On April 16, we released version 1.7.76 of the OpenLab. It included a new feature, two new themes, a few bug fixes, and a few minor theme and plugin updates.
New feature
Weâre excited to announce a new feature on the OpenLab homepage called âWhatâs Happening at City Techâ. This includes headlines and events from the City Tech News feed, adding another format for sharing information about events and showcasing the great work being done by and for the City Tech community.
In addition, if there are any active City Tech alerts, such as weather-related closures, these will appear in an âAlertsâ section above the news feed.
New themes
We added two new themes, Astra and Twenty Twenty-Four. Astra offers many options for customization, but also looks good out of the box. It would work well for course, project, club, and portfolio sites.
Twenty Twenty-Four is a full site editing theme, similar to Twenty Twenty-Two. You can find out more about both themes and full site editing in OpenLab Help. Full site editing offers a very different site editing experience than the other themes on the OpenLab, but provides more flexibility and control. Twenty Twenty-Four is designed to showcase visual and written work, and for more advanced users it would work well for a portfolio site.Â
Bug fixes
There were three bug fixes included in this release.
One was preventing the option to use an existing site from appearing during the creation of a course, project, club, or portfolio.
There was also a bug causing issues with the display of the OpenLab footer when choosing to hide the WordPress admin bar to non-logged-in site visitors (found in the settings of a course, project, club, or portfolio profile).
Finally, we fixed an issue where the Yoast Duplicate Post plugin added a ‘Copy to a new draft’ item to the admin bar on OpenLab sites. This partially overlapped with the ‘Publish’ button and ‘Save draft’ link on posts and pages.Â
On February 13, we released version 1.7.74 of the OpenLab. It included a new theme, a few minor plugin and theme updates, and a bug fix.
New theme
We added a new theme called Typology. It allows for a lot of customization in Dashboard > Theme Options, but also looks good as soon as you activate it, without needing to make any changes.
Help documentation for the theme is coming soon, but thereâs also good documentation from the theme authors.
Bug fix and other updates
There was a bug in the Discussion forum that appears on a Course, Project, or Club profile that was preventing any pages beyond the first page of discussion from showing. This has been fixed.
We made a few small text changes on the sign up page. One was to clarify that when we ask for your email address to sign up it wonât be displayed publicly on your Profile. We also adjusted the text in the avatar upload section to make it more clear that an avatar doesnât have to be a picture of yourself â it can be anything that represents you or your interests.
On January 23 we released version 1.7.73 of the OpenLab. It included some new features, as well as updates to all existing themes and plugins, including BuddyPress and WordPress, the two primary plugins that power the OpenLab.Â
New Features and Functionality
We created additional post privacy options that appear on public sites, allowing you to choose from three different privacy options, for more fine-grained visibility choices when working in the open:Â
Everyone: This is the default setting, which matches the setting of the open site.
Site members: Only logged-in members of the site can see the post.
OpenLab members: Only logged-in members of the OpenLab can see the post.
You don’t need to activate anything. These options will appear automatically when a site is set to either “Allow search engines to index” or “Ask search engines not to index this site.”
We added a space for uploading an avatar when people first create an OpenLab account. We’re hoping this will encourage more members to add an avatar to their profile. It doesn’t have to be a picture of yourself â it can be a pet, a drawing, a photograph, or anything!
During the process of portfolio creation, the name and URL of the portfolio has always autofilled with the creatorâs first initial and last name. It was possible to change it, but most people did not. In order to better protect members’ privacy and support people’s autonomy in how they choose to be identified on the OpenLab, we removed these default values so that portfolio title and URL must be filled in at the time of creation. People can choose to use their real name or their Display Name, which may not be the same.Â
Plugins
We added four new plugins, and retired one plugin, CM Tooltip Glossary, in favor of a more accessible glossary plugin. The new plugins are:
TranslatePress We recently added the GTranslate plugin, which allows you to add an automatic translation option to your site. TranslatePress allows you to translate it manually, for a more accurate translation.
Reading Time WPÂ This plugin adds an estimated reading time to posts and pages.Â
WP Reading Progress Used alone or together with Reading Time WP, this plugin adds a progress bar to posts and pages, indicating to the reader how far along they are in the text.
Name Directory This plugin allows you to create a glossary, or multiple glossaries for your site. You can also allow others to submit glossary entries.Â
Bug Fixes
We fixed an issue where the ‘Favorites’ dropdown in the OpenLab Toolbar was being skipped when navigating the site with a keyboard.
We made a few fixes to the OpenLab Attributions plugin to improve keyboard navigation, and to fix an issue preventing existing attributions from being edited.
â As always, please contact us with any questions!
On November 15 we released version 1.7.72 of the OpenLab. It included one feature improvement, minor theme and plugin updates, accessibility improvements, and a bug fix.
Adding social media to your profile
In the August release, we introduced a new way to add social media links to your profile. In this release, we improved the mobile interface so the experience is cleaner and easier to use.
Fixes
We made a number of small accessibility fixes around the site, to improve the experience for people using screen readers.
We also fixed a bug in portfolio creation causing the template chooser containing available site templates to disappear when a template category was chosen from the dropdown menu.
On October 11 we released version 1.7.70 of the OpenLab. It included improvements to new features, minor theme and plugin updates, some retired plugins, and a few bug fixes.
Commenting
When embedding an image in a comment, we added a space to include an alt text description of the image.
We also made some improvements to the way links are added to make it a smoother experience.
Added a notification to show when a change to the content you’re sharing with other groups has been made
Clarified when invitations are pending or thereâs an outstanding invitation to accept
Improved the accuracy when searching for groups to send a connection invite
Retired plugins
We retired a number of plugins that are no longer being supported or had other issues:
WP Broken Link Status Checker (Broken Link Checker is a replacement for this)
Edge Suite
Papercite
Watu Quiz
Quiz Maker
Bug fixes
We made some small accessibility fixes around the site, mainly to improve the structure of headings on a few pages.
The Reckoning assessment plugin added in the August release was not visible in the site Dashboard. It now appears, and can be activated in Dashboard > Plugins.Â
We fixed an issue causing the timestamps in email notifications to be 4 hours ahead of the actual time of site activity.
During Course, Project, Club, creation there was an incorrect error message that could appear when choosing the URL for a site. If there were invalid characters entered, the message would say “Sorry, that URL is already taken.” This has been fixed, and weâve also made a change so that if spaces are included in a URL, instead of generating an error message they will be automatically converted to dashes.Â
On August 17 we released version 1.7.69 of the OpenLab. It included many new features, as well as updates to all existing themes and plugins, including BuddyPress and WordPress, the two primary plugins that power the OpenLab.
New features
Choose a Template for your Site!
When you create a new Course, Project, Club, or Portfolio, the site created uses a template that is appropriate for each type of site. For example, new Course sites come with pre-created pages for Syllabus, Assignments, etc. Now, instead of one template for each type of site, there can be multiple templates for different types of Course, Project, Club, or Portfolio Sites. For example, there are two templates for Course sites: Interactive, intended for use with active student posting and commenting, and Informational, for sites containing course materials, with instructor posts. You can choose the type of site template you want to use when youâre creating your new Site. Templates for Projects, Clubs, and Portfolios are coming soon! Learn more in OpenLab Help.
Collaboration Tools
When you create a new Course, Project, or Club, you now have the choice to activate the collaboration tools that appear on the Profile of your group: Discussion, Docs, File Library, and Announcements. Announcements is enabled by default, but you can enable or disable any of the tools during creation, or at any time in Profile > Settings.
Add to Portfolio
If you have an OpenLab Portfolio, you can turn on an âAdd to My Portfolioâ button that makes it easier to add work from Courses, Projects, or Clubs to your Portfolio. This Add to Portfolio feature has been around for a while, but many OpenLab members arenât aware of it. To make it more visible, weâve added a checkbox to enable or disable it in the first step of Portfolio creation. It can still be found in Portfolio Profile > Settings, where you can enable or disable it at any time.
Option to hide OpenLab Toolbar on Sites
Currently, thereâs an OpenLab toolbar that appears at the top of your Course, Project, Club, or Portfolio site. If you would like to hide that toolbar for site visitors who are not logged in (for example, potential employers who are viewing your ePortfolio), thereâs now a checkbox where you can do that in Profile > Settings. Logged in OpenLab members will always see the toolbar, as it provides important links to the Dashboard (for site members) or back to other parts of the OpenLab.
Activity Widget & Block
In the January 2023 release, we introduced the Activity page, which appears on every Course, Project, and Club Profile. It includes all activity and can be filtered by type (posts, comments, docs, etc). After feedback from OpenLab members, we created a version of this activity feed that can be included on a Course, Project, or Club Site. This can be done by adding the OpenLab Activity block to a post or page, or the OpenLab Activity widget to the sidebar or footer of your site. Learn more in OpenLab Help.
Non-active Status for Courses, Projects, Clubs, and Portfolios
This new feature allows admins of a Course, Project, Club, or Portfolio to switch it to ‘Not Active’ status if itâs no longer being actively used. This status change means that new members are not able to join or request membership, unless invited by an admin. A notice will be added to the profile and it will display on the last page of My OpenLab > My Courses, Projects, or Clubs. Faculty may wish to set past courses to âNot Activeâ; that way course materials can remain open and available to the community but students wonât be able to join a past course by mistake. Learn more in OpenLab Help.
OpenLab Connections
OpenLab Connections is a new feature that allows you to link related Courses, Projects, or Clubs and share information between them. For instance, members of one course section can follow activity from a connected section without needing to become members of that section (private content will not be shared). Learn more in OpenLab Help.
Membership Privacy in a Course, Project, or Club
This feature allows OpenLab members to hide their membership in a particular Course, Project, or Club, so that it doesnât appear to others on their profile, and their activity doesnât appear in activity feeds around the OpenLab. For example, perhaps you joined a Beanie Babies Collectors club, but donât necessarily want to advertise your love of Beanie Babies to anyone who views your profile. You could switch your membership to private, and no one would see the membership on your OpenLab Profile.
Rich text formatting options for Discussion
We added rich text formatting for Discussion forum posts and replies. This makes it easier to add images and other text formatting to Discussion.
Improvements to image embedding in Site comments
After gathering more information about how people are using media embedding in comments (introduced in the January 2023 release), we made some improvements to this feature to make it clear when images embed properly. When you click on the image embed icon in the comment editor, and paste in the URL for an image, instead of seeing the URL, youâll now see the image embedded in the comment editor itself. If embedding isnât supported for the image youâre using, you will just see the URL appear in the comment editor.
Using the image embed iconImage is embedded in comment editor
You can now also embed images from the Siteâs Media Library and the Files Library on the Profile. Just click the image embed icon and paste the URL for images saved in either of these places.
Member Profile and My OpenLab improvements
We changed the interface for adding social links to your profile, and updated the list of platforms. We also added Display Name to the top of the profile to make it more prominent. As a reminder, Display Name is the name that you choose to use on the OpenLab. You donât have to use your real name, unless you want to! (Learn more about privacy on the OpenLab.)
We cleaned up the design of the page in My OpenLab where you can invite new members to the OpenLab (My Invitations > Invite New Members). Now instead of seeing a long list of your Courses, Projects, and Clubs that you can invite the new member to, you can search for them instead.
Embedding for Padlet, Geogebra, and Desmos
After a number of requests for Padlet embedding, weâre happy to have been able to add it in this release. You can find instructions in OpenLab Help.
Weâve made some improvements to the appearance of Geogebra and Desmos embeds in a page or post.
OpenLab Calendar
In preparation for better integration of City Tech campus-wide calendars, we removed the OpenLab Calendar that used to appear in the About section of the site. Soon weâll be adding a feed for the campus-wide news, events, and alerts so itâs easier to find the information you need in one place. And there is still a calendar included on the Profile of all Courses, Projects, and Clubs.
Plugins
We added six new plugins, and made improvements to the two OpenLab grading plugins.
Editoria11y Accessibility Checker, developed and maintained by Princeton Universityâs Web Development Services team, checks your posts and pages for accessibility issues, and displays any existing issues with a thorough description of what they are and how you can address them. It is also helpful as a learning tool, providing easy-to-understand information about making your site more accessible.
GTranslate allows you to use Google Translate to offer versions of your website in different languages, using Google Translateâs automatic translation service. You can add a widget with a dropdown allowing visitors to choose their language.
Reckoning is an assessment plugin developed for Blogs@Baruch, and built on by the CUNY Academic Commons, that weâve brought over to the OpenLab. Made for Course Sites, it allows the instructor to view all member posts and comments in one place. It also incorporates grades from WP Grade Comments, and allows you to export all data to CSV.
WeBWorK Problem Embed is a new mathematics plugin created as part of City Techâs âConnect the DOTSâ grant that allows faculty to embed WeBWorK math problems on an OpenLab site. Students can interact with the problem directly on the site, rather than having to navigate away to the WeBWorK site.
Improvements
We made a few changes to WP Grade Comments to clarify when a private vs. public comment is being made. Now, whenever a grade is included, the comment is automatically private. In addition, weâve added a checkbox for private comments for post authors as well as admins to ensure no one accidentally leaves a public reply to a private comment.
In OpenLab Gradebook, we updated the options for Midterm Grade to incorporate the recent changes in City Techâs new grading scale.
I hope everyone is hanging in there as the semester wraps up!
We’re trying to understand more about how OpenLab members are using annotation, and what people’s needs might be.
If you’ve used an annotation tool in your teaching or other work, we would appreciate if you could take a moment to fill out a short survey about annotation. (Please note that if you’re not already logged into the OpenLab, you’ll be prompted to log in to fill out the survey.)
On April 12 we released version 1.7.68 of the OpenLab. It included a new plugin, support for embedding Yuja videos, and number of bug fixes.
New features
Yuja videos can now be embedded on OpenLab sites. City Tech has its own Yuja site, so members of the City Tech community can upload videos to embed on their OpenLab sites. To embed a video, simply paste the URL as you would for YouTube or Vimeo.
TablePress Automatic URL Conversion is an add-on to the TablePress plugin that will automatically convert URLs in a table to links, avoiding what can be a tedious process of creating links in a large table.
Bug fixes
Invitations to join the OpenLab were not being sent out. This has now been fixed. We also fixed two bugs in My OpenLab. One was causing friend lists to not display all members that had been added as friends. The second caused the information for Major, Department, or Office to be removed from a memberâs profile after the profile was edited.
On February 15 we released version 1.7.67 of the OpenLab. It included a few new themes and some bug fixes.
New features
We added two new themes: Neve and Miniva. Miniva is a simple minimalist theme, good for beginners or someone who doesnât want to do a lot of theme customization. Neve is a more complex theme, which requires some setup, but it can look great even with just a small amount of customization.
We changed the sender name for site-related emails from WordPress to City Tech OpenLab, making it easier to understand where emails are coming from.
Bug fixes
There were a few bugs caused by the improvements to email notifications made in the January release:
Line breaks were missing for a number of different site-related emails.
The OpenLab footer that appears in some email notifications was not displaying correctly in certain email clients.
We also fixed an issue causing incorrect characters (e.g. ĂąâŹâą) to appear on certain posts and pages when the OpenLab Attribution plugin was activated.
