Exciting announcement! We proudly announce that LimeSurvey 3.0 Beta has been released successfully. We would like to already thank everybody that has and will contribute to this new LimeSurvey version, be it voluntary coders, partners or testers. LimeSurvey 3.0 is being developed based on three main goals: Faster operation Easier usability Increased application flexibility These goals equally apply to basic LimeSurvey users with no or little programming knowledge as well as advanced LimeSurvey users with strong coding skills. What has changed for LimeSurvey users? Thanks to our dedicated partner in development Denis (Chenu), LimeSurvey templates are now semantic with regard to HTML markup. Furthermore, LimeSurvey now meets web accessibility conditions, meaning it is now compliant with a11y standards concerning Screen Reader accessibility for blind and visually impaired people. Markus, our greatly appreciated in-house front-end developer, took responsibility of all interface-related tasks, such as the general redesign of the LimeSurvey admin panel which is currently still in process. With the help of one of our highly esteemed contributors Tammo (ter Hark) who provided a mock-up, the left side bar within the admin interface was reconstructed. Previously, the settings, i.e. general survey settings as well as question-specific settings, were organised on the respective survey level in the right accordion sections. These accordions have now been removed and settings move into the left bar settings to enable faster access, avoid confusion and keep the interface nice and lean. Left Bar Settings Up until LimeSurvey 3, editing answer options and subquestions required a separate button within the question setup. An additional improvement to reduce user-sided effort and complexity is a merge process that places question, subquestion and answer option together without the need to click extra buttons (this adjustment is currently in the development stage). In the works is also a so-called 'setting by user' which allows several administrators within one LimeSurvey account to customise the admin interface individually according to personal preferences. This increases the micro-level user flexibility and convenience when working with LimeSurvey on a shared account. Within the context of question group randomisation, it wasn't possible so far from a technical standpoint for participants to save and exist a survey somewhere along the way and then return to it later. One of LimeSurvey's core developers Olle managed to rework this limitation which now allows respondents to leave and take an incompleted survey up again later on when question group randomisation exists. Requested by many people, LimeSurvey is introducing a new template engine which enables template customisations by users with advanced programming knowledge with a template editor, but also by users without coding skills with the help of an options page for easy use. Basic design customisations such as changing logos, colours or adding animations now deliver a much greater deal of flexibility and personal styling for users. Template Overview Template Options Page The code for the rendering process of the front-end has been refactorised by Louis who is one of our in-house developers as well. This way, a continuous performance improvement is achieved on a weekly basis by changing content dynamically without needing to reload an entire page. It is made possible by deploying Ajax and will result in a faster handling of the LimeSurvey application. What has changed for LimeSurvey developers? As mentioned in the previous section, LimeSurvey is introducing a new template engine. Said Twig-based engine, including the powerful template editor, makes the use of replacement keywords obsolete. It is possible to use HTML for the template configuration which enables assessments, to load and save screens, survey lists, error pages and so on. Template Editor Olle has started implementing unit testing in order to reduce the number of bugs released with this Beta. Tonis (Ormisson) contributed by rewriting the documentation of method and helping clean the code. This is a powerful opportunity for basic as well as advanced LimeSurvey users and opens up entirely new possibilities of styling survey designs. Get involved! Test the new LimeSurvey 3.0 beta version by downloading it here. Let us know about any issues you may come across and report to our Bug Tracker.