Dear Piwigo enthusiast beta-testers, this message is for you!

We're excited to announce the availability of the first beta-test release for Piwigo 2.9. Following feedback and recommendations from many users, design has become a priority for this release. Piwigo 2.9 includes many cosmetic changes in administration pages. Of course it also includes various other improvements such as technical improvements, increased speed. This version 2.9.0beta1 is for test only, so don't install it on your live website.

1) Changes

Here is the list of changes compared to Piwigo 2.8. First the changes for users:

* modernized administration pages (colors, less borders, more icons)
* redesigned tag manager
* redesigned administration homepage, ie dashboard
* password generator on user creation form
* options on album deletion when dealing with photos
* download link on photo edition page, for admins
* quick link to edit ability you just created
* find duplicate photos based on checksum

... and then more "technical" changes:

* dataTables.js updated to version 1.10
* improved history engine: faster and keeps history small
* new "messages" box (blue color) in addition to infos (green), errors (red) and warnings (yellow)
* session automatic deletion more often
* faster opening for user edition box (no search in history for "last visit")
* API method pwg.session.getStatus returns list of available photo sizes
* new album can be sorted at the bottom of the list (instead of top)

Full list available on Github

2) Screenshots



Here we go with the biggest change on 2.9: design! Dark header, footer and menubar. Less borders. Brand new administration home page.




The tag manager now has a distinct selection mode, to apply actions in batch.





When deleting an album containing photos, Piwigo will now ask you what you want to do with photos associated to the album.





Piwigo 2.9 comes with a modernized Batch Manager: icons for checkboxes, specific fieldset separator (only on this page, waiting for user feedback), new colors for selected thumbnail (dark gray) and "below the cursor" (Piwigo orange) thumbnails.




3) Start to beta test

Download Piwigo 2.9.0beta1

If you can't install it but want to test it, just ask and we will happily provide a testing installation.

Please, open a new topic in the beta testing forum for each problem you may encounter.

We would also like your feedback on the new design. It's a major priority to attract more users on Piwigo!

Happy beta-testing :-)