The moment that you’ve all been waiting for is here!
Well, at least, it’s the moment that we at Omeka HQ have been waiting for, and working towards for many months now.
Omeka 2.0 is now available for download!
The most important improvement is a completely revamped admin interface, which includes many features to improve workflow and make it easier to build your sites. The search functionality is also dramatically improved, and covers much more of the content in the sites.
The basic package includes three plugins and two themes, and sports a host of good new features. Omeka users will notice improvements right away with an upgrade to 2.0 or the launch a new installation. For example, site administrators have much better tools to build custom site navigation without having to hack around in the code (Check for “Navigation” under the Appearance settings.) Also, you’ll notice major improvements in file handling. Now you can reorder item files, and the system produces derivatives (thumbnails, etc.) from a much wider array of file types, not just image files.
The increased control extends to the updated ExhibitBuilder, as well. Now site users have a great deal more flexibility in designing their exhibit architecture. We have eliminated “Sections” from the exhibit structure, so that exhibit designers can create parent and child pages as their content requires. Furthermore, if a user wants to use an item in an exhibit, she can choose from any of the item’s files.
Omeka designers and developers will also find things to love in the new version. The software includes a more concise function list that dramatically decreases the complexity of creating new themes and plugins. So, we hope to see an increase in contributions of add-ons from the wider Omeka community.
In addition to all of this basic Omeka goodness, we’ve updated many of our most downloaded plugins to go with the new version (Follow the links below). Never fear, we are busy updating and improving the rest and they will be available for Omeka 2.0 soon!
Take things out for a spin and let us know what you think.
Plugins updated for Omeka 2.0