Ongoing code optimizations
25th February 2010 by René Lasseron | Add comment
To better support future developments of Saurus CMS, we are currently optimizing code during which we will remove some older and experimental features. The result will be faster and lighter product and smaller installation package. Here's what the next Saurus CMS upgrade will miss:
Statistics
A year ago we announced discontinuation of Statistics module, now we will remove it completely. All related product code, graphics files and database tables will be removed. So, write down the strategic numbers and install Google Analytics tracker under Admin > Properties > Site properties.
Version 3 templates
For backwards compatibility, version 4 included PHP-based templates from version 3. The next product update will remove these templates and tries to replace them with Saurus API based templates when possible:
Replaced content templates
These version 3 templates will be replaced by appropriate version 4 template:
1 Column Layout > Articles: 1 columns
2 Column Layout > Articles: 2 columns
Article headlines > Articles: bulleted list
News with Archieving > Articles: news with archive
Forum > Forum
Advanced search > advanced search which can be called by ?op=advsearch in URL
Gallery > Gallery. In version 3, pictures were kept in database. Version 4 uses filesystem based galleries. Next version upgrade will export pictures from database to new folders /public/galleries/album_name after which they will be deleted from the database.
Documents > Documents. In version 3, documents were were kept in database. Version 4 uses filesystem based document template. Next version upgrade will export files from database to new folders /public/galleries/section_name after which they will be deleted from the database.
Object's detail view
As with content templates, we will also replace detail views of article, forum post and comment by their version 4 counterparts.
Removed content templates
The following rudimentary templates are completely removed without a standardized alternative: External application, Business trips, Personnel, Birthdays.
eShop
Saurus CMS 3 included an eShop module which also existed in version 4 product code without any usage. The next upgrade will remove related database tables, administrator's tools and Saurus API tags.
For bigger e-shops we recommend using Magento open source platform. For smaller shops, you can still use Custom Assets and Profiles feature in Saurus CMS.
Events and resources
These were experimental developments which do not make any sense in current Google Calendar era.
Gzip
Saurus CMS administrator's view allowed you to turn on gzip compression for index.php and styles.php but caused problems with IE6 and did not have any effect for included static files. We suggest to turn on both compression and Etags in Apache configuration instead. Just follow our guide to site performance.
Session length
From Admin > Configuration you were able to set the session time limit for authenticated users. Unfortunately it caused problems for 3rd party extensions which used alternative authentication methods. So we removed this feature and recommend setting session length in PHP configuration.
MS SQL
Saurus CMS included some experimental support for Microsoft SQL database which has been removed now.
Other modules
In addition, the following exotic modules were also removed: Mapped sections, Spam, ServIT, Ploting functionality and version 3 Metadata.
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