I have had some questions relating to ListMessenger development and the next release, so I thought I should write an announcement outlining the current development status.

Generally speaking I aim to put out 1 or 2 releases per year; however, it has been nearly 13 months since the 2.1 release. Just to be clear, ListMessenger is still being developed and activity has been slow but steady. This past year has been great, we have thousands of new users and have received a lot of fantastic constructive criticism that helps drive new development and has helped make ListMessenger what it is today.

There are actually two versions of ListMessenger currently in development:

ListMessenger 2.2

This release will be out shortly and consists of many updates, bug fixes, and some new and enhanced features such as:

  • New default rich text editor (TinyMCE 3.0.5 with MCImageManager plugin).
  • New ability to search for data in your custom fields.
  • New advanced SMTP connections (including SSL connection and port specifications).
  • New automated “Send To Friend” link and form support.
  • Repurposed the “Send To Address” feature in the Message Centre to “Send To Subscriber” so that you are able to send the message to single existing subscriber (a la find-as-you-type).
  • New template variable added to the End-user Tools for multiple template support.
  • New ability to use custom field data in Admin notification e-mails.
  • Plus a few other tricks.

There is no specific release date for ListMessenger 2.2; however, it will be out sooner rather than later. Development is nearly complete, then testing and Q/A will follow. ListMessenger 2.2 will be the last release in the 2.x branch and will also be the last release of ListMessenger to support PHP4.

ListMessenger 3.0

Planning and initial development work of ListMessenger 3.0 has already began, and I am excited to be able to devote more time to this release once 2.2 is out-the-door. ListMessenger 3.0 is a complete rewrite of the code base, and currently utilizes Zend Framework 1.5. I do not want to divulge too much information on it at this time, but I am truly hoping to make it available by the end of the year.

I hope that this announcement satisfies your curiosity. If not, please feel free to post a message on the forum and I will do my best to answer it.