ProcessWire Weekly #176

Latest core updates: ProcessWire 3.0.76, some module updates, and more

In the latest post at the processwire.com blog Ryan finally gets to introduce that new, free module we've been hinting at for a few weeks now. We've also got a new version of ProcessWire, 3.0.76, available via the dev branch at GitHub – and also some pretty neat updates to both the commercial ProCache module and Admin Theme Uikit.

We'll take a closer look at the new LoginRegister module in just a few moments, but first let's take a quick look at the other goodies we got this week.

ProcessWire 3.0.76

The latest dev version of ProcessWire, 3.0.76, is a bugfix release. Among other things this version updates CKEditor from 4.7.0 to 4.7.3, fixes minor Repeater, RepeaterMatrix, and FieldsetPage issues, corrects some minor usability problems within the Admin, and improves the handling of URLs with unrecognized characters.

3.0.76 is all about resolving the issues reported via GitHub, and as such another small step towards a whole new stable master release. If you're using the dev branch, it is a good idea to update to this new version when you get the chance.

Admin Theme Uikit

Admin Theme Uikit has been on a hiatus while we're waiting for Uikit 3 to come out of beta. Though there's no stable release available quite yet, we now feel that it is stable enough for us to shift more of our focus towards getting the admin theme ready. The latest version of Admin Theme Uikit, now available via GitHub, includes the latest version of Uikit 3 along with various small improvements.

At this point Admin Theme Uikit is quite stable already, but looks a bit bland. Keeping that in mind, our next logical step involves diving into the skinning process. First of all we're going to focus on an Admin Theme Reno type look, so expect to hear more about that in the near future.

ProCache 3.1.7

The latest version of ProCache brings in a feature that we believe plenty of users should find useful: automatic compilation of SCSS and LESS files. In a nutshell you just provide ProCache with links to SCSS and LESS files, and during the minification process they are automatically compiled into plain old CSS.

This feature works with the API level calls $procache->css() and $procache->link(), but also when you've configured ProCache to automatically identify stylesheets. In the latter case you simply create a link tag pointing to a SCSS or LESS file, and ProCache automatically compiles the target file to CSS.

Next we'll take a closer look at the new Login and Registration module that Ryan has been working on. For more details about the latest core and Pro module updates, don't forget to check out Ryan's latest post at the processwire.com blog. Thanks!

New module: Login and Registration

Login and Registration is the new module from Ryan that we've been hinting at on a few occasions. In his latest blog post Ryan introduces this module in detail. Here's a brief summary of the key points:

• Login and Registration is a new free module that adds support for front-end login, registration, and profile editing. Though it is developed by Ryan, it is not part of the core.
• You can easily choose which features of the module you want to enable via module config settings. This means that specific features like front-end registration, profile editing, or password recovery can be enabled or disabled based on your needs.
• There are plenty of customization options available: the look and feel of the module can be modified to match your site, you can choose which fields to include on the registration form, you can choose whether users login with username or their email, etc.
• Many of the features of this module are hookable, which provides even more room for customization. You can also hook into the Inputfields themselves to customize the way they look or behave on your front-end forms.

One important thing to note here is that the main intent of this module is to provide a rock solid foundation for front-end login and registration related features. As such, the module will likely continue to evolve past its current state, and users are welcome to extend it either by hooking, or by creating new modules that extend it's main class.

Though front-end registration in particular opens the door to various potential issues, Ryan if anyone is the right person to set this thing in motion and, in the long run, keep it as safe as humanly possible. In case you've got a front-end registration and/or login related need, this is definitely the module you should check out.

Big thanks to Ryan for making this module and sharing it with the community. Absolutely fantastic work, as always!

Site of the week: Safety Management

Our latest site of the week belongs to a Daventry, UK based company Safety Management.

The consultants working for Safety Management deliver a hands-on, common sense approach to health and safety for companies working on engineering, manufacturing, retail, construction or logistics sectors. Their services include – among other things – risk assessments, audits and inspections, policy development, and health and safety training.

The responsive, beautifully designed website of Safety Management is the handiwork of Suspire Media, an UK based company specializing in affordable responsive websites for non-profit organizations, charities, and small businesses. The implementation – which, mind you, works great on all sorts of devices – is based on Suspire Media's own set of tools, but also makes use of some popular front-end projects, such as SlickNav, jQuery lightSlider, and Owl Carousel.

Big thanks to the folks at Suspire Media for sharing their work with us, and congratulations to Safety Management for having such a great website!

Stay tuned for our next issue

That's it for the 176th issue of ProcessWire Weekly. We'll be back with more news, updates, and content Saturday, 30th of September. As always, ProcessWire newsletter subscribers will get our updates a few days later.

Thanks for staying with us, once again. Hope you've had a great and productive week, and don't forget to check out the ProcessWire forums for more interesting topics. Until next week, happy hacking with ProcessWire!