[OpenLayers-Users] OpenLayers 2.8 Release Candidate 1

[Christopher Schmidt]

The OpenLayers Development Team is proud to announce the first release
candidate of OpenLayers 2.8!

As of 2.8-RC1, the OpenLayers 2.8 release closes 245 outstanding
tickets, split nearly down the middle between bug fixes and new
features. 

We invite you to help us test the 2.8 release candidate! To test 2.8 in
your applications, include the following tag in your OpenLayers-powered
page:

 <script src="http://openlayers.org/api/2.8-rc1/OpenLayers.js"></script>

As always, the source is available at http://openlayers.org/download/.
Bug reports can be filed in Trac, under the 2.8 version and milestone.

The 2.8 release adds a number of important features, the full list of
which
can be found in the Release Notes, at 
http://trac.openlayers.org/wiki/Release/2.8/Notes. Some of the
highlights include:

 * Support for multi-layer vector feature selection
 * Support for drawing text on vector layers 
 * Several new controls
 * 5 new layer types, including OSM, ArcXML, and more.
 * The long-awaited WFS protocol support, and related improvements

... and many other new features and bug fixes that you can see
detailed in the release notes linked above.

For information on possible changes that will need to be made between
this version of OpenLayers and previous versions, please look at the
Release notes, available at the Release Notes information[1].

All forthcoming RC announcements will be sent only to the Developers
list: anyone interested in tracking the progress to a final release
should subscribe[2] to that list.

We look forward to your feedback on this release.

[1] http://trac.openlayers.org/wiki/Release/2.8/Notes#CompatibilityNotes
[2] http://openlayers.org/mailman/listinfo/dev

Regards,
-- 
Christopher Schmidt
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