GD bbPress Toolbox Pro 4.7: 5th birthday anniversary edition

On May 27, 2012, GD bbPress Toolbox Pro 1.0 was released. Today, we celebrate plugins 5th birthday with a brand new major release, version 4.7 bringing many new features, improvements and fixes.

GD bbPress Toolbox Pro is the most important plugin developed at Dev4Press, and that is not only because of the number of sales it has compared to other plugins. GD bbPress Toolbox Pro helped shape the Dev4Press development process, and it was the first of our plugins to get the admin interface now used by all Dev4Press plugins, it was first to get d4pLib shared code library, and it was first to get modular structure that evolved to addon based architecture now used by some Dev4Press plugins.

Version 4.7 is a very important release because it prepares the plugin for major changes planned for the version 5.0 (it should be out in October), and it brings another set of new features and fixes. Once again, all new features in this version are based on the user feedback.

Expanded notification system includes new notifications when anyone edits the reply. It works like the topic on edit notifications added in the previous version, with 2 extra checkboxes on the reply edit screen. And, plugin includes a new type of notifications for notifying keymasters and moderators about the new topic. You also have options to modify notifications content and subject for these notifications. Also, few bugs in the notification system are fixed related to override settings were not used in some cases.

Some of the plugin core objects are reorganised and loading process was improved and ready for future updates. The plugin uses a brand new major version of Dev4Press Shared Code Library (v2.0.1), and it changes how some things are loaded.

All widgets have been updated. Widgets interface now uses proper HTML input types for browser-based validation, ARIA markup is used for widget tabs controls for better accessibility, and all widgets classes are updated. Forum Statistics widget has improved rendering and saving the widget settings, and fix for the rare issue with settings handling. Topics Views widget is also improved. Validation and sanitation of the widget settings are improved and enhanced.

Other changes include:

• TinyMCE editor options include one new option for QuickTags (HTML editor).
• SyntaxHighlighter is updated to latest stable 4.0.1 version.
• Various improvements for the syntax highlighting code.
• Filters to modify the strings for the “Say Thanks” module.
• Admin interface accessibility improvements.
• SEO module has few more tweaks to improve excerpt generator.
• The plugin will disable if the system requirements are not met.
• The plugin now requires WordPress 4.3 or newer.

And finally, settings panels are improved to prevent losing unsaved settings if you navigate from the page. If you change any option and don’t save, trying to load something else will cause the browser to show notice, and you can save settings without losing changes.

During the Summer, you can expect one more major version (4.8) that will add few new things, and further improve plugin core, followed by the major 5.0 version in the late October.

If you find any issues or problems with the plugin, please report them in the support forum.