After having spent many releases in the 1.x version branch we are changing the way we release features since version 2 of the Podlove Publisher.

In the future, we will release in a more focused way, adding new features only in 2.x releases and let 2.x.x versions provide bug fixes only. It should have been like this all the time but that's just how life works, right?

So now version 2.1 is around the corner and one of the big news is that it's coming with extensive support for WordPress Networks (also called multisite installations). We add some new stuff but we are also going to move some existing features to the network level making them more useful in the future.

Necessary incompatible changes for templates

The first and most obvious candidate for networks are Podlove Templates: Publisher 2.1 allows you to install site-wide templates and use them in every single podcast within the same WordPress Network. This should make it much easier to maintain a general feature set and/or look.

But be prepared: we needed to make a backward incompatible change to how Podlove Templates integrate with WordPress' shortcode system.

If you call templates via [podlove-template template="my-template" arg1="foo" arg2="bar"] then the system passed the arguments as twig variables arg1 and arg2 to the called template.

However, with Publisher 2.1 these variables will be renamed to option.arg1 and option.arg2 respectively so you will need to change your own templates as they might stop working properly once updated to the new version of the Publisher.

All internal templates are of course automatically adjusted so you need to be aware only if you have created your own templates with parameters. If you don't yet use these, nothing will haunt your sleep. If you do, please make sure to apply proper changes right after having updated.

Template name changes

In order to be compatible and side-effect free when you also install the new Podlove Subscribe Button plugin, we have renamed the shortcodes for displaying the Subscribe Button within Podlove Publisher.

What used to be called [podlove-subscribe-button] is now [podlove-podcast-subscribe-button] for consistency. The dashboard will tell you that but we thought it might be worth noting up front.

We apologise for the inconveniences. We hope the new release will otherwise entertain you and make you happy.