On July 23 we released version 1.7.93 of the OpenLab. It included multiple new features, as well as updates to all existing themes and plugins, including WordPress and BuddyPress, the primary software that powers the OpenLab.
Privacy Improvements
We made a number of changes to give members more control over their privacy.
We updated the privacy settings for courses, projects, clubs, and portfolios with a few new options:
- You can now make a course, project, club, or portfolio profile visible to OpenLab members only (previously this option was only available for sites).
- There’s a new setting to ask search engines not to index a course, project, club, or portfolio profile (as above, this option was previously only available for sites).
- We also changed the layout of the privacy settings for courses, projects, clubs, and portfolios to make everything clearer and easier to navigate.
We added a privacy check to the pre-publication checklist that appears when you’re getting ready to publish a post or page on an OpenLab site that explains the privacy settings for both the site and the individual post or page. You can also change the privacy settings of the post or page here if you wish, using the OpenLab’s custom “More visibility options.” (Note that these options are only available if the site is public or visible to OpenLab members only.)
We added privacy settings for members’ profile pictures (avatars). Just like the privacy settings already available for other fields on your profile, you can now choose who gets to see your avatar: everyone, only logged-in OpenLab members, only friends, or only you.
Finally, we blocked AI crawlers from accessing the members directory.
Design Changes
We improved the design, usability, and accessibility of the slider on the OpenLab homepage. It now has a skip link for improved keyboard navigation, forward and back arrows so you can move between slides, and a pause/play button to stop or continue the movement of the slides.
On mobile, we redesigned the menu that appears on the About and Help pages, as well as on course, project, club, and portfolio profiles. The new menus now match the design of the My OpenLab and main OpenLab navigation menus.
In the January 2025 release, we made a change that stripped any GPS data attached to images used for a member avatar or a course, project, club, or portfolio avatar. In this release, we’ve extended that same protection to any image added to a site on the OpenLab. This applies to existing images as well as new ones being uploaded.
We also standardized the style of the focus indicator outline used for keyboard navigation across the OpenLab, so it looks consistent across the site.
Other Updates
Previously, the Classic Editor plugin, which allows members to write and edit posts and pages using the older pre-Block Editor interface, was automatically active on all OpenLab sites. In this release, we deactivated it across the entire network. This means it is no longer active on any individual OpenLab site, including sites where it was previously turned on. If your site was using the Classic Editor, your posts and pages haven’t been changed or lost, but now you’ll be editing them using the Block Editor. If you would like to re-activate the Classic Editor plugin, you can choose to do so in Dashboard > Plugins, but we strongly suggest transitioning to the Block Editor. We have lots of documentation on using the Block Editor, and we’re happy to help! Just reach out and let us know.
When deleting a course, project, or club, you’ll now see a checkbox that lets you delete the site at the same time you delete the profile. Previously, the site could only be deleted separately, from the site Dashboard.
We also updated the text that describes what is deleted when you delete your OpenLab account, to clarify that if you have a portfolio, it will be deleted along with your account.
We removed the [Portfolio Profile] link that used to be automatically added to the portfolio site menu when portfolios were created. Since many people use their portfolios to share with potential employers or others who are not part of the OpenLab community, the profile link isn’t necessary in that context.
Plugins
We added the Spotlight Social Feeds plugin, which allows you to display an Instagram feed on your site.
We also retired the Syntax Highlighter Evolved plugin, as it’s no longer being maintained by its developer.
Bug Fixes
There was an issue on directory pages where the “Department” dropdown was resetting after search results were displayed.
When a course, project, or club is cloned, acknowledgement text appears both on the group profile and in a widget on the cloned site. We fixed the text in the site widget so that it now matches the text on the profile.
We also fixed an issue with the OpenLab Attributions plugin where the superscript number would remain even after an attribution was deleted.
As always, please contact us with any questions!
Featured image: PétAlas by Anna Christina Oliveira is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA.