August 3, 2023

This document may change as the release approaches.

Overview

We are so excited that the new DesignPLUS Sidebar has officially launched! You can find all the resources related to the new Sidebar, including installation instructions, at cidilabs.com/sidebar. As we move forward, we will plan DesignPLUS releases for the first Thursday of each month. Many of the updates and changes in this release are the result of feedback from our fantastic customers, so please don't hesitate to contact us by submitting a support ticket.

New Resources

User Guide: Choose a Banner Image - With DesignPLUS, you can add a banner image to a page. The legacy sidebar's Choose a Banner Image tool functionality is now built into the Image tool. This new guide has all the information and links to resources you need to use banner images with DesignPLUS.

New Features

Hidden Gem: Dated Accordions

The Dated Accordion feature from the legacy Hidden Gems has been updated. Using the new Sidebar, you can use the class dp-panels-dates in the span in order to designate the date range in which the panel should be active. This works for accordions, tabs, or expanders. Here is a sample of a date range span element you can add to the accordion heading or panel content:

<span
                                class="dp-panels-dates"><em>07/01/2023</em>
                                -
                                <em>07/31/2023</em></span>

Hidden Gem: Content Width

This new feature limits all DesignPLUS-styled content to a maximum width of 1100px and adds the override max width hidden gem to the new Sidebar. Add the class dp-full-width-content to the dp-wrapper div in order to activate this new feature.

Updated or Modified Features

Theme Tool: Banner Image Overwrite

The Theme tool was overwriting a user-selected banner image with the theme default image when a user changed themes. This means the user would have to reselect the desired banner image after changing themes. This functionality has been updated so that the theme default banner image is only inserted if the user has not selected a custom banner image. Once a user selects a banner image, that image will be preserved even if a new theme is selected.

Button Tool: Outline Style

This updated feature sets white as the default background color for all outline styles for buttons. Example below of an outline style button in a gray callout:

This is an outline style button

Updated DesignPLUS Intro Video Link

link to the intro video This updated feature points the New User Intro video link in the walkthrough footer notification to the Getting Started with the New DesignPLUS Sidebar video.

User Guide links in Tool Headers

button for user guides This updated feature sets the correct destination for all of the User Guide links accessible via the info button in each tool.

Content Block: Icon Picker

content block icon picker An "Icon Picker" has been implemented for the Content Block feature. It is available via a new button within the Content panel of the tool.

Upgrade Tool

A variety of updates have been made to the upgrade tool:

Improved legacy theme upgrades
Dated Accordion Hidden Gem support
User Decision Hidden Gem support
Module Tabs Navigation Hidden Gem support
Partial Progress Bar Hidden Gem support

Bug Fixes

Safeguard for user settings

In very rare instances, the user settings were being reset in the database due to timing issues of the code retrieving and updating user settings. A safeguard has now been put in place so that the updating of user settings in the database will not happen until after the existing user settings have been retrieved. This safeguard should prevent any user from losing their user settings in the database in the future.

Theme & Banner Title Tools: Page Title

The presence of a colon character in the page title was causing an error in the Theme and Banner Title tools so that they would not load. The issue was related to an incorrect variable in the code that handles colon characters. The bug has been fixed and now the Theme and Banner Title tools load properly when a colon is present in the page title.

Theme Tool: Favorite Button

favorite button for themes The Theme tool's favorite button was not working to "unfavorite" a theme. This bug has been fixed and now the favorite button will remove the selected favorite from the favorites list.

Default Theme

This bug fix accurately sets the default theme, applies either the default theme or the user’s last used theme, and applies the theme classes to headings as well as the banner title and link grid.

Load Support Information on Help Tab

support information on help tab This bug fix addresses an issue whereby support information would initially load with placeholder information, but the correct support information would display on subsequent loads. Now, the Sidebar retrieves the support information from the customizations course on the initial load.

Progress Indicators in Discussions

This bug fix resolves an issue that prevented progress indicators in discussions. The bug fix also repairs a problem whereby progress indicators reflected inaccurate module information.

List: Parent List

This update resolves an issue in which ordered or unordered lists contained within another were not properly selecting the current list element in the Sidebar to make modifications to the styling.

Advanced Editor: Unwrap

advanced editor unwrap buttons When using the Advanced Editor, clicking the "Unwrap" button will now keep content created with DesignPLUS properly wrapped with the classes that are used to help define and style the DesignPLUS content. For example, span elements with dp- prefixed classes in the Banner Title element will not be unwrapped.

Content Blocks: Overwrite Setting

overwrite checkbox in content block tool This bug fix solves an issue in which the "Overwrite" option in the Content Block tool (as well as the User Settings) would continue to be selected (checked) even after the user unchecked the option. Now the setting properly remembers your choice.

Image: Floating Images

This update corrects an issue where images that were floated to the right side of the page using the "float-end" class were not properly justifying the image content to the right side of the page within the editor.

Page Nav: Delete Button

delete button for page nav tool The "Delete" button in the Action Toolbar previously did not perform any actions on the Page Nav tool, and this update now removes the instance of Page Nav from the editor when "Delete" is clicked.

Course Links: Placeholder

This bug fix corrects an issue in which selecting a course link from the available lists would only update the link location and not the link title text.

Themes/Banner Title: Flat Sections Main Prefix

circle prefix using the flat sections main theme The circle for the prefix portion of the Flat Sections Main themes has been updated to prevent it from distorting on larger screens.