First of all I want to say that I love invoice ninja and so do my customers! My customers and I have been using invoice ninja for years with white label.
My hosting is ending php7.4 and requiring users to go to php8. So I updated to php8 and updated to 4.5.50, which resulted in invoice ninja script to produce a 500 Server Error.
But if I drop it back down to php7.4, then 4.5.50 works.
I then decided to try to load the v5 and see how it worked with php8. And I have the same issue with a 500 server error. I tested it with php7.4 and get the same 500 server error. I have opened a topic for that issue: 500 Server Error after install - #5 by krickman
My question is will V4 version go on for a few more years? Because I need to figure out where I want to spend my time, as I have put several days in trying to figure out why both v5 and v4 are not functioning correctly. I don’t want to put endless hours into something that would go away.
V4 works with php7.4 and not php8
V5 does not work php7.4 or php8
Both reject php7.3
There are a few components to answering this question. We’ve been looking into this recently as it has come up a fair bit, so i will answer in full detail here so it can be used as a reference later on.
InvoiceNinja v4.5.50 is based on Laravel 6 LTS and (currently) PHP 7.4
I was able to upgrade the PHP version for PHP 8.0 here for anyone that wants to dip their toe into this version.
PHP 7.4 is end of life on the 28th of November 2022, so following best practice, all users should upgrade their PHP version to 8.0 no later than this date.
however
Laravel 6 LTS reaches end of life on the 3rd of September 2022. This means the underlying framework that v4 is built on will no longer receive security updates. Our recommendation will be for all users to have a plan to migrate to v5 by September to ensure both the underlying framework and PHP version continues to stay within supported versions.
tldr; migrate to v5 without delay, we have a lot in the pipeline that we hope to share in the near future.
Thanks for clarifying. I’ve heard you’re working on a UI overhaul for v5. Really hope it will be at the very least equally as good as that of v4. The v5 user experience ultimately made us stick with v4.
@Navir , we are working on a React application which will feel a lot more like v4, we should have some news on this soon, we are hoping to have a beta release in the coming week or two.
Are you able to provide any specific examples of what you prefer about the v4 UX, we’re continuing to develop the v5 desktop app and are very responsive to constructive feedback.
What I love about V4 it is easy on the eyes and it feels user friendly. V5 feels like you have to search for things and it’s too busy.
Example: When you are in an invoice the buttons for mailing invoice, saving and such are right there, you don’t have to look for them through a drop down menu. Less Clicks to accomplish something is way better.
In V5 - I do like that you can download a desktop app
Most software decisions involve compromises, the buttons are a good example. In v4 sometimes the buttons are at the top of the page (ie. edit client), sometime the middle (ie. edit invoice) and sometimes at the bottom (ie. edit expense/task). In v5 the app is consistent, the buttons are always in the top right corner across the mobile, web and desktop apps.
That said we’re constantly working to improve the UX of the app, it’s an ongoing process. Another user recently posted some more examples of v4/v5 differences: V5 UI/UX feedback
I like that solution with having them in the app header to show the actions. Less clicks make me happy - specially since I use the software all day long and so do several of my customers.
While playing with the demo I noticed an issue where none of the scroll bars can be grabbed from the edge. This does not respect Fitts’ Law. To make things worse clicking the edge causes the page/pane to scroll down by itself instead. One should easily be able to grab the bars from the very edge without a second thought which is how most apps work.
Something I would absolutely love is that you take off the ability to install the desktop software from when you login. Instead make it a link within the settings, so that people have the option to install.
I have noticed at times because this pops up, that it stalls out and you just have a gray screen. I really like that you can install the desktop software, I just would rather go to settings to set that in motion then have it try to auto popup in my browser.
It might eliminate some issues too. My hosting company had to open up exec() in php 8 in order for Invoice Ninja to work. Which they do not like and feel it creates a security risk. Is the fact that install desktop option shows up in the browser URL bar the reason you need the exec() to be enabled? Because I gladly give up the the desktop install to please my hosting company in creating a more secure server for my website.
You are correct - I am confused on what it is called. When I hover over the icon it says “install Invoice Ninja” so I assumed that it was referred to as a desktop app. But it be nice that it does not auto come up, and an option for it would be under the settings.
Thanks
I have several customers using invoice ninja for their web business. I started panicking when the new version would not work with php 8 on my hosting. I have used other invoice software in the past and after a while they would not support updates and then I have to find something else. Which was a lot of work - trying to match up databases and such. But when I found Invoice Ninja it was user friendly, I like the way the database is laid out and my customers love that they can just log in from any device.
I really hope and pray that Invoice Ninja will continue strong, so that there are many more years that I and my customers can enjoy it.
In your demo, I noticed under New Tasks that you have the options to start and stop the task. But it does not show up on the bottom. You just get blank lines and it switches the screen to edit task.
