After many weeks of hard graft the ZF2x Magazine will launch on 1st May 2012, soon after Beta 4 release.
ZF2x seeks to expand and drive the international Zend Framework community and audience. Along the way it will, of course provide news, views, articles and feedback from a wide development perspective revolving around Zend Framework. Modules will provide a section of special interest as they arrive.
A free wholly independent multimedia magazine, we hope to collaborate with Zend staff. For example, by promoting places for ZF2 certification, conferences and local meetings. Intial distribution will take the form of PDF. Our software can produce other formats, for the iPad for example, but these will take about three months to emerge. A monthly email will go out to registered subscribers, with download links for preferred formats as they arrive.
Registration is now open. There are some small technical hiccups to overcome, like producing an online registration module (which we have little time to make). For now, subscribe by email to registration@zf2x.com. Note, subscription details will not be passed onto third parties or sold (we consider them private).
The magazine website, zf2x.com will need to "evolve" inline with subscriber wishes and in accord with the overall Zend Framework 2.0 spirit. It will not contend with ZF sites.
Arriving at this stage has not come without a few headaches. Apparently simple things like look-and-feel, font mix and overall layout were far more difficult than at first thought. That was not helped by a three-week delay in the arrival of new systems and their set-up. We pulled through though! We shall persist each month!
Is it commercial?
A little. Plans to attend, film and report upon 6-10 conferences each year come with substantial costs. The aim is to meet these costs with advertising, but not so much as to make the magazine tacky. And for the time being there's a ton of free advertising for those who want to pimp their modules and services. We shall invite paid ads from agencies who provide employed positions, contracts and project collaboration.
Some articles are finished. Some in process. Helpers, article writers and positive comments are very welcome! [copy@zf2x.com] We also have yet to obtain approval for use of images (like the one of MWO on the draft front page shown here, which will probably change a little). Oh, and someone will attend to film and write about the Whisky Web conference (April, Edinburgh, Scotland: whiskyweb.co.uk]. We should have a good magazine come 1st May!
Early subscribers will receive a ZF2x "short" of about 12 pages when it's ready.
Hopefully the end result will appeal not only to our regular community but to newcomers, agencies, academic institutions and firms. From this audience we hope to expand interest and activity around Zend Framework 2 in a way other frameworks without their own magazine cannot do!
Thanks for reading! [Now subscribe: registration@zf2x.com :) ]
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