There are a number of new features and improvements that have been included in the monthly OpenLab updates over the Fall 2022 semester that may be of interest for OER. 

Rich text and media embedding for comments

The OpenLab now has enhanced commenting functionality, allowing you and your site members and visitors to write comments with rich text (bold, italics, links, etc), and easily embed media by simply pasting the URL, as you would in a post.

When you add a comment, you’ll see buttons to add rich text styles to your comment – bold, italics, underline, and numbered and bulleted lists. There’s also a button for adding a link, and one for embedding media. 

These plugins are already activated on all OpenLab sites, so if you’re a site admin, you don’t need to do anything on your site. There is help for Commenting on a Site, which includes the new rich text and media embedding functionality.

OpenLab Attributions plugin

There are a number of improvements to the OpenLab Attributions plugin. Now when you add an attribution, the window is movable so you can see the text beneath the window to include in your attribution statement. The flow of fields in the window has also been reorganized.

The plugin is also now responsive so it works better on mobile.

Embedding for Miro boards

In addition to other types of media embedding, Miro boards can be easily embedded. Simply paste the URL for the board you want to embed on its own line, as you would for a YouTube video.

Library Subject Guides widget: Gender & Sexuality Studies

There is now a link to the new Subject Guide for Gender & Sexuality Studies in the Library Subject Guides widget. 

New Themes

Two new themes were added recently: GeneratePress and Twenty Twenty One. Either could work well for an OER site.

You can always contact the OpenLab team with any questions about these features or other OpenLab-related questions.

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