you think ?
houstonlively
I can't say I completely understand the files module. Whatever it is, I'd put it off until D 7.1

If the file module is Boonex's way of handling existing shared media, I can't think of a worse solution. I've said on multipl occassions, that the way to handle existing shared media, would be to run an upgrade script, that reorganizes all the shared files and gives them back to the user that owns them. All ownership info is in the database and can be used to create a directory structure to organize see more all the media according to owner. This directory structure only needs to be created as it is needed. If a member has not uploaded any media, they don't need a directory structure to store it.

For instance, a users existing photos might be moved to:

dolphin7site.com/media/photo_albums/user_xx/default/

where user_xx is the member ID of the existing shared photo owners, and the 'default' subdirectory is the location of the deafult photo album. Then when the user creates other albums, other directories are created such as:

dolphin7site.com/media/photo_albums/user_xx/album1/
dolphin7site.com/media/photo_albums/user_xx/album2/
dolphin7site.com/media/photo_albums/user_xx/album3/
... etc, where album1, album2, & album3, etc, are new albums that the user created.
eclectech99
I am also in agreement about the photo and video sharing....Kill it....Privacy is a must.
annabel
The new roadmap puzzles me, because I really don't know how to interprete them.

I asked for ascending/descending sort possibility alphabetically and on age in members search result and I can't find it in the roadmap. This feature was available before v6 but it was deprecated. I really would like to see it back.

I also suggested a possibility to send group email to all participants of an event (f.e. when something changes), but this is not mentioned in the roadmap.

Private photos request see more was also deprecated in 6.1 and I would like to have this option again in 7.

Timezone was another problem that needed to be reviewed, but it's not mentioned.

So many things that seems to be 'forgotten' and I think it should be mentioned whether they will be looked into or not.

As long as we don't see the admin part, we cannot judge whether everything we need is implemented or not.
MichelSwiss
I think (and hope) that most of your requests are included in some generic tickets.

Timezone is maybe still missing... Could you please give more explanations about that you are expecting ?
annabel
Well, depending on where your server is situated (f.e. US), the time of emails being sent in by Belgian members is not showing correct.

Admin should be able to adjust timezone on where the script is running, not being installed.
annabel
The tickets are not clear to me, they don't give enough information about what is being done.
 
 
 
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