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Software Update: September 22, 2018
Justin Ober

Update, Sept. 26, 10:43 EDT: The Feeds moderation console feature was not behaving as expected when deployed; we've pulled that back for further testing and will release it again when it's ready, as well.

Update, Sept 21, 09:53 EDT: The feature to hide images that do not have alt text when they're added to content elements is undergoing further testing, and has been pulled from this release. We'll get that one out the door as soon as we're comfortable that it works as expected. Thanks!

Hello again, everyone!

After a hiatus on releasing new features in early September, the update hopper is full this time around. We've got a bunch of new stuff to drop on you, so this blog post is pretty big!

First up, Resources: we've got a brand-new Resource type, the "External" Resource. This is used for content that's hosted on another network (think, say, Google Docs). You can add these files and documents to Resources on your site, and then use them just like any other resource by dropping them into an element on a page.

Composer itself has received a bundle of updates. We saw a number of 500 errors across client sites recently; this was related to elements displaying content that had been deleted in source modules like Calendars and Posts. We've fixed those errors so we shouldn't be completely crashing site pages anymore (although you will still see a regular 404 error if you try to point to content that no longer exists!). Another change is that "Tools" elements (like the "Calendar Tools" element that lets you post a minigrid calendar, or the "Post Tools" elements that are used for Search or Tag and Category Filters) will prevent you from deleting the elements they're linked to. In other words, you won't be able to delete a "Calendar" element as long as it has an associated "Calendar Tools" element - you have to disconnect the two elements before you can delete the 'main' Calendar element.

We deprecated the Twitter element some time ago, but never deleted them off of site pages. We're going to go through all of them and automatically convert those to "Embed" elements, maintaining their settings. Please double-check your Twitter elements after the update to ensure they work as you expect them to.

If you use Feeds, you now have direct access to control your social media sources via the Moderation Console - you no longer have to contact Support to update those settings!

The beta of the upcoming Messages release has received a number of new features, including cloning, message URLs, and the "Find Recipient" tool.

There's much, much more in this update that I don't have time to recap, so take a look through the bullets below to see what's new!

 

Composer

  • Added the “Not Allowed” permission setting for page edits in Page Settings > Permissions, so that admin group members can be restricted from editing selected pages/branches.
  • The presence of a "...Tools" element will block an element that it's linked to from being deleted. "...Tools" elements must be disconnected before the elements they modify can be deleted.
  • Now you can click anywhere to get out of the “Choose Calendar” dropdown menu in the Calendar element (because it’s the little things).
  • Fixed a bug causing a page with a directory element on it to show a 500 error if a user displayed in that element was deleted from Constituent Manager.
  • Fixed a similar bug with Calendar elements causing a 500 error if a source calendar they were set to show was deleted.
  • Turns out the same thing happens if you delete a post that’s being displayed via a Post - Single element; we fixed that bug, too.
  • Fixed a bug that was causing the Redirects Manager page to stall on load.
  • Added an explanatory note to the top of the Composer > Permissions screen to better explain what those permission settings do.
  • We disallowed the use of the Twitter element some time ago, as it had become too complicated to keep it in compliance with Twitter’s code updates. Instead, Twitter feeds are now displayed in Embed elements, using Twitter’s own API. With this update, any outdated Twitter elements that are still hanging around on Finalsite websites will be automatically converted to Embed elements, with any settings and custom styling intact.
  • Reordering tabs that contain accordions will no longer mysteriously delete content in the accordion panels.
  • Students whose names contain quotation marks (such as for nicknames) will now appear correctly in Athletics - Team Roster elements.

Constituent Manager

  • The “Require new users to update password during initial login” feature will now take effect when selected.
  • Users will now be required to have passwords that are at least 8 characters long.
  • “Children in…” filters will now recognize “step parent” relationships (in addition to “stepfather” and “stepmother,” which were already recognized).

Feeds

  • Users with access to the Feeds Moderation Console can now add and remove sources from the Feed themselves - you will no longer need to contact Support to change one of your sources. Simply log into the Feeds Moderation Console and click on “Social Media Sources” in the left bar to add, remove, or edit feed sources.  

Integrations

  • Fixed setting the "LastRefresh" date in Veracross feeds to ensure they are accurate. Previously, while feeds were running on time, the last refresh date was not always accurate in Integrated Services manager.

Messages (beta)

  • Messages will now reflect the “Dropped” status for messages that cannot be delivered after repeated attempts over 24 hours. Dropped email addresses are not unsubscribed from mailing lists.
  • Added the ”Suppressed” status; this reports users who have marked a previous message as “spam” and therefore are not receiving deliveries.
  • Message URLs are now displayed with messages.
  • Messages can now be cloned. (Note that this will NOT add the word “Clone” to the end of the message subject! It will simply open a new, unsaved message with the original message’s content pre-filled.)
  • Admins can now be notified via email when members of a mailing list update their email address status for the list.
  • The “Find Recipient” tool will display a user’s historic subscribe and unsubscribe data.

PagePops

  • PagePops will once again dim the page they appear over on Firefox and Safari browsers.
  • Users with “View / Edit / Delete” PagePop privileges will now only be able to view, edit and delete PagePops on pages that they have the rights to edit - they will no longer have global permissions to view, edit and delete ALL PagePops.

Payments

  • Finalsite now sends additional transaction metadata to Bluesnap to aid reconciliation.

Posts

  • Fixed a bug that was removing the Default Board Post Page setting when board settings were edited by portal users who were not also site admins.
  • The Play / Pause buttons and Autoplay controls for Posts elements set to the “Slideshow” format now work consistently.

Registration Manager

  • Registrations will no longer generate a Site Error when users enter a hyphen into a form field instead of typing a response. 

Resources

  • Added the new “External” resource type. This allows you to create a Resource for documents that exist on another network, such as Google Docs. External resources can be embedded and displayed just like standard resources, added to galleries, linked to from the editor, etc. Resources will do its best to identify file types, so external images will be treated like images when displayed via an element; PDFs will be treated like PDFs, etc. Use External Resources to display links to external files inside the Resource Elements, instead of manually creating a list of links to documents through the Content Element.
  • See update above! Added a new checkbox in the “Settings” section to control whether or not alt text is required to add or edit images in the content editor. (An existing control already serves the same purpose for images displayed in Resource elements.) When this setting is activated in the Resource Module Settings, the content editor will require any image to have alt text specified before it can be saved. A “Decorative Image” checkbox also exists for images that not require alt text.
  • We’ve advanced the way that Resources optimizes images so that all Resource Images will look better and load faster for every visitor to your site.  Resources will now automatically apply the most effective compression algorithms for each image file while delivering that file in the most efficient image format supported by the visitor’s device and browser. 
  • We’ve updated the Search function so that you no longer have to hit the “Search” button when using the file filters. Now, simply clicking a filter will adjust the display to only show matching files. (You still have to hit the search button when typing in a tag to search on, however - just like any other search field.)
     

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