ExpressionEngine 2.0 will soon debut, bringing with it a more powerful new engine under the hood and an elegant new control panel to drive it with!
When will ExpressionEngine 2.0 be released?
ExpressionEngine 2.0 will be released in the summer of 2008.
ExpressionEngine 2.0 will be built with CodeIgniter as its new underlying architecture. This is great news for both the ExpressionEngine and CodeIgniter communities. ExpressionEngine users will now have access to a huge community of great PHP developers, and CodeIgniter users can now offer a full-featured CMS to their clients.
The ExpressionEngine Control Panel is being redesigned with a strong focus on improved usability, greater productivity, more logical controls, and easier theming and customization. The movie at the top of the page showcases one of the default new themes and gives you an idea of the great changes taking place. Please keep in mind that there is much that could not be shown yet since EE 2.0 is still under development.
As more features get finalized we will reveal some of them, although we do plan to keep some secrets until the final release!
ExpressionEngine has had the same price for over three years. During that time the capability of the application has vastly increased, the number of modules more then doubled, and our development and support team has grown much larger. While our final pricing decisions have not been made, we expect that there will be a modest price increase.
It is always best to buy the current release, rather then waiting for a future version. The vast majority of what you learn and develop in the current version of ExpressionEngine will also apply directly to 2.0, and the upgrade process will be easy. The underlying design metaphor is not changing in 2.0, just improving. Or, said another way, there will be very little to unlearn in 2.0 but a lot to celebrate.
We intend to make upgrading from 1.6.2 to 2.0 as smooth and seamless as possible. You can prepare by updating your existing ExpressionEngine installation to the latest release, which is 1.6.2. When ExpressionEngine 2.0 is released we will make any additional steps necessary for the upgrade available in the User Guide in our usual thorough fashion.
You can renew now without any fear that you will lose time after upgrading. Your license status will be taken into consideration when you upgrade.
CodeIgniter is our Open Source PHP application framework. CodeIgniter is a toolkit that lets PHP developers write code faster and more productively. Think of it this way: ExpressionEngine is a fast way to develop powerful, dynamic websites. CodeIgniter is a fast way to develop powerful, secure web applications like ExpressionEngine. Derek Allard outlines the benefits of EE on CI on the EE blog. If you are a developer please join us at CodeIgniter.com.
We will be releasing a Developer Preview of ExpressionEngine 2.0 prior to ExpressionEngine 2.0’s public release. This will give developers the opportunity to update their add-ons to ensure compatibility with ExpressionEngine 2.0. Although third-party add-ons for the 1.x version of ExpressionEngine will not work with 2.0, the changes necessary to make them work are minimal. We will provide a list of add-ons that have been updated for 2.0
If you are a developer for EE please subscribe to the ExpressionEngine Blog as we will post information on how to apply for the Developer Preview there when it’s available.
