Grab it while it is still warm! Breadcrumb NavXT 4.0 Alpha is now available, in SVN Trunk. It has been several years since Breadcrumb NavXT has had an Alpha/Beta release. With the underlying changes in the settings structure, it seemed appropriate to have an informal Alpha release in addition to a formal Beta release.

Note that this is Alpha quality software, not all features that will be in 4.0 have been implemented yet. Several features slated for 4.0 have not been implemented yet. Some features in the settings page are not working currently do to changes in WordPress 3.3 (waiting for 3.3 to stabilize). The plan is to use the new Help menu constructs to proved better documentation within the plugin. Additionally, the Import/Export/Reset tab needs a new home, most likely under the new Help menu.

This would be a good time to note that Breadcrumb NavXT 4.0 will require WordPress 3.3. Finally, SVN Trunk will be usable (non-broken) from today until after 4.0 is released. If you find any bugs/PHP errors/PHP warnings, please report them in the comments section of this post.

Grab the Alpha/SVN trunk version of Breadcrumb NavXT.

-John Havlik

[end of transmission, stay tuned]

Currently, a quite dramatic change in settings, and as a result, behavior, is scheduled for Breadcrumb NavXT 4.0. The aim is to both reduce the number of options, while increasing the flexibility of Breadcrumb NavXT. This means replacing the prefix, suffix and anchor settings with two templates for most breadcrumb types. One template is the default template for the breadcrumb, the other is the template used when the breadcrumb is not linked. Note that some breadcrumbs will never use a linked template. There will be a settings upgrade/migration script from the 3.x settings to the 4.0 settings.

Unlike previous releases, 4.0 will have a full Alpha and Beta test release phase before the final version is available. The first Alpha will be available once the settings are fully changed over and a few required bug fixes are done. The first Beta will be available once all planned features are implemented. As for a release date, don’t plan on anything beyond an Alpha before October. This has been seriously delayed due to a project I was pulled into due to personnel issues. Hopefully, that project will be wrapping up soon.

-John Havlik

[end of transmission, stay tuned]

What will most likely be Breadcrumb NavXT 3.9.0 is feature complete. The singular new feature, support for custom post type archives, has been implemented. Just a little tidying up of loose ends is needed before sending it off for translation. The actual release date is tentatively this upcoming Monday.

Note that this release is not synchronized with the SVN trunk (and why I’m trying to get it out and done quickly). Work towards 4.0 is already reflected in the SVN trunk version, and it is significantly different from 3.9.x.

Grab the Breadcrumb NavXT SVN 3.9.x Branch version to try out 3.9.0 before it is released.

-John Havlik

[end of transmission, stay tuned]

A major cause of the “Settings not Saved” error has already been fixed. This closes off the ability to get into the problem. Code that detects a site with that problem and fixes it still needs to be written. Originally, 3.8.2 was going to be released last Friday. It was bumped to this Monday, and now I’m “punting” to sometime around the end of the month.

An intermediate solution for users affected by this issue is to perform a settings reset:

1. Navigate to the Breadcrumb NavXT settings page (Under Settings > Breadcrumb NavXT).
2. Click on the “Import/Export/Reset” tab next to the “Help” tab in the upper right hand corner of the screen.
3. On the dropdown press the “Reset” button.

After completing these steps you should be able to save your settings without receiving the “Settings not Saved” error.

Note that this error is not something new to Breadcrumb NavXT 3.8.0, it is only made apparent due to the message introduced in 3.8.0. The absolute root cause of this is the activation action is not being fired for the method of installing plugins used by affected users (something that may be indirectly fixed in WP 3.2).

-John Havlik

[end of transmission, stay tuned]

What will become WP Lynx 0.3.0 is feature complete. As with Breadcrumb NavXT, all features scheduled for this release, as stated in Plugin Roadmaps for H1 2011, have been implemented. All that remains is a little work on upgrade hooks. Technically, this is a mtekk_admin class issue, but it will benefit both WP Lynx and Breadcrumb NavXT.

By the end of the week Breadcrumb NavXT will be released to the translation team. The beginning of the release wave is expected to be February 21st, and will end with WP Lynx 0.3.0 on the 25th.

Grab the WP Lynx SVN Trunk version to try out 0.3.0 before it is released.

-John Havlik

[end of transmission, stay tuned]