Community Notes:

I hope you have noticed the chatter on the community.  It is growing strong and will continue to grow once the import [ of the old forums ] has been completed.  We are also going to install the final release of Community server.  I encourage the use of the forums to all users for quick support of issues.  This way rainbow experts and developers can answer questions to solve real world solutions.  I also encourage the use of blogs especially if there are any Rainbow or 2.0 authors out there.

Rainbow 2.0 Alpha 1.0 :

  Jon and Sam have been showcasing what I am terming the next release of rainbow.  We have solved some major issues with install with the last release and this release will showcase Rainbows raw power on the 2.0 framework.  It will include a more class library approach on the portal and employ a direction toward the first release of Rainbow 2.0.  This is in no means a stable release and is for interested users and developers alike who wish to contribute by solving issues.  It will also include a theme [ i hope themes] that Sam has been working on.  He is solving a lot of issues that Rainbow UI has had for years.  He is working on mostly how modules show width inside rainbow and how text seems to run on some controls.


Future Direction:

I personally believe that DesktopModules needs to be taken out of the Rainbow directory and just left as its own solution.  One, its easier to develop the modules if Rainbow has a basic set [ say Admin] and the core modules are in an outside solution.  I also think they should be formally named Modules and that other terms such as DesktopLayout should be corrected.

I believe that DesktopLayouts [ speaking of them] will be factored out to Master pages and a folder of maybe MasterPages should be created for the use of Rainbows Master page system.  This sytem only really includes replacing the Desktop Layout on the pages with a master page declaration.  This will lead to application specific master pages so as you create applications that run on top of rainbow, you will have a master page to relate back to.

Skins and themes are on thier way as skins/themes are just CSS and Sam created his theme in pure CSS.  App_themes is already present in jon's latest release and only takes a few steps.  I say we knock out master pages and add app_theme use right after that.

Time Table for Rainbow 2.0 Alpha 1.0 Release:

Developers submit code for final testing : March 1st, 2006
Testing and SVN Admin certify and creation of Release : March 13th , 2006


Signing Off,

  Im starting a new job at the FAA as a senior ASP.NET developer.  I speacializae in 2.0 migration [ go figure].  I am going to try to step up my contribution but work does call.  Keep in touch by email if you want to get invovled.

Cheers,

Ramseur