Update History (Archive)

OpenBooks 10

10.1 - August 1, 2023

  • OpenBooks 8.3 and 9.6 have been discovered and added to Timewarp.

10.0 - June 11, 2023

OpenBooks 10.0 introduces a new navigation bar and visual tweaks, bringing OpenBooks up to date with a new design language.

  • Site navigation has been updated to reflect a new Zune-inspired visual style. More pages will be updated to the new style later on.
  • OpenBooks 9.2 has been discovered and added to Timewarp.
  • Visuals have been tweaked including new sharp corners on design elements.

OpenBooks 9

9.16 - May 30, 2023

  • Updated color scheme. More to follow in future updates.
  • Reorganized TimeWarp, adding separate sections for OpenBooks 8 Series, OpenBooks 9, and OpenBooks 7.

9.15 - May 22, 2023

  • Updated copy text on home page.
  • Removed Yesterweb webring buttons.
  • Temporarily removed links to OpenBooks Homes / Microsites.
  • Added information about the hiatus to the WebRing page.

9.14 - January 25, 2023

  • Updated copyright dates.

9.13 - September 13, 2022

insert text about long break between updates

9.12 - January 7, 2022

  • Fixed About and Sitemap buttons on blog pages.

9.11 - January 7, 2022

  • Fixed loading indicators on Blog pages.
  • Added Manifesto

9.10 - January 7, 2022

  • Update Blog to match new page style.

9.9 - January 7, 2022

Welcome to 2022!

  • Tweaked corner radii.
  • Added personal pages section to home page.
  • Added Yesterweb Webring buttons.
  • Updated style of About Me page.
  • Updated style of Graphics page.

9.8 - November 22, 2021

Starting with OpenBooks 9.8, release will be numbered as 9.X instead of 9.X.X. This will line up better with a future version of OpenBooks.

  • Credits page added.
  • Sitemap updated to new style.
  • Minor CSS tweaks to footer.
  • Status bar displays larger for easier use on touch displays.

9.7.1 - November 10, 2021

  • TimeWarp UI updated to match tiles on home page.

9.7 - November 7, 2021

OpenBooks 9.7 introduces a redesigned home page with a more focused design which is also responsive for mobile devices.

  • Home page tiles removed.
  • Home page now links to main OpenBooks projects more directly.
  • Home page now properly scales for mobile device use.
  • Temporarily removed member list on WebRing page.
  • Statusbar on mobile devices now blends smoothly into the browser chrome.
  • A new News article has been posted.

9.6.1 - August 7, 2021

  • OpenBooks has a new favicon.
  • Mobile application icon (apple-touch-icon) updated.
  • About page now displays open source license.
  • A new News article has been added.
  • Fixed broken links on TimeWarp page.
  • Adjusted spacing of elements when viewed on a mobile device.

9.6 - August 5, 2021

OpenBooks 9.6 introduces new styles for many pages, which are also mobile compatible for the first time.

  • TimeWarp has an all-new design, featuring descriptions of each version of OpenBooks.
  • Discord server page has been redesigned.
  • Search page has been rebuilt using the new responsive style.
  • WebRing has been updated to match other redesigned pages, but is not yet fully responsive.
  • Status bar now shows navigation breadcrumbs on core pages. (About, News, Updates)
  • Sidebar on core pages now show News and Update page as subsections.
  • Tweaked statusbar on home page.
  • Updated fonts to use Inter again for main text.
  • CSS styles updated slightly on rebuilt pages.
  • Fixed About page inadvertantly referring OpenBooks 10 Series.

9.5.1 - August 4, 2021

  • Core pages now use an entirely new layout.
  • Layout is no longer based on OpenBooks 8 from 2019.
  • Core pages are now responsive and mobile compatible.

9.5 - August 3, 2021

OpenBooks 9.5 introduces a new home page design.

  • Home page layout now displays logo centrally.
  • Tiles are now larger and more centrally located.
  • Navigation sidebar is now more detailed and text is smaller.
  • Minor design tweaks to layout of home page.
  • Preparations made for design tweaks in next major revision of OpenBooks.
  • Refined shades of blue.
  • Added OpenBooks 9.4 to TimeWarp.

9.4.3 - July 25, 2021

  • Tweaked About page.
  • Tweaked design of TimeWarp page.
  • Relocated WebRing navigation on home page.
  • Page titles are now capitalized site-wide.

9.4.2 - July 17, 2021

  • About page now provides a description of the site as well as its purpose.
  • Updated main page design.
  • Search box added to main page.
  • Fixed performance issue while scrolling in WebKit browsers - background is no longer fixed in position.
  • Soft shadow added to top of pages to prevent hard cut off of site content against the browser chrome in Safari.
  • Rounded the corners of various site design elements.
  • Refined shades of blue.

9.4.1 - July 8, 2021

  • Status bar is no longer attached to the top of the page - this should make it look more seamless with the new Safari.
  • Rounded corners of page elements to also blend in with the new Safari.
  • Links are less broken on TimeWarp page.

9.4 - June 20, 2021

OpenBooks 9.4 includes under the hood improvements for page load speed, and a new design updates.

  • TimeWarp has a new design.
  • Status bar now displays animated load indicator for most pages.
  • CSS separated based on what elements are actually used on a given page - as a result, the home page should load faster.
  • Images optimized on WebRing page.
  • Sitemap uses Lite CSS.

9.3.2 - June 10, 2021

  • New statusbar design site-wide.
  • Home page now displays activity while loading, and links to the Sitemap for Low-bandwidth users.
  • Statusbar now displays loading status for main page.
  • Updated dates on TimeWarp.
  • Added OpenBooks 8.7 to TimeWarp.
  • Updates tile on home page now shows icon instead of version number.
  • Removed Articles link from Sitemap.
  • Improved legibility of version number on main page.

9.3.1 - June 9, 2021

OpenBooks 9.3.1 includes minor fixes and content updates.

  • Members list added to WebRing page.
  • Updated Coyote's Personal pages.
  • Status bar design tweaked on home page.
  • Home page now has a tile linking to the WebRing.
  • Discord page updated to purple style to match WebRing page.
  • Pixel image rendering tweaked - now favors Blink / WebKit browsers.
  • Home page should load faster now.

9.3 - June 8, 2021

OpenBooks 9.3 ia a major feature update, which includes updates to Coyote's Personal Pages as well as the new OpenBooks WebRing, the successor to the Network Neighborhood and network2.

  • The OpenBooks WebRing is now officially available.
  • Coyote's Personal pages have an all-new design.
  • Coyote's Blog updated as well to match.

9.2.2 - June 8, 2021

  • Refined CSS.

9.2.1 - June 8, 2021

  • New blog post added.
  • About page updated.
  • Reverted "History" page to Timewarp name.
  • Under the hood changes preparing for a future feature update.
  • Rebranded Discord Server - no longer tied to network2.

9.2 - May 19, 2021

  • Coyote's Blog now uses a new Javascript based CMS.

9.1 - May 13, 2021

  • Fixed link on About Me page.

9.0.X releases were skipped because the numbers look ugly that way.

9.0 - May 13, 2021

OpenBooks 9.0 is the first release of the re-written OpenBooks 9 Series.

OpenBooks 9 Series is a complete rewrite of OpenBooks, with an all-new home page, updated design, and a more precise focus.

  • New home screen design, featuring quicker access to site content.
  • Updated fonts and styles throughout the website.
  • About, News, and Updates pages have been updated to use the new style.
  • TimeWarp link on home page renamed to History.
  • New Links page, to replace the deprecated OpenBooks Directory.
  • New Discord page, featuring the links and rules of the OpenBooks network2 Discord.
  • Microsites - OpenBooks Homes will feature several smaller, mini websites for projects by Merewife and the OpenBooks Authors.
  • The Articles page is currently unavailable. It will be restored in a future update to OpenBooks.

OpenBooks 8 Series

8.7.5 - May 11, 2021

  • Open source license changed to MIT.

8.7.4 - May 10, 2021

  • Updated our 88x31 button!
  • Updated button code on home page.

8.7.3 - May 9, 2021

  • Logo is now scalable and uses new, bolder font.
  • Background no longer breaks on freakishly large displays.

8.7.2 - May 5, 2021

  • Updated System pages (Not found, redirecting, Maintenance mode) to new style. Please note this style is not indicative of the visual style of future OpenBooks releases and is specific to the system pages.
  • Minor changes for CSS and fallback.
  • Removed Guestbook link.
  • Updated styles on Articles page.

8.7.1 - May 5, 2021

  • Optimized images.
  • Fixed broken links on home page.

8.7 - May 5, 2021

OpenBooks 8.7 includes a visual overhaul for the site. This is the largest stylesheet sheet that didn't coincide with a major release of OpenBooks. This release adds new Personal Pages, Fixes issues with TimeWarp for OpenBooks 8.4, and introduces an interim home page design to make way for future updates.

  • Site background changed.
  • Font has been changed.
  • Sidebar navigation simplified.
  • Dark mode has been removed.
  • Status bar is no longer full-width.
  • Drastically changed shades of blue.
  • TimeWarp OpenBooks 8.4 no longer pulls CSS and JS from the Latest version, and now displays an accurate version of OpenBooks from 2019.
  • Updated About Me page.
  • Added My Camera Collection page.
  • Added My Computer Collection page.
  • Added My Media Players page.
  • Home page link to Directory removed - this will be reintroduced in the future.

Please note the home page is not fully updated and will be redesigned in a future version of OpenBooks.

8.6 - May 1, 2021

OpenBooks 8.6 introduces a redesigned home page.

There are also several other new features and improvements, listed here:

  • The home page features an entirely new layout.
  • Navigation has been simplified.
  • Preparation for new personal pages.
  • All pages now use the same width.
  • Added "type" column to articles page.
  • Re-added Discord server links.
  • Updated About me page.
  • Updated Navigation on sub-sections.
  • Updated Footer.
  • Under the hood folder structure changes to prepare to future updates.
  • Tweaked TimeWarp+ design slightly.
  • OpenBooks 8.4 has been added in beta.
  • Refined shades of blue.

8.5 - April 30, 2021

OpenBooks 8.5 is a re-upload for archival purposes. It also adds TimeWarp+.

  • Edited site credit/name.
  • Removed references to network2.
  • Added news update.
  • Update About me page.
  • Removed Herobrine.
  • OpenBooks TimeWarp+ added.
  • It allows you to browse versions of OpenBooks dating back to 2014.
  • You can find it on the home page.

8.4 - July 8, 2019 'Nova'

OpenBooks 8.4 is the first update in a series meant to improve the home page design. OpenBooks 8.4 also introduces an updated stylesheet, with support for a new grid engine and more refined design overall. Over the next few updates, you'll see it appear throughout OpenBooks.

  • Home page is now wider. 1024x768 monitor is now recommended.
  • Updated overall home page layout to make room for future expansions.
  • Reorganized file structure under the hood.
  • New stylesheet implemented.
  • New grid engine.
  • Updated Directory to use wider page layout, and now includes more sections.
  • Refined shades of blue.

8.3.3 - July 4, 2019

  • Updated system pages (Not found, maintenance mode)

8.3.2 - July 3, 2019

  • Minor tweaks to dark mode CSS.
  • Preparations for future, larger update.
  • Updated about me page.
  • Removed Fedora button. I'm not smart enough for Linux today.

8.3.1 - June 21, 2019

  • Added MEGA button to Graphics page.

8.3 - June 20, 2019 'Tigwire'

It's a feature update again! This time, it's mostly under the hood features, not user facing ones.

  • OpenBooks no longer relies on Google Fonts.
  • Font changed from Noto to Selawik, now hosted locally.
  • Tweaked typography globally.
  • Switched from CC-BY-SA 4.0 to AGPLv3 license.
  • All-new about page to reflect licensing changes.
  • Added Fedora button.

8.2 - June 17, 2019 'Panthwire'

Two feature updates in a row! 8.2 adds back the guestbook (last seen in OpenBooks 4 in 2016!) and slowly brings us back up to parity with all the features we used to have on this site. There's also night mode. Stay cool out there. 😎

  • Guestbook added.
  • Night Mode. If you set your OS to a dark theme, OpenBooks will go dark to match. Not associated with the Night Mode webring.

8.2 - June 17, 2019 'Panthwire'

OpenBooks 8.1 is the first feature update for OpenBooks 8 series.

  • Articles added to sidebar and sitemap.
  • History of the Network Neighborhood article added.
  • Tweaked CSS styles.
  • Updated logo to reflect Network2 ownership.
  • New background image for home page.
  • Updated About Me page.
  • Added Graphics page.
  • Search page is now Canadian if Javascript is disabled.
  • Added humans.txt
  • Refined shades of blue.

8.0.2 - June 7, 2019

We've been JAUP'd! Otherwise, this is a minor fixes update while we work on bigger things behind the scenes.

  • JAUP button has been added to the homepage.
  • Happy Pride month! Just like any other corporation, we've decided to use this as a major cash grab. Just kidding, OpenBooks is not a corporation and I'm gay.
  • Minor under the hood tweaks.

8.0.1 - May 15, 2019

The first Patch Tuesday update comes a day late. I was watching Eurovision and I forgot.

  • Links to Penny's Club Discord server added.
  • Fixed link to Mastodon on the Directory.

8.0 - May 12, 2019 'Odyssey'

OpenBooks 8.0 is the first release of the all-new OpenBooks 8 Series.

  • Entirely new design, built from the ground up
  • Added Search - search Neocities
  • Added FrontPages - find anything on the web
  • Added OpenBooks News
  • Added about page
  • Added about page (personal)
  • Added personal blog
  • Core pages (sitemap, updates history) added
  • Refined shades of blue.

Looking for previous updates?

Update notes for versions prior to OpenBooks 8 can be found using TimeWarp.

TimeWarp