Tag: feature release

Commons 2.3.0

I’ve just released version 2.3.0 of the CUNY Academic Commons. This is a major feature release for the site.

This release focuses on the member profile experience. The headline feature is our new “CV” tool, which replaces the old “Public Portfolio”. This new tool allows Commons members to create attractive public CVs with an easy-to-use visual editor. The CV editing experience is built on the WordPress Block Editor, and our technical work deploying the Block Editor for a front-end tool like this represents an innovative jump in the way that WP sites typically work.

As part of our focus on members, we have also overhauled the appearance and behavior of the “Inbox” view that users see when reading and composing private messages and site notifications. This change helps to integrate the Inbox with recent design refreshes on other parts of the Commons.

For complete details, visit the 2.3.0 milestone.

Commons 2.2.0

I’ve just released version 2.2.0 of the CUNY Academic Commons.

This is a feature release for the Commons. The primary feature is the implementation of a redesign of the user account pages, including the user settings panels. This redesign brings us closer to a unified visual look for the entire Commons site, as part of an ongoing project begun with Commons 2.0.0.

As part of 2.2.0, we’ve reworked and simplified the options available for logged-in users in the global admin bar. We’ve also consolidated user notifications (of group invitations, friendship requests, etc) with private messages in a new Notifications area.

In addition to these larger changes, 2.2.0 includes some smaller, more targeted improvements:

  • Fixed a bug that prevented hidden groups from appearing in the My Groups section of the logged-in home page
  • Improved handling of pending group/site invitations associated with an email address when a new Commons account is created with that email address
  • Added a search feature to the Members section of groups

For complete details, visit the 2.2.0 milestone.

Commons 2.0.0

I’ve just released version 2.0.0 of the CUNY Academic Commons. This is the latest in our twice-yearly “feature releases”, where we introduce major changes to the site.

Highlights from the 2.0.0 release:

  • A redesigned interface for People, Groups, Sites, and Courses directories. This is a continuation of redesign work that we began in version 1.19.0.
  • In the redesign vein, we also reworked the appearance of the registration page.
  • Improvements to group forums, including better search and pagination
  • Integration between the WP Grade Comments plugin and the Reckoning tool, often used by instructors to review student work.
  • Improved tools for leaving sites, writing site descriptions for display in directories, and uploading site logos.

For complete details on the release, visit the 2.0.0 milestone.

Commons 1.18.0

I’ve just released version 1.18.0 of the CUNY Academic Commons. Version 1.18.0 is a “feature release” for the Commons, in a series of twice-yearly milestones that include larger features in addition to the smaller fixes that come with our twice-monthly releases.

As in the last few releases, 1.18.0 focuses on making the Commons easier to use for the increasing number of CUNY community members using the network for teaching, learning, and connecting, especially during remote learning. Some feature highlights:

  • Group cloning: In 1.17.0, we introduced “site cloning”, a feature that allows users to create a new site using one of their previous sites as a template. With 1.18.0, we extend this functionality to groups.
  • Directory filters: We have redesigned and rebuilt the filters in our Members, Groups, Sites, and Courses directory, for greater power, consistency, and ease of use.
  • Improved assessment tools: We’ve built new tools for exporting user activity from sites and group forums. We think that instructors using these spaces for courses will enjoy this easy-to-use format for assessing student participation.
  • Group library improvements: The Group Library introduced in version 1.17.0 sees some improvements, including better tools for creating, renaming, and deleting folders.
  • “Pronouns” field: A new profile field gives community members a place to indicate their pronouns, which are then displayed throughout the Commons interface.
  • Two-factor authentication: Members can now opt in to enhanced login security by enabling 2FA in their Settings section.

In addition to these user-facing improvements, we’ve made a couple large infrastructural changes. We’ve moved to a new tool for handling “mapped” domains – cases where non-Commons URLs are used for Commons sites. We’ve migrated our Digital Research Tools integration from the defunct DiRT Directory to its successor, TAPoR. And we’ve improved performance by adding compatibility with new caching APIs in WordPress.

For complete details on the release, visit the 1.18.0 milestone.

Commons 1.17.0

I’ve just released version 1.17.0 of the CUNY Academic Commons. Version 1.17.0 is one of our twice-yearly “feature releases”, where we package major new and overhauled functionality, in addition to our normal twice-monthly bugfixes.

The major features included in this release are:

  • A new Group Library tool. The Library tab consolidates what used to be the Files, Docs, and Papers tabs, so that you can find all documents associated with the group in a single place. The interface makes it easy to filter, sort, and search through everything that’s been uploaded to a group. And, with the introduction of the Library, we’ve introduced a new type of library item: External Links, which can be a link to Dropbox, Google Docs, or any other third-party URL. The Group Library is a custom tool, with a front-end UI based on the Vue.js JavaScript library, built by the Commons team. See https://github.com/cuny-academic-commons/cac-group-library.
  • Site Cloning. When creating a Site or a Group+Site, users will have the option to clone their new site from an existing site of which they are the administrator. The clone process means that the new Site will have the same settings – theme, navigation menus, etc – as the source site. Administrator-owned content will be copied over, too. This new tool will make the site creation process easier for faculty who reteach a course across multiple semesters, or anyone who needs to spin up a new site based on an old one. The Site Cloning tool was developed by the CAC team especially for the Commons.
  • Improved accessibility and keyboard navigation for the BuddyPress Group Email Subscription user settings UI.
  • The ability to accept multiple group membership requests in a single click.
  • Improved password strength tools during registration.

Read more about the 1.17.0 release in our official News Blog post, or by visiting the 1.17.0 milestone in our Redmine bug tracker.

Commons 1.16.0

I’ve just released version 1.16.0 of the CUNY Academic Commons. Version 1.16.0 is our “major release” for Fall 2019, one of two yearly releases that focus on the introduction of new features.

Major features for 1.16.0 include:

  • An overhaul of the Courses tab. This includes a Featured Course slider at the top of the page, a set of tools for fine-grained filtering and searching of the Courses directory, and display improvements for the items in the directory.
  • Group calendar subscription and import tools. It’s now possible to perform a one-time event import to a group calendar, by uploading an .ical file. You can also configure a group calendar to subscribe to an external calendar feed, so that new items on that external feed are automatically detected and added to the group calendar.
  • A tool that enables users to request membership to a non-public site. Previously, these sites could only be joined via invitation, an obstacle for student onboarding.
  • Interface improvements to the Reckoning plugin, including the display of post categories when viewing user summaries.
  • Improvements to the group file folder interface, including a tool to delete folders.
  • Design improvements to Sites and Groups directories.

For complete details, visit the 1.16.0 milestone.