JomSocial 1.6 Brillo is Here!

JomSocial 1.6 codename Brillo is finally here!. We've worked long and hard on this release, adding new features and refining the product to make a faster, streamlined... just plain better JomSocial. And we think you will agree, this version rocks!

So what's new about JomSocial 1.6, erm, Brillo? Well, for starters, we have resolved over 170 minor issues that were logged in our internal issue tracking system. You can view the complete change log here, but let me briefly highlight some of JomSocial Brillo's exciting new features:

Amazon S3 Storage support

Why not utilize one of world's cheapest cloud storage solution to host your photos and video, while at the same time reducing your server access load? With JomSocial 1.6, you can do just that! JomSocial now allows you to use Amazon S3 highly scalable, reliable, fast and inexpensive data storage infrastructure that Amazon uses to run its own global network of web sites! With this, your site can graciously handle traffic spikes and your visitors can experience fast-loading site no matter where they are.

Massively enhanced privacy support

Sometimes you just want to post something private for your closed friends. We have now enhanced our privacy system on this release. Activity streams for example, will accurately show streams from public and friends activities only. If you want to keep things for yourself, others won't be able to view it. This applies to all private group activities as well. Private groups stay private!

Improved activity stream

We have made activity stream more informative and a lot more useful. We have strategically included content preview within each stream and allow admin to automatically hide unwanted activity from ever be shown. A few redundant activities are also unpublished by default. Not only activity streams now look a lot nicer, we’ve also organized and displayed them in a way that helps site members to discover new information and be kept up-to-date easily.

New API for new possibilities

We always strive to give more control and flexibility to 3rd party developers. We have added some ambitious new APIs to give 3rd party developers more empowerment. Plugins now have the ability to override any controller or even an ajax output. Giving more control to developers means that they can be more creative in developing new modules and plugins, opening a whole new world of possibilities for JomSocial.

Modules everywhere

You can now easily load any Joomla! modules within JomSocial content. We have added a number of strategically located module positions inside JomSocial itself. For example, making an announcement on top of all profile, is now easier than ever. Just create a new html module and assign it to "ejlxm_profile_top" module position. You can read more about this at http://www.jomsocial.com/docs/Built-in_module_positions

And tons of refinement and bug fixes

We work very closely with our fellow testers to crush numerous small annoying bugs, making this release one of our most refined and polished release ever. From updated styling to revised translations, input button removed to re-align icon position, all our hard work is geared towards making your community site easy to use!

Download JomSocial Brillo Now!

Head on over to the downloads section and download the latest and finely polished JomSocial now! If you haven't extended your JomSocial contract, do it now.

Finally, we'd like to congratulate @illet for suggesting the name Brillo as JomSocial 1.6's codename, which in Spanish means "brilliance" . You have won a year's upgrade of JomSocial. Congratulations!

We would also like to thanks our testers who has helped us, cambler ,egpark27 ,shane_french, artnco, Nobs, jean-marie_chauvel, testcouch, SlowSteady, joelz, daryl_baratta, jerryleelewis, jamalqc, SinisaKrisan, ArrO, yasin_rahim, vertigo, lagen, user81, skyer2000, magnus_folkesson, glamowner, posto, abbyevg, travis_ransome, cmills, blog.elimu.pl, Sulley, johkke, fuqaha, Lars, kai920, andrew_peelin and justgarciahill