Connexions Development Update 2-3-2012

Well, the dream of posting a weekly update is not working out.  Things are very busy here and it is a challenge to find the time to write this post.  I am committed to writing an update periodically so I'm going to modify my plan to make this bi-weekly.

CCAP

• The Physics rendering in Prince XML is complete except for some math issues.  The code is on the development server and should move to production soon with Sociology.
• Our current focus is on getting the Sociology rendering tested and released.  The current release date is Feb. 8th or 9th.
• There are several Math issues in the Physics book.  Some of the problems were caused by the Word importer, some by the original structure of the math in the Word documents and others are font issues.  When the Physics book is migrated to production, we will run a script to clean up some of the import problems to minimize the need for human intervention.  Some of the font issues will not be able to be resolved because the Stix fonts do not have the needed font.  An example is an italicized delta.

CNX Conference Preparation

• We have over 50 people signed up for the Sprints!  We are very excited about this.  As best we can tell, about 30 of these will be developers/coders/designers.  With this many people involved, we are going to make a huge effort to have clear easy install instructions for the various options.  Next week, we will be testing everything and finalizing the instructions.
• Once the instructions are complete, we will post the link on the Rhaptos list so you can install Rhaptos or anything else you might need prior to arriving at the conference.
• Many thanks to all that are planning to Sprint with us!

OERPub API

• We released the latest version of the OERPub API last week.  It will be used during the Conference Sprints by the sprinters working on content.

HTML Editor Discussion

• We have had a little time to continue our discussion in house regarding a new editor for Connexions.
• Most of the discussion has been Microdata vs Microformats.  Neither has much traction in the wild.  
• CSS3 seems to have support for Microdata which would allow us to use it to decorate semantic elements.  Microformats also have CSS support.
• There has also been discussion on which editor to select.  TinyMCE and Aloha have been our focus.
• TinyMCE has a nice UI, but does not support all of HTML5.
• Aloha supports all of HTML5, but has an odd UI.  The UI is not bad, just takes a little getting use to.  The demos on Aloha's site are very specific so we need to install it and play with the configurations of the UI.
• I'm sure the editor will be discussed at the conference so let us know your thoughts if you are attending.