NC State Web Platform Release 3.6

With the release of version 3.6 of the NC State Web Platform users will experience several quality of life improvements and also have the opportunity to try the new Image Statement and RSS Feed blocks.

This release also marks the launch of the Free Tier of the NC State Web Platform. At launch the Free Tier will be exclusively available through OIT’s new Web Publishing platform. It will include a subset of the functionality when compared with the Premium Tier of the Web Platform that has been available for a year. Details of which blocks are available in each tier are available on the Free and Premium Tiers page of our documentation site. A good visual representation is also available in our newly released page layout schematics.

This release also provides compatibility with the most recent update to WordPress. These updates are part of our team’s ongoing effort to provide users with the tools that they need to effectively create and manage their web content in WordPress.

Release Highlights

Many of the changes introduced in 3.6 take place behind the scenes, but below are some of the more noticeable updates that users can expect to see.

Free Tier

The Free Tier of the NC State Web Platform marks a major new offering from University Communications and Marketing to the campus community. This free WordPress theme will provide a robust set of features for smaller sites and units that have fewer marketing needs than would a college or larger unit site. Additional details of what features are available in the Free and Premium tiers is available. We will also offer overview sessions on April 23 and May 3 for individuals interested in learning more.

At launch, the Free Tier will be exclusively available in OIT’s new Web Publishing platform in mid-April.

Image Statement Block

Even as UComm launches a Free Tier, we remain committed to continue to add impactful new features for our Premium Tier users. Version 3.6 of the NC State Web Platform adds an exciting new Image Statement block to the Premium Tier. This block allows you to add a visually bold statement on top of an image. A parallax effect occurs when the user scrolls down the page.

RSS Block

With 3.6 users can try our newest feature, the RSS block. This easy to use block allows content maintainers to easily embed content from RSS feeds by simply copying and pasting in the URL of their favorite RSS source. Share numerous stories from outside sources (like the CNN news RSS feed provided in the example below) directly on pages with only a few clicks.

After adding an RSS block to a page it can be further customized. Display stories in a two or three column format while also adjusting the total number of items that are brought in from the RSS feed along with the number of words that show up in each content card.

Support for Official Gravity Forms Block

Though we have offered support for Gravity Forms for sometime v3.6 of our theme now provides support of the official Gravity Forms block. Users who have used the Forms block in the past will be familiar with this process but will notice updated styling and a more straightforward experience when adding forms to pages.

Styling for Third Party Tools

Version 3.6 of the NC State Web Platform also includes styling for the WP Quiz plugin and Juicer. WP Quiz is used to create and add quizzes to news posts. Juicer allows you to embed a feed of social media content on a page or post of your site.

Additional Features

These are smaller updates that should improve user’s experiences as they use the platform. Some of them will be obvious, while others may go unnoticed behind the scenes.

Platform Enhancements

• Automatically add non-breaking space to occurrences of “NC State” in header area content.
• Prevent active state styling on anchor links in navigation menus.
• Allow most pre-sanitized content to remain unescaped on the front end.
• Add help text to metadata fields and include links to the Facebook Debugger and Twitter Card Validator.
• Respect _hide-from-feeds tag in feed previews generated in the editor.
• Improve Email Signup block error message to include invalid settings language.
• Improve image workflow for Content Card blocks and enable image removal.

Code Quality Improvements

• Resolved a variety of JS and PHP warnings/notices.
• Use function to access post title in the sidebar navigation menu heading so that filters are applied.
• Replaced use of @include directive with our custom @partial directive to simplify inclusion of partials.
• Updated deprecated reference to ncst_lib.
• Namespace PHP render functions for all blocks to prevent upgrade fatal errors.
• Made return type of get_similar_post_args() more consistent.
• Enabled management of NCST’s allowed blocks list in PHP.
• Extracted expansion indicator into blade include with corresponding styling.
• Improved iOS detection, particularly for iPads.
• Extracted LayoutSelect component to be used across RSS, Featured Content, and Automated Posts blocks.

Bug Fixes

If these items are news to you — great! If they aren’t — they should now be fixed.

• Fixed accessibility errors within Wolficons.
• Fixed syntax for setting GA event tracking category in blade includes.
• Corrected editor styling for Content Card block.
• Fixed timezone issue in Dashboard widget workshop feeds.
• Updated Dashboard widget to rename and relink NC State People documentation.
• Restored consideration of display category in generation similar post args. (i.e. what populates the pre-footer).
• No longer prints empty link in footer if phone number not set.
• JS error when bootstrap collapse toggles are not part of full bootstrap panels should now be prevented.
• Improved accessibility of inlined SVGs.

Need Help? Want to Report a Bug?

Submit questions and concerns to the UCOMM web team at go.ncsu.edu/ucomm-dev-request.