Gibbon Road Map
Shown below are some upcoming key dates in the Gibbon Development Road Map. To request new features, please use the Feature Requests category in our support forums.
- String Freeze: October 20th 2024
- Release: November 20th 2024
- String Freeze: April 20th 2025
- Release: May 20th 2025
- String Freeze: October 20th 2025
- Release: November 20th 2025
A record of all Gibbon releases since v7.0.00 can be found on the GitHub Repository.
Feature Development
The following is a roadmap of upcoming development plans and goals for the Gibbon core. This includes major features and changes only. Each version also inevitably includes a variety of smaller quality-of-life tweaks and improvements.
- Refactoring: moving Gibbon towards modern PHP standards, including refactoring functionality into classes and moving SQL statements into gateway classes.
- Activities Module: a visual refresh of the activity pages, including options to browse descriptions and pictures of activities. Also includes new drag-and-drop tools for enrolment and staffing.
- Admissions Module: continued development to add more reporting and statistics, and the ability to handle pre-application and post-application forms.
- Library Module: continued development to improve the bookshelf view for a larger range of library items.
- Data Audit and Logging: track changes to important records to see who modified them and when.
- Routing Infrastructure: refactoring to use modern path routing with a front-controller pattern and with separation of model, view and controller.
- Front-end Framework: replacing jQuery with a modern front-end framework.
- Events Module: a new module to enable adding events directly to the timetable without needing an external calendar integration.
- Dashboard Visual Refresh: a new responsive card-based layout for dashboards, with options for users to add or hide cards that are relevant to them.
- Settings Manager: a method to search and update settings across the whole system.
- LDAP Integration: adds additional authentication options for schools.
- API Access: a REST based API to enable further integrations with apps and tools.
- Multi-School Installation: the option to have multiple school installs on the same server, with a central dashboard to manage these installs.
- AI Integration: conflicts with the ethos and values of Gibbon.
Looking To The Future
Version 25 was a landmark release for Gibbon, representing 12 years of development, 100 code releases and over 18,000 installations across the globe, all driven by a small but committed team of volunteer developers. In reflecting on where we have been, we are now setting our sights on where we are going next.
The establishment of the Gibbon Foundation marks the next step in Gibbon's growth, culminating several years work with lawyers, accountants and advisors to set up a non-profit entity incorporated in Hong Kong. Through this work, our hope is that the foundation will provide a secure legal framework for the ongoing development of Gibbon, with a focus on community development, intellectual property, advocacy and fundraising. This marks a major landmark in Gibbon’s transition from a “two-person band” (Sandra and Ross) to a sustainable, global project.