What's next for Newscoop? Super search with Solr...
2013 has barely started and it hasn't been long since 4.0.3 was released, but we are moving ahead with another upgrade, Newscoop 4.0.4. Better still, Newscoop 4.1 is on the way with a spectacularly fast search functionality that opens up your archives.
Show me more of 4.0.4!
While Newscoop 4.0.4 is only a minor maintenance and bug fix release we also addressed one main problem related to the comments. The issue was flagged by Newscoop users Brasil 247 (55 million page views per month and counting!).
Some journalists noticed that they experienced a problem loading the edit screen for articles having a large amount of comments. With this fix there has been an improvement allowing writers to load more comments with a simple pagination function. The "Show more comments" button makes it much easier to read and navigate feedback on your website.
Show more comments in Newscoop 4.0.3
Alongside this new feature, there were a number of bug fixes related to the upgrade from the previous version.
Georgia spurs new search engine with Solr
In the upcoming weeks we plan to highlight the work of independent news organisations from Georgia using Newscoop. With their aid we have been developing an overhauled front end search function built using Solr. The new feature will enable better searching, an important feature that helps both journalists and readers.
Tamila Varshalomidze of Newscafe.ge, the multi-platform news website operated by students of Caucasus School of Journalism and Media Management at Georgian Institute of Public Affair states that "Sourcefabric is helping us create a user-friendly news website that is easy to manage." Working alongside groups like this, Newscoop can respond to news organisations requests and develop the open source CMS software in tandem with independent journalists.
The cornerstone of the Newscoop 4.1 release will be better search resulting from the Georgian sites using Newscoop. The exact release date is under wraps, but a little bird tells me it may be out before the end of the month!