Etherpad team blog

We are beginning writing tests for Etherpad Lite and to do this we have partnered up with Sauce Labs who provide an automated browser testing platform. We’re using both Scout and onDemand to accomplish our goals.

All of our tests will be written in Javascript and run on the NodeJS platform. If you wish to get involved please contact us via Email contact@etherpad.org or contribute directly to the pad. We’re looking for SauceLabs Ninjas and people with experience in automated testing.

At the Etherpad foundation we’re naturally big fans of Linux.  I’m not sure if fan is the right word actually..  Linux is at the core of everything we do so we’re beyond fans, we’re actively contributing to try to make software better and we tend to start on Linux then support other operating systems secondly.  One of our favorite Linux distro’s is Ubuntu so it makes us really proud to see Etherpad Lite being discussed at the Ubuntu Developer Summit!

This is the second time Ubuntu have actively supported Etherpad and we’re hoping we can further our relationship.  Thanks Ubuntu developers and keep up the great work :)

1. git pull
2. Open settings.json -> Copy your database settings into your clipboard
3. Copy settings.json.template over settings.json
4. If you use dirty.db change the path from “../var/dirty.db” to “var/dirty.db”
5. Paste your database settings into settings.json
6. Make sure the paths in /etc/init.d/etherpad-lite are correct if you use it.
7. Start Etherpad Lite. (Using whatever technique you want, usually /etc/init.d/etherpad-lite start)

Major Features:

1. Rich Text editing IE Headings
2. A Plugin Framework for developing, enabling and disabling plugins
3. Video conferencing
4. Read only real time updates
5. Syntax highlighting

It’s been a real busy road getting to this point but we’re finally happy with the current status. Big thanks goes to Chad, Egil, Matthias, Robin and a huge thanks to our contributors, sponsors and supporters.

If you aren’t familiar with Etherpad Lite then check it out below! For those who still don’t get it, it’s a pure web based collaborative editor that’s open source and our goal is make collaborative editing the standard on the web (but only if you want it).

How to upgrade from Etherpad Lite V1

New to Etherpad but want to get started? Visit our github repo

Linkify adds internal links to etherpad lite. This great plugin written by FourPlusOne means you can easily link pads together giving Etherpad Lite more of a wiki style feel.

To link pads together use the [[foo]] syntax.

Plugin Author: FourPlusOne
Plugin on npm

Want to share video with your friends whilst working on a Pad? Now it’s easy, just enable this plugin and it will automatically bring video conferencing into your Pad.

How to install this plugin
Visit http://youretherpaddeployment.com/admin/plugins and login with your username/password then search for the plugin “tokbox”.

Plugin Author: John McLear
Plugin on npm

Sticky author names stops pad users from being able to change their names. This plugin is useful for deployments of Etherpad Lite where the API is used to create sessions and users.

How to install this plugin
Visit http://youretherpaddeployment.com/admin/plugins and login with your username/password then search for the plugin “disable_change”.

Plugin Author: John McLear
Plugin on npm

The twitter style links plugin brings to life those @etherpadorg style links. Enabling this plugin gives users the ability to click on the links and be directed to a users twitter.com profile where users can follow or unfollow their victim.

How to install this plugin
Visit http://youretherpaddeployment.com/admin/plugins and login with your username/password then search for the plugin “twitter”.

Plugin Author: John McLear
Plugin on npm

Want to make a piece of text stand out? Now you can with this fantastic plugin from FourplusOne you can choose from a number of font sizes and styles.
Plugin Author: FourPlusOne
Plugin on npm