Version 2.33 Release Notes - September 2023

Important Note

Please note that if WDS has customized your site (e.g. custom content types, theme, or other functionality), the improvements and fixes listed below may not be applicable.

Release Schedule

Scholar sites: Wednesday, September 20, 3:00 a.m. - 8:00 a.m.
All other sites: Thursday, September 21, 3:00 a.m. - 8:00 a.m.
Alternate*: Friday, September 22, 3:00 a.m. - 8:00 a.m.

* The alternate day is used if a scheduling conflict prevents us from performing maintenance according to the original schedule.

Release Highlights

Content Replication

It's now possible to replicate (clone) existing content items. This can be useful in several situations, for example:

You may have a yearly event. Rather than creating an entirely new version of the event every year, you can find last year’s event, replicate it, and make changes to the date before publishing it.
You spent a lot of time creating a page with a highly custom layout, and you’d like to reuse most of the page for a new section of your website. Rather than starting from scratch, you can replicate the existing page and make only the changes needed.

View the content management documentation for more details on using this new feature.

Events Importer

Events from an iCal feed can now be imported to the Event A collection of fields that describe a specific type of content, like a news article, a person, or an event. Site admins can add additional content types by enabling optional modules. WDS can also create custom content types for a site. by using the Event Importer module. This supplements the existing method of displaying external events using the Feed Blocks module, but offers more flexibility as it allows you to display the imported events in a Calendar or Event List Block instead of the basic block that the feed blocks A collection of features or functionality that can be enabled on sites. WDS has made several optional modules available to site administrators to enable on their site. For example, the "News" module enables the News content type and provide a News List Block for displaying news on a page. supports.

WDS still recommends using the simpler Feed Blocks module for most use cases, but if you'd like to use the Event Importer, please contact WDS to have it enabled.

Event Speaker Content Type Generally Available

Site Admins can now enable the "Events: Speaker Extension" module by visiting the Configuration > Modules page. Previously, this module could only be enabled by WDS staff. This module provides the Event Speaker content type and Event Speaker List block.

All Changes

Content Administration

#662: Content items (e.g. Pages, Events, People) can now be replicated. Click the "Replicate" tab when viewing the item. Replicated content will be unpublished and have the text "(Copy)" appended to the title. Menu links are not replicated.
#2577: Fixed an issue on the content dashboard table where the item's path could display incorrectly if it contained spaces or special characters.

Content Authoring

#2543: "Muted" styles can now be applied to level 2 and level 3 headings (h2 and h3) by using the "Styles" dropdown in the text editor toolbar. These styles primarily reduce the font size of the headings. A good use case for muted headings is when presenting content in a question and answer format, where the questions are headings that you don't want to appear too large on the page.

Events

#1866: The old design for event detail pages has been removed. Most websites were already using the newer design introduced in version 2.18. All remaining sites are switched to the new design.
#2171: A new module is available for importing events from an iCal feed into the Event content type. This supplements the simpler solution provided by the Feed Blocks module which does not utilize the Event content type. Contact WDS to have this module enabled on your site.
#2569: The Event Speaker module can now be enabled by users with the "Site Admin" role. Previously, only WDS staff could enable this module.

Miscellaneous

#2556: The "Accessibility" link in the footer of all websites has been renamed to "Digital Accessibility"

Starter Kits

#2324: A simpler version of the Faculty/Researcher starter kit is now available. This starter uses the person detail page as the site's homepage, and removes some less commonly used pages and modules.