Upcoming in 2012

A stable 1.2 series and a sneak preview of things to come in 1.3 development preview series made 2011 a big year for Xibo. There was a lot of work behind the scenes and not a lot of releases – we want 2012 to change this!

Our main aim for 2012 is to bring about shorter release cycles – meaning instead of getting 1 massive release a year with lots of features, we should put out a number of smaller releases, each containing a few features.

So what can you expect?

“Marketing”
To someone that has not used/seen the software before, Xibo doesn’t look inspiring, the website is lacking in key areas, documentation is lacking and marketing is lacking – however we feel that in terms of features, stability and completeness Xibo competes well with a lot of digital signage platforms.

2012 should see a turn around in Xibo’s image. There should be:
– An improved website
– Better introductory material (“marketing” material)
– More frequent updates of the website news (and a push to get these out on Twitter / Facebook)
– More frequent releases and a focus on design
– Improved “User Manual” and associated documentation
– Feature “Spotlights” to better engage people on the new things we are putting in

Server Improvements
The 1.3 series server should shortly be released as 1.4 rc1 and become the next stable release. Beyond this we will be looking to get the following addressed in 1.5:
– Templating using Smarty
– Campaigns
– Reusable region timelines
– Complete the Xibo API (and documentation)

Client Improvements
A focus on improvements to stability and library management:
– Improved file downloading in the .NET client (threaded downloads, pause/resume, status updates, information screen)
– Improved library management (detect unused files and delete them)
– Schedule accuracy improvements in the Python client (complete control of when layouts expire)
– Stability improvements in both clients

As always, if you have anything you especially want in Xibo, please do feel free to add it in the “Blueprints” section of Xibo. We do a regular review of all these blueprints – they really do get included!

If you feel you can help with any of the above, please do get in touch.

Best wishes.