Progress Report: 0.9.1

We just released the first update for Lasso. It includes a number of bug fixes, and a new feature as we’ll outline below. In addition to covering what’s new, we’ll be talking about how our first week of sales have gone, and what’s coming up next.

Update Frequency

Starting today, we’re going to shoot for weekly releases while we’re in beta. This means that every Friday you can expect an automatic update. We’re going to be moving extremely fast, and will be iterating as quickly as the feedback comes in.

0.9.1 Hallmarks

Today’s release brings us quite a few bug fixes, including CSS fixes and improvements that will hopefully resolve some of the theme CSS conflicts that we’ve seen pop up. We’re combating this by appending the selector before the class (like ul.this). This is typically bad practice, and isn’t something that we’d normally do, but by adding a bit of weight to the class we can eliminate possible style clashing.

We’ve also added the ability to insert an image and blockquote from the component tray. Previously, the “+” icon was only available if Aesop Story Engine was activated. We’ve changed it, to where if Aesop isn’t activated, then you have a standard image and quote that you can insert in the post. These standard component have no options. Once Aesop Story Engine is activated, it replaces these stock components with Aesop’s story components.

[aesop_image lightbox=”off” captionposition=”left” caption=”Without Aesop Story Engine activated, you can insert a standard image or blockquote.” align=”center” imgwidth=”900px” img=”https://lasso.is/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/stock-quote-image.gif”]

Currently, only the ability to switch out the image is supported. However, if you activate Aesop Story Engine, then it’s image component has a number of features that are compatible and adjustable in real-time, including sizes, captions, and lightbox overlay.

Lastly, we’ve significantly improved the iOS experience by shifting the editor toolbar to the top of the screen. The HTML, link creation, and component drop-ups, will instead drop-down when the editor is used on a screen below 600px in width. This is just one of the many planned improvements for iOS.

Sales Report

We set a goal to move 50 copies in four weeks, and I’m proud to announce that we’re on track to break this record. We’re moving an average of four units a day, with 25% of those unites being developer licenses. At this rate, we’ll slightly double our anticipated goal. It’s still too early to tell if this will continue, but we’ll take it. Of course, none of this would be possible without you guys, so keep the ideas (and the sales) coming!

What’s Next?

We’re hiring a designer and another developer to help with a few of the upcoming features that are currently planned/under development. There is no room for anything less than perfect, so we’re forming a team of top aces to help bring these to light.

Without spilling all the beans, here’s what you can expect over the course of the next few updates.

  • custom internal AJAX API which increases performance
  • ability to add and remove categories and tags
  • ability to access all posts from the front

With Lasso active, users don’t want to return to the backend for anything. So, over the course of the next few updates, Lasso could really turn into a front-end CMS overlay for WordPress.  Only time will tell. As soon as the JSON REST API is available in WordPress core, we’ll also be heavily leveraging this on the front-end.

Summary

So to summarize, things are going really well! We’re really excited about delivering the features and improvements you guys are asking. 0.9.1 is available now, and you can download it from your dashboard here on the site. A full list of the changes can be found on our changelog. Happy Lasso’ing!

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