Commons version 2.0-beta1 released

Today we released Commons version 2.0-beta1. This release was previewed in a screencast mid-June, and now has reached Beta. Commons 2.0 is numbered as a major release for several reasons, the primary driver being that it introduces a significant change in the user experience.

Activity streams (a/k/a Facebook-style Statuses)

The new UX introduces the ability of users to post status messages on a new primary page that they will use - called their "Streams" page. Most users will be very accustomed to this type of interface, because it resembles that used by Facebook.  The success of Facebook, and the emerging use of this type of interface in other social business software solutions, attests to the effectiveness of this type of interface for end-users, and we are pleased to see it get added to Commons.

Users now have a "Streams" page that provides a stream of all the status entries they have created, plus status entries from other users they "follow", plus status entries created in the groups to which they belong. This stream also incorporates activity entries similar to those provided in version 1.7, which showed actions that were taken by their friends or in groups to which they belong. These activity entries are now interleaved with the status entries written by users.

Commons extends this activity stream interface into groups as well; each group home page has its own status entry box and activity stream containing status updates entered there by group members, and activity entries for actions taken by group members.

What does this change mean?

The technical effect of these changes is to merge actions that were previously separate in Commons: the "shoutbox" entries (which were like status entries) and the activity log. It also improves on them: the new status entry area also permits users to upload images to be shown with their status entry, or to link to web pages and have a preview of the web page appear in their status entry (again, similar to functions provided by Facebook). Users can also like and share status entries they think are interesting to others.

But the practical effect of these changes is to create a more engaging social environment. And to make sure users are fully up-to-date with what's happening there, and to bring them back to your community site, Commons 2.0 changes the way email notifications work. Instead of getting one-at-a-time updates for comments on pages, users will get a daily or weekly digest email containing a similar view of what they would see on their stream page. This includes links back to the site, so users can post comments, or read more. (The old style "subscribe" links are still there if users want more prompt updates on specific page items.) These emails are also likely to increase user engagement on your social business site.

(Note: The new UX is implemented via a newly-added module set, so this release disables the Shoutbox and Heartbeat modules. (They are still present in the distribution if sites need to restore them.) In addition, the new Streams page is intended to be the core place where users spend their time; so we've added some useful sidebar blocks there, and then disabled the (old) Dashboard. (Again, the Dashboard is still present in the distribution - for now.))

Other additions & changes

We've also changed users' profile pages to include a stream-like view; but unlike their own Stream page, this is one that lists only their activity. It's designed to be viewed by other users, and show only what that user is saying & doing - not what their extended friend network is saying/doing.

Commons 2.0 also adds "subgroups" capability.  Users creating groups can organize groups into hierarchies to reduce the clutter of large numbers of groups. Plus, administrators can opt to have content and users propagate up, or down group hierarchies, so that groups at various levels can get more expansive views of what's happening. For example, a political campaign site may create a group per-state, and subgroups per-district or city. If content-propagation is enabled, the state-level group will show content (blogs, discussions, etc.) from all the districts/towns as well as state-wide content.

What can you do?

So this starts Beta, which should run for at least a couple of weeks.  Here's what you can do:

• Download the Beta release from acquia.com
• Install it on a TEST server. We still don't recommend this for production sites.
• Ask usage or other questions by starting a discussion in this group. Try to distinguish between general questions and real bugs, because we want you to..:
• Report identifiable bugs on drupal.org

Note that if you have an existing Commons site, and have done extensive customization of the group home, or user profile pages, this amount of user interface change may require you to do some theming or context work to adapt your changes to the current layout. But we hope you will find it compelling, and exciting enough to dive right in to integrate the updates.

Amazing community effort

As a final note, I want to give some kudos.  The core of this release is driven by the switch to the "Facebook-style Statuses" module, which is written and maintained by Isaac Sukin - @icecreamyou on drupal.org. Isaac is proof of the power of an open source community. He is the maintainer of seventeen - count 'em, 11 - Drupal contributed modules. The work he did for Commons 2.0 is a big overhaul of the Facebook-style Statuses module, plus a new module called Activity Log. Oh, did I mention that Isaac is 19 years old, and is an amazing coder? (Just ask any expert drupalista...)

I first became acquainted with Isaac right after the version 1 release of Drupal Commons. He was interning for Mediacurrent, and wrote an analysis of Commons for them. (Oh, while he was 18 years old. And read the analysis - excellent insight & writing.) Based on his feedback, we thought hard about adding the type of user experience he was advocating for a year ago. It turned out that I connected to talk to him about that at the same time that he was looking for a summer internship for 2011.  He was interested in finding some place that would give him the liberty to really really invest time in his modules, and we interested in giving him the space to do it.

So Isaac has spent the summer both writing his new version of the Facebook-style Statuses module, weave it into Commons, learn how a company (like Acquia) thinks about & builds products, and how we operate as a software company. All in all, a wonderfully mutually-beneficial summer. Not only were we able to nurture a strong community contributor to get more great open source code written, we (hope we) were able to help him understand how the tech industry works. Great summer, eh?

Let us know what you think of Commons 2.0.

PS- we're following our own advice, and not putting Commons 2.0 Beta1 on this community site; we'll wait just a bit longer...