Simple Invoices new 2008 12 02

Hi Guys,

Some Simple Invoices news:

Progress on the Beta 2 release of Simple Invoices is going slow

• documentation, fixing and completing the postgres code, and make database backup work with PDO are the main things to get done
• there will be a release for Beta 2 pre xmas though

New UI

• i've been thinking about a new UI for Simple Invoices for a long time. i find the current UI - nice looking but to clunky and not intuitive with all those drop down menues and the like
• i'm working on an extension for Simple Invoices to redo the UI in a very simple and friendly way - think wordpress admin page with a mix inspiration from the design provded by Januz in

http://simpleinvoices.org/forum/discussion/608/design-for-the-interface-designer-offers-his-skills-/#Item_10

• i'll upload a demo once more work is done
• or you can svn checkout trunk and enable the tab_menu extension

Simple Invoices to hard to install

• given that getting Simple Invoices installed on your server needs some knowledge of mysql/apache/php - this limits our audience quite alot
• i'm working on 2 things to make a change to this
  • 1 - we've been invited to join the beta testing of the new bitnami.org
    • Bitnami makes installing apps like Simple Invoices just a couple of clicks for all platforms - windows uses get a .exe and follow the promts and it'll isntall and config everything etc..
    • If anyone want to help out building the bitnami/Simple Invoices package, let me know - its not that hard - just requries time and patience
  • 2 - another option im working on is offering free Simple Invoices hosting
    • this is still very much a work in progress but i hope to start offerign hosting pre xmas
    • note: this won't replace Simple Invoices from being downloadable and free/open source - just complement it - similar to wordpress.org and wordpress.com

SQLite

• now that were using PDO for database we can use a variety of database servers for Simple Invoices - not just mysql
• the postgres version just needs a few updates and it'll be ready to go
• a SQLite version is also under way - if anyone has sqlite experince or wants to learn - just let me know - i really want to get this on out asap

What to lend a hand?

• There has been some comments that the database upgrade from old versions of Simple Invoices to Beta 1 may have caused some data issues
• We need more people to test upgrading from old versions to Beta 1 and posting if the data was OK after the upgrade
• we need you to use real data and post what version you are upgrading from
• please post your results in this thread http://simpleinvoices.org/forum/discussion/670/simple-invoices-news-2008-12-01/ in the forum

Cheers

Justin