Release Notes for Ally - 2021

Ally 2.0.1 | Release to production 30 December 2021

Updated features, Learn integration, Moodle integration, Canvas integration, D2L integration

Ally 2.0.1 bug fixes and improvements

  • Resolved an issue in D2L Brightspace where some institutions were unable to upload, process, and properly score new documents.
  • Resolved an issue where tables that were copy and pasted into the Instructor Feedback for WYSIWYG editor were not properly processed.

Ally 2.0 | Release to production 16 December 2021

New features, Learn integration, Moodle integration, D2L Integration, Canvas Integration

Instructor Feedback for WYSIWYG content

We're excited to announce that Ally now supports Instructor Feedback for WYSIWYG content!

In this first release of Instructor Feedback for WYSIWYG content, we're expanding Ally's scanning and feedback to now include support for content created in the course using your LMS content editor (WYSIWYG content).

Ally score appears above the content editor toolbar on the right of the screen.

In addition to the feedback and guidance you're familiar with for other content/document types - we've added some new features that make it quicker and easier than ever to improve the accessibility of your course content including:

Live scoring and flagging of accessibility issues as content is created and edited

Automatic suggestions and batch remediation to more quickly fix issues at scale

More on WYSIWYG Accessibility

This feature is now available for Blackboard Learn Ultra, Blackboard Learn Original, Instructure Canvas, D2L Brightspace, Moodle/OpenLMS, and  Moodle with Atto Editor. This feature is targeted to be introduced in a future release for Schoology.

This feature is disabled by default. To enable Instructor Feedback for WYSIWYG content administrators can navigate to the Ally Configuration UI and go to the Features tab.

In future releases we'll be improving the visibility of the score indicator in view mode, introducing support for other tools in the LMS, and more deeply integrating into the course and institutional reporting capabilities.

A special thank you goes out to our user group and community of beta testers that provided feedback during the development of these features - thank you!

Incorrect Language / No Set Language

Ally now provides feedback guidance for Word, Power Point, and PDF documents that have no set language or an incorrectly set language.

Panel showing buttons to find out what this issue means and how to fix it. As well as a place to upload a new document.

Ally 1.63.2 | Release to production 3 December 2021

Updated features, Learn integration, Moodle integration

Ally 1.63.2 bug fixes and improvements

  • Alternative text for images in courses is now retained when a course is copied. 

    Applies to Moodle with the 3.11.3 Ally Plugin or OpenLMS 3.11.

  • In Moodle, adds the ability for administrators to see the display name and email of users requesting expert help.
  • Minor modification of tool-tip language in the institutional report.
  • Improved text layout in the administrator configuration for right-to-left languages.

Ally 1.62.9 | Release to production 11 November 2021

Updated features, Learn integration, Canvas integration, D2L integration, Moodle integration

Ally 1.62.9 bug fixes and improvements

  • Fixed an issue where an error was shown when attempting to download usage data from the institutional report in Canvas.
  • Fixed an issue in the WYSIWYG Learn editor that resulted in a decrease of performance when LaTeX characters were entered.
  • Resolved an issue in Learn that resulted in Alternative Formats not being available from instructor view for folders and items with conditional release rules.
  • Improved navigation and layout of table elements in the course report for individuals using assistive technology.

Ally 1.62.8 | Release to production 4 November 2021

Updated features, Learn integration, Canvas integration, D2L integration, Moodle integration

Ally 1.62.8 bug fixes and improvements

  • Improved performance and language support for audio (MP3) alternative formats.
  • Improved navigation and layout of course report elements for people who use assistive technology.

Ally 1.62.7 | Release to production 21 October 2021

Updated features, Canvas integration, Learn integration, D2L integration, Moodle integration

Ally 1.62.7 bug fixes and improvements

  • Added a back button that closes guidance when viewing instructor feedback.
  • Fixed an issue in Canvas where alternative formats were not loading properly when an instructor used the Canvas Student View.
  • Improved error messaging during LTI 1.3 setup.
  • Minor improvements to better support Arabic braille tables.
  • Minor visual adjustments in instructor feedback workflows to improve spacing of content and buttons for non-English languages.
  • Improved navigation of tabular data elements for screen readers in the institution report.

Ally 1.62.6 | Release to production 14 October 2021

Updated features, Learn integration, Canvas integration, D2L integration, Moodle integration

Ally 1.62.6 bug fixes and improvements

  • Improved alternative format file name to more closely match original name in the course.
  • Fixed an issue where alternative format downloads in the Blackboard mobile app were not properly functioning.
  • Fixed an issue in the institutional usage report where the date selector was not properly displaying available date ranges.
  • Fixed an issue where occasionally removing the image description from a .gif would not save correctly.
  • Fixed an issue in Canvas where tablets in alternative formats were not properly being converted.
  • Resolved an issue where filenames with non-alpha numeric characters were not properly being processed.

Ally 1.61.9 | Release to production 17 September 2021

Updated features, Learn integration, Canvas integration, D2L integration, Moodle integration

Course accessibility report in Safari

  • As a follow-up to the Ally 1.44 | Release to production 15 May 2020, we've now updated the Ally institutional report and configuration UI LTI tools to no longer rely on 3rd party cookies. Now, all Ally tools should load correctly in Safari.

This update also applies to other web browsers that have implemented or plan to phase out 3rd party cookie support.  

Ally 1.61.9 bug fixes & improvements

  • Minor improvement in Learn to course-copy synching with Ally for image descriptions.

Ally 1.61.3 | Release to production 20 August 2021

Blackboard Learn integration, Canvas integration, D2L Brightspace integration, Moodle integration, Updated features

Ally 1.61.3 bug fixes & improvements

  • Added Irish (ga-IE) language support for the user interface.

Ally 1.60, 1.60.1 | Release to production 17 June 2021

D2L Brightspace, Moodle, Updated features

Ally 1.60, 1.60.1 bug fixes & improvements

  • Fixed an issue in Moodle that resulted in unused course files being incorporated in the overall accessibility score. Administrators will need to enable this option by checking the "Exclude unused files" that can be found by navigating to Site Admin > Plugins > Ally.

    Applies to Moodle with the 3.10.3 Ally Plugin.

  • Fixed an issue in D2L Brightspace where an error was presented when attempting to download alternative formats.