Recent Activity: Better File Uploader 2.0

It's been quite a while since I've posted anything substantial here, and even my regular posting schedule has slowed down quite a bit. What's been keeping me from it?

I've been rewriting the Better File Uploader plugin for Movable Type. Better File Uploader version 1.x has proven to be a very popular plugin that makes adding photos (and other files) to a Movable Type site quite a bit easier. The release of MT 3.3, however, caused some necessary rewrites for BFU to work. That took longer than anticipated and left me feeling adventurous, so I decided to do the rewrite for version 2.0, which I had been considering for quite a while.

BFU2 adds quite a bit of new features that I think people are really going to like. In fact, I think BFU2 is going to be exceptionally popular, especially for those looking to build photo galleries. New in this release: multiple file uploads, SpeedDemon (1-click uploading), Result Stacker (easily build galleries), Wrappers (wrap the upload HTML in pre-selected HTML), and Page Builder (like the Pop-up Image option... but doesn't pop up). And that's not even all of it! There are many other features and enhancements found in BFU2 to further entice MT users, such as editable image alt and title attributes. And yes, the specified path and thumbnailing options of version 1 are still included (and improved upon, actually). Don't let all of that scare you, though: BFU2 works to simplify the upload process by only showing you the options you ask for and preselecting others. Some teaser screenshots are below.

Unfortunately, I think I'm still quite a few weeks away from having something that I can release on the public. There are several bugs to squash, several feature implementations to refine and finish, and plenty of documentation to write.

Documentation is always the killer--good instruction requires lots of writing and rewriting, and heavy editing after that. BFU2 is certainly the most complex plugin I've written, and given all the configuration options and task-based workflow options, the documentation will be a huge task!