JFBConnect v5.1.2 is now available now with improvements to our new Google+ integration. This release contains compatibility enhancements, bug-fixes and minor improvements for the most powerful extension social network integration for Joomla.
To see all the changes, see the full JFBConnect Changelog or read on for the biggest changes.
With the initial v5.1.0 release, we moved from using the Mootools Javascript library to a combination of jQuery and Bootstrap. The writing was on the wall for Mootools being used in Joomla going forward, and this change should help us with a lot of great new features in the future.
Unfortunately, this move caused some compatibility issues with other extensions or templates that used jQuery and/or Bootstrap as well. With v5.1.2, we've changed how the 'Load jQuery' setting in JFBConnect works. When enabled, it will now include a combined jQuery and Bootstrap Javascript file that is specific to JFBConnect only. Other extensions that need jQuery will not be able to use our Javascript, and, consequently, our Javascript won't conflict with other extensions.
You still have the option to disable the "Include jQuery" setting, in which case JFBConnect will assume there is a copy of jQuery and the Bootstrap Javascript loaded on every page of your site and there are no existing conflicts with that setup.
It's your choice which mode will work best for your site. Including our jQuery/Bootstrap should universally work. Not including it may result in a slight speed improvement by not loading additional Javascript files.
The move to Bootstrap in v5.1.0 also caused a few CSS conflicts as the stylesheet we included had some generic styles that could collide with other template styles. The v5.1.2 release has a stylesheet which prefixes almost all of our styles with the class name "sourcecoast". That means that JFBConnect styles should no longer 'bleed' into other areas of your site.
There were multiple minor issues found and fixed in this release as well. While none were severe, there were issues that may be affecting administrators and users in various ways, and it's definitely recommended to upgrade to the newest release.
To see all the changes, see the full JFBConnect Changelog.
We're already at work on the v5.2 release of JFBConnect which will have some more major features. The biggest, by far, is Twitter authentication. We're very excited about this new feature, as we know many of you are as well.
That won't be all in the v5.2 release though. We are working on improved social sharing features, tools to help diagnose social meta data (Open Graph tags), and much more that we're very excited to deliver to you.
As always, new updates will be available to all active subscribers when it becomes available. Don't have an active subscription yet? Go ahead and get one now and get up to date and be ready for Twitter authentication!
