What’s new TLDR;

Mostly bugfixes, one security/privacy fix. One UI feature (Chat and Users always on screen)

NEW: High resolution Icon
NEW: Use HTTPS for plugins.json download
NEW: Add ‘last update’ column
NEW: Show users and chat at the same time (try it)
NEW: Support io.js
Fix: removeAttributeOnLine now works properly
Fix: Plugin search and list
Fix: Issue where unauthed request could cause error
Fix: Privacy issue with .etherpad export
Fix: Freeze deps to improve bisectability
Fix: IE, everything. IE is so broken.
Fix: Timeslider proxy
Fix: All backend tests pass
Fix: Timeslider stars
Fix: Translation update
Fix: Check filesystem if Abiword exists
Fix: Docs formatting
Fix: Move Save Revision notification to a gritter message
Fix: UeberDB MySQL Timeout issue
Fix: Indented +9 list items
Fix: Don’t paste on middle click of
SECURITY Fix: Issue where a malformed URL could cause EP to disclose installation location

Usually on releases the first thing we do is tell you what’s new and why you should upgrade. If you are looking for this, scroll down.

This release is different. What makes Etherpad such a great project is the number of contributors that can maintain the software. This means that should one maintainer be unable to maintain Etherpad others can step in. So the first thing we want to do on this release is hat tip the contributors between 1.4.1 and 1.5. Now you know who to hire for your next Etherpad project!

Etherpad is mostly a British-German alliance. The majority of our funding comes through US organizations and Primary Technology. We’d like to see more funding arrive through donations and sponsorship. These donations have less strings attached so will keep us more independent and neutral. If you can help, please visit the donation section on Etherpad.org

@webzwo0i, @marcelklehr, @Gared, @simong, @BjarniRunar, @luto, @l-y-n-x, @beaugunderson, @cristo-rabani, @prtksxna, @0ip, TranslateWiki team
And finally Myself: @JohnMcLear

TLDR; What’s new and why should I care?
> Full Etherpad Pad Export and Import
> Bug fixes, tests, UI/UX polishing & updates of dependencies
> Speed improvements to all pages. Page load times improved by ~30%.
> Support for instance Sharding (Scaling Etherpad to multiple servers)
> Better documentation & more language support.

Nice things for users:
> Control 5 now does Strikethrough.
> Better experience at higher DPI screens (use of icons instead of fonts)
> 30% Faster page load
> Full Pad Portability (Export/Import)

While this release is mostly a bugfix & performance release we have updated about 20% of the overall Etherpad code since 1.4.1 so we have given it a major release number.

Our release schedule is heating up as we get more and more commercial support ergo more active development.

Some cool things Etherpad can do that it couldn’t before
> curl HTTP POST files right to your Etherpad Instance
> Export other HTTP block elements (Such as subscript/superscript)
> Talk to your pad
> Switch between pads without reloading the editor

Demo Etherpad

Demo Pad, have a play!