Release: Major Update (Full-System Revamp & Power Tools Expansion)

This update focuses on UI modernization, performance improvements, security hardening, and advanced task‑management capabilities, delivering a smoother, safer, and more powerful experience across the entire application.

Added

• Server‑Side Pagination: Implemented SQLAlchemy‑based pagination with 10 tasks per page, including dynamic navigation controls that preserve filters and search queries.
• System Theme Detection: Introduced a “System” theme option that automatically adapts to the user’s OS Light/Dark preference via window.matchMedia.
• Bulk Action Suite: Added multi‑select checkboxes enabling batch Delete and Mark‑as‑Done operations, with backend validation scoped to the authenticated user.
• Dynamic Task Editing: Added modal‑based editing through a new /edit/<id> route, allowing in‑place updates without page reloads.
• Global Discovery Engine: Implemented real‑time search using SQLAlchemy .ilike() for case‑insensitive filtering across all tasks.
• Productivity Progress Bar: Added a dynamic completion bar that reflects progress based on the currently filtered task set.
• Markdown Export Route: Introduced a dedicated export endpoint with improved Markdown rendering.
• Custom 429 Page: Added a themed “Too Many Requests” page for rate‑limited routes.
• Toast Notification System: Replaced flash messages with unified Bootstrap toasts for consistent, non‑intrusive feedback.
• Version Page Enhancements: Added a link to the full GitHub release history and switched to caching raw API JSON for theme‑safe rendering.

Reworked

• Category Tagging System:
  • Added a “last‑second save” mechanism that converts pending input into tags before form submission.
  • Autocomplete is now fully case‑insensitive.
  • Removed duplicate addTag() logic and improved click‑away behavior.
  • Backend CSV parsing updated to match the cleaned frontend data.
• Theme & Styling Architecture:
  • Replaced hard‑coded colors with Bootstrap 5.3 variables (var(--bs-body-bg), bg-body-secondary, etc.).
  • Eliminated theme flickering and unified styling across all pages.
• Version Page Caching: Switched from caching rendered HTML to caching raw GitHub API JSON, ensuring correct theme rendering per session.
• Authentication & Account Pages: Improved layout, spacing, and UX consistency; added safer delete‑account modal; enabled automatic preference saving.
• UI/UX Overhaul:
  • Redesigned registration, login, account, landing, base, version, todo, error, terms, and privacy pages.
  • Standardized spacing, typography, and component hierarchy for a cohesive visual identity.
• Filtering & State Persistence:
  • Added All / Active / Completed tabs with persistent state across pagination.
  • Search queries and filters now survive page transitions.
• Export Behavior: Updated export flow to use a “save‑as” approach for clarity and consistency.
• General Codebase Cleanup: Unified indentation and structure across templates, improving maintainability and debugging clarity.

Removed

• Legacy Flash Messages: Fully replaced by the new toast‑based notification system for consistent UI feedback.
• Hard‑Coded Theme Colors: Eliminated all static color values in favor of Bootstrap 5.3 theme variables to ensure full theme compatibility.
• Duplicate Tagging Logic: Removed redundant addTag() implementations and outdated category‑handling scripts.
• Old Version Page Cache Layer: Removed HTML‑level caching to prevent theme desynchronization and replaced it with JSON‑based caching.
• Deprecated Form Behaviors: Cleaned out unused handlers and outdated input logic that conflicted with the new AJAX‑based TODO system.

Fixed

• Category Input Loss: Resolved an issue where unconfirmed category text was lost on submit.
• Case‑Sensitive Autocomplete: Autocomplete now correctly matches categories regardless of casing.
• Open Redirect Vulnerability: Validated the next parameter using urlparse to prevent malicious redirects.
• Reverse Tabnabbing: Added rel="noopener noreferrer" to all external GitHub links.
• Theme Rendering Bugs: Fixed inconsistencies caused by cached HTML on the version page.
• Session Safety & Form Stability: Replaced direct request.form[...] access with .get() to prevent KeyErrors and malformed request crashes.
• Logout Security: Converted logout from GET to POST with CSRF protection.
• General Visual Issues: Fixed layout inconsistencies, spacing problems, and flickering transitions across pages.

Planned

• Profile picture being showcased before saving
• Email verification system
• Electron desktop app
• Time setting for tasks

Checked items indicate features coming in the next updates.

Release: Patch (Developer Progression & Sync)

This update focuses on reinforcing the project's infrastructure through smart caching, modular file management, and a dynamic versioning system that bridges the gap between GitHub's backend and the user-facing UI.

Added

• GitHub Versioning Route: Integrated a new /version endpoint and version.html template. It utilizes the GitHub REST API to fetch the latest release notes, tag names, and publication dates.
• Markdown Rendering Engine: Added the markdown library to the backend, enabling the app to parse raw GitHub release text into clean, formatted HTML (supporting lists, bold text, and code blocks).
• Server-Side Caching: Implemented Flask-Caching with a SimpleCache strategy. This optimizes performance by storing API responses for 60 minutes, protecting the app from GitHub rate limits.
• State-Aware Change Detector: Added a JavaScript-driven monitoring system in the account settings. It tracks form modifications and triggers a custom modal warning if a user attempts to navigate away with unsaved changes.

Reworked

• File Architecture (Static Extraction): Refactored the entire project to move inline CSS and JavaScript from HTML templates into dedicated files within the static/ folder. This leverages browser caching and improves code maintainability.
• Category Capture Logic: Enhanced the To-Do submission process. If a user types a category but forgets to "tag" it (via Enter or comma), the system now automatically captures that text and converts it into a category upon task creation.
• Global Footer: Updated base.html to include a permanent link to the new Version page, ensuring transparency regarding app updates and project status.

Fixed

• Redundant Alerting: Resolved an issue where users were prompted twice (browser prompt + custom modal) when leaving the account page. Added a skipCheck toggle to streamline the save/redirect process.
• API Latency: Addressed potential page load delays by wrapping external API calls in a 5-second timeout and a try-except block to prevent app crashes during GitHub downtime.

Planned

• Email verification system
• Task deadline reminders and notifications

Checked items indicate features coming in the next release.

Release: Minor Update (Quality of Life Reworks)

This update focuses on UX refinements, category and filtering improvements, legal compliance updates, and new user‑customizable preferences.

Added

• Preferences System: Introduced a session‑based customization module allowing users to configure sorting (Newest, Oldest, Alphabetical), enable auto‑delete for completed tasks, toggle delete confirmations, and manage all settings through a new Preferences card in account.html.

Reworked

• Category System: Replaced the old textarea with a dynamic tag‑style input. Categories can now be added or removed using commas or the Enter key.
• Filtering Logic: Updated from OR‑based matching to strict AND‑based filtering for more precise task discovery.
• Interactive Filter UI: Categories now appear automatically in the filter panel and can be toggled with a click.
• Template Files (.github):
  • Unified pull_request_template.md to include both progress and release sections.
  • Added YAML metadata to ISSUE_TEMPLATE so templates appear correctly in GitHub’s “New Issue” page.
• Terms & Legal Templates: Updated privacy.html and terms.html with Cloudinary data‑processing clauses, automated optimization notes, and third‑party handling details.
• Infrastructure & Storage Pipeline:
  • Production: Cloudinary now manages all media uploads for scalable, optimized storage.
  • Development: Local static storage is used to avoid unnecessary cloud clutter during testing.

Fixed

• Template Rendering Issues: Corrected formatting and visibility problems across .github templates.
• Media Handling & Stability:
  • Added a JavaScript fallback for broken profile picture URLs.
  • Implemented a custom handler for 413 “Payload Too Large” errors.
  • Enforced a strict 5MB upload limit to prevent oversized uploads and improve reliability.

Planned

• Email verification
• Time tracking for tasks

Checked items indicate features coming in the next updates.

Release: Patch (Cloud & Workflow)

This update transitions the application to cloud-based asset management (thanks to the issue #8 made by @AnotherBoringDev) and formalizes the contribution workflow.

Added

• Cloudinary Storage: High-performance image hosting for profile pictures.
• Repository Templates: Formal GitHub Issue and PR templates for better project management.

Reworked

• Image Processing: Replaced slow Base64 database strings with fast Cloudinary URLs.
• Memory Management: Automatic deletion of legacy cloud assets on update/delete.

Fixed

• Latency Issues: Fixed the "hanging" UI during profile updates by optimizing the upload transformation flow.

Planned

• Category system rework
• Time tracking for tasks
• Email reminders

Checked items indicate features coming in the next updates.

Release: Patch (Category & Login Fixes)

This update focuses on data consistency for categories and refining the authentication flow for a smoother user experience thanks to @AnotherBoringDev's issue (#3).

Added

• Administrative Utility Scripts:
  • DuplicatedMigrationFix.sql: A specialized script to merge existing duplicate category variations (like "Github" and "github") into a single, clean format and to turn all others in UPPERCASE.
  • CheckUser.sql: A diagnostic tool to verify user, task and category integrity by checking the first 5 registered users.

Reworked

• Automatic Category Normalization: Updated the category system to automatically convert all user inputs to UPPERCASE. This ensures that "Work", "work", and "WORK" are all treated as the same category, preventing duplicates.

Fixed

• Category Duplication Bug: Fixed the logic flaw that allowed multiple variations of the same category name to exist, which previously cluttered the user interface.
• Authenticated UI Flow: Updated the landing page and authentication views to hide login/registration options from already logged-in users and automatically reroute them to their dashboard, preventing redundant login attempts.

Planned

• Category system rework
• Time tracking for tasks
• Email reminders

Checked items indicate features coming in the next updates.