contribute 3.11 to v4 ? what's different?

[AccDev]

I've have looked for the last 1/2 hour all over Adobe, trying to find a page
that would show me what is different/added
from v3.11 to v4. does anyone have a clue, or a link, or anything??

thanks
:disgust;

[janetzag]

I had the ame problem and found some pages with a list of what is in Contribute
4 but not an actual comparison. I finally called Adobe and talked to a
pre-sales person. He said the features are the same as in Contribute 3 plus
they added:
Flash/Video Support (you can drag in Flash to be placed on a page)
Blog development
Import docs from Microsoft Apps
Use CFM, PHP, several programming languages
.mac support (using their templates)
Spell Check (a nice feature)

Since I design the sites for my clients and many of them would not need most
of the list above, the real added feature would be spell check.

You can also take part in an Online Live Seminar. Go to:
[url]http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/event/index.cfm?event=detail&id=590654&loc=en_us[/url]

-Janet

[abna]

Ummm, 3.11 already had spell check.

The "new features" info on Adobe actually lists several things that aren't new. More important though--what did they FIX?

[Shane T - Adobe TS]

There were well over 1200 bugs that were addressed in this release both new and old. Do you have a specific issue that you are wondering about?

Shane
Adobe TS

[abna]

Actually, I've been keeping a list:

Getting disconnected from the CPS when publishing large files
When publishing large files--files starting at around 30 MB--a timeout occurs
and the user is disconnected from the CPS. The files do get published, but the
user must reconnect to continue working.

Getting randomly disconnected from templates
At random times when working in Contribute, users get disconnected from the
templates. When attempting to use one of the template features, like the
repeating region controls or the template properties, the users get an error
message.

Unable to set absolute paths for images
It is necessary at times (like when working with includes) for image paths to
be written absolutely, like "/images/mypic.gif" instead of
"../../images/mypic.gif". However, Contribute will rewrite the path relatively
when users attempt to enter an absolute path.

Missing image alignment properties
The image alignment properties are missing some options: baseline, bottom,
text top, absolute middle, absolute bottom.

Repeating region controls can disappear
If a user clicks the minus button one too many times on a repeating region,
the controls will disappear along with the last item. The user can't get the
controls back without going to Dreamweaver.

Non-WYSIWYG display of bulleted list CSS
Bulleted list styles do not display correctly in edit mode. In particular,
border and margin are not supported correctly.

Background colors can still be set even when disallowed
Even if a user's role settings disallow the use of background colors, they can
still set them in tables using "Format Table". This should be deactivated if
"Allow user to apply font color and background color" is unselected.

Contribute crashing on launch
For an unknown reason, Contribute sometimes crashes on launch.

Auto File Deployment
Needed modifications to handle a three-server environment
(Develop-Test-Deploy) and to handle dependent files correctly.

Simple File Deployment
Needed modifications to limit access by role and to list all pages

Setting image properties for images in the shared assets
There is no way to set default image properties for images in the shared
assets.

Adding descriptions for shared assets
Need a way to add a description for each asset that would get displayed in the
shared assets menu, since code assets show nothing in the preview window.

Tag Selector
When trying to select a bulleted list to apply a style to it, sometimes the
style will get applied to the [BULLET] tag and sometimes it gets applied to the
[LI] tag. When trying to select a link to apply a style to, the style may be
applied to the <a> tag, <p> tag, [LI] tag, or to a <span> tag. The inability to
add a style to the correct tag can have a huge impact on the site's design.

User-Friendly Terminology
My users are confused by the naming of some some of the features. Menu items
for working offline or on pages that are not part of a "site"--Open, Close
Draft, Save As, Export, Work Offline--should be kept in a separate menu and
clearly labelled.

List of Reviewers
The list of reviewers should be limited to just show any user whose role
provides them access to the page that's being sent for review.

Multiple Roles
Users should be allowed to hold more than one role within a site, so they can
have one set of role settings for one area of the site and other settings for a
different area.

Publisher-NonEditor Role
Need a way to set the actions that can be taken on a site or in a role, ie
whether or not users can send for review, publish, delete, rollback, or edit.
This would be helpful for an approver role--you want them to be able to approve
a page by hitting publish, but you don't want to let them try to make changes
themselves.

[zippy]

And how many bugs weren't addressed in this release?


"Shane T - Adobe TS" <webforumsuser@macromedia.com> wrote in message
news:ehlipe$l8r$1@forums.macromedia.com...

> There were well over 1200 bugs that were addressed in this release both
> new and old. Do you have a specific issue that you are wondering about?
>
> Shane
> Adobe TS

[Shane T - Adobe TS]

I'll need to dig on the list...

Not fixed...

~400 bugs marked as deferred out of this release to a future release. Which is
actually not bad in comparison to other products I work with. These range from
crashers to enhancement requests.

Also, I am not the best at searching that database so I could be off on any or
all of these numbers.

Shane
Adobe TS

[Tom Benjamin]

It would be really great if Adobe published an "issues fixed in this release"
document, for example
[url]http://www.mozilla.org/projects/security/known-vulnerabilities.html[/url]

Nice list abna! I could do with some of those being fixed myself.

[zippy]

Wow! Double Wow! If I let that many KNOWN bugs go by in the software I write
I would quickly be shown the door and not invited back!

Guess that's the advantage of a big corporation having a marketing
department that makes the decisions to force software out the door before
it's ready!!




"Shane T - Adobe TS" <webforumsuser@macromedia.com> wrote in message

> ~400 bugs marked as deferred out of this release to a future release.
> Which is

[Shane T - Adobe TS]

See, now those are the comments that make me regret even giving an honest
answer. I'll ask the product manager if they want to disclose the bug fixed
list, ultimately, that is his decision.

I bet there are more bugs that are fixed that are not in that list from
Mozilla, those are just the ones they chose to disclose.

Shane
Adobe TS

[Tom Benjamin]

I think Adobe would have got off to a better start with Contribute 4 if they
had given a real picture of what's new in this version. Show me something that
helps me justify the upgrade! The Upgrade Guide page/ just doesn't do that.

Maybe Firefox does have more bugs, but at least they're telling us which ones
they've fixed!

[Shane T - Adobe TS]

Ok, I'm out at this point.

Tom, download the trial and see if you like it. If you do, upgrade, if you
don't then stick with your current version and uninstall 4. We'll be releasing
another version in the future and I will pass along your comments to the
Product Manager. Hopefully next time we'll get it right.

Thanks

Shane
Adobe TS

[spokesperson]

Try it and see if I like the upgrade? That's not very good advice. It isn't a
question of whether I LIKE the upgrade; it's a question of whether installing
it is going to be beneficial to us. A pro will want to read the release
notes, to see what the new features are, what was fixed, and what the
unresolved issues are. AFTER reading that information, if there are not enough
red flags to warn one off, is the time to go the next step, which is to install
the software and try it. Most responsible software vendors have been
providing that kind of information for decades, now -- some doing a better job
of it than others.

I don't blame Adobe for not wanting to provide the bug list in internal, raw
form. But unwillingness to provide informative release notes is a huge red
flag to me. I am not going to roll the upgrade out to 30 users without having
a good reason why, which I likely am not going to have without reading the
release notes first.

(I found this forum and this thread because I, too, wasted a lot of time this
afternoon trying to find release notes.)

[abna]

I've been told by a couple of people that you can run 3.11 and 4 at the same
time, so that's what I'm going to do. That way I can still have 3.1 to
administer my real site with while I test out 4 on a separate site. I certainly
wouldn't recommend using 4 on your real site without some solid information
first. And I'm not letting my users upgrade to 4 until I'm satisfied that it
makes things better and not worse. Besides, we still have some seats left to
hand out on the 50-package we bought.

[ajtaylor]

Here is a bug that has never been fixed. The Contribute/FlashPaper toolbars in
Word working with the EndNote toolbar. This was an issue that was raised when
FlashPaper was first released (and never been resolved) and now has become a
problem with the new Contribute toolbar in Word. I utilize other 3rd party
toolbars in conjunction w/ Word & EndNote and they have never posed a problem.

[THuckabay]

Quite! Personally, I have tested and read about every feature of both
Contribute 3.11 AND 4. In doing so, I have concluded that the ONLY truly new
features in Contribute 4 are those directly related to blogs and blogging. Bug
fixes are nice, but really should be released as patches, and do not, in my
view, qualify for a major release on their own. Unless one has a need to
create or support site(s) that involve blogs, there is NO GOOD REASON to
upgrade to Contribute 4. Moreover, while one might try to argue that doing so
is justified based upon bug fixes, that's just shooting in the dark since Adobe
has not released any kind of a list of fixed bugs, etc. What disappoints me
about this even more is Adobe's clear DISHONESTY in its supposed "new features"
lists for Contribute 4. As has already been pointed out in this forum, most of
those features are NOT NEW, but already present in Contribute 3.11, and those
that are new, as I've said, are ALL related to blogs and blogging. What Adobe
should have done is put Contribute 4 as Contribute 3.5 instead, and published a
complete list of bug fixes as well as remaining known issues. That at least
would give the developer community some level of comfort as to Adobe's
integrity and honesty, both of which are essential for any company to truly
prosper. I hope this is not a sign of things to come now that Adobe has
acquired Macromedia. As far as I am concerned, this is more than a minor
mis-step on Adobe's part. When Studio 9 is finally released, I for one, will
feel less confident from the start that I should upgrade. I expect more from
Adobe/Macromedia than this!

[PC1138]

A point not explicitly mentioned is the improved CSS support in C4's
WYSIWYG environment. For our needs, that alone was worth upgrading as we
have recently moved to an all box-model layout in templates. (Worth the price
is another story.)

As a follow-up comment, an honest "What is New Document" and not simply a
marketing one-sheet is a basic expectation from a professional organization;
that is what is causing such consternation against the Adobe/Macromedia debut
of a product release.

Adobe, some comments are venting - but don't run and hide, we just need
information in order to do our job with your products.