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Web Community Manager 2023 Release (2.70)

Release 2.70 available on 28 Feb 2023

Feature upgrade

  • Public key expiry alert notification

    • Admins will be notified by email and pop-up alerts to update their SAML public key before and after it expires.

Security enhancements

Web Community Manager 2023 Release (2.69)

Release 2.69 available on 31 Jan 2023

Feature upgrades

Bug fixes

  • Security enhancements
  • We squashed a bug in the Doc Viewer app that prevented the uploaded documents from loading.

Web Community Manager 2022 Release (2.68)

Release 2.68 available 20 Dec 2022

Bug fixes

  • We fixed a bug in the text editor size of some custom apps.
  • We removed the ‘new page editing video’ pop-up that showed after the first visit to the page editor.

Minor changes to the app manager

  • The lightbox and the content accordion apps have been moved under system apps.
  • We’ve removed the copy option for all system apps.

Minor changes to the text editor

  • We’ve removed the checklist plugin from the text editor.

Security enhancements

Accessibility improvements

Web Community Manager 2022 Release (2.67)

Release 2.67 available 15 Nov 2022

This release has a few bug fixes.

Bug fixes

  • We identified and solved an issue that prevented admins from adding background images on sub-pages when the page cache was enabled.
  • Accessibility improvements
  • Security enhancements

Web Community Manager 2022 Release (2.66)

Release 2.66 available 18 Oct 2022

Release 2.66 includes updated features and minor bug fixes.

Updated features

  • 404 page set up

    • We're introducing a new feature to configure your 404 page. Create a 404 page with your custom message to show when users stumble upon a URL on your website which may have been removed or moved. 
    • You can preview the look and feel of your 404 content before saving. You can also set up to direct users to your homepage to avoid abandonment.
    • We've simplified the UI design to improve performance.

  • Page level editing

    • We've improved the visual hierarchy in pages for page editors who have access to sub-pages.

  • Headlines and Announcements app

    • You can show up to 25 updates on the Headlines and Features app and the Announcements app to your users.

Bug fix

  • We've improved the accessibility.
  • We've fixed a bug to show the hierarchical display of multi-level bullets to personalize and emphasize list items when formatting your text.

Web Community Manager 2022 Release (2.65)

Continuous delivery 2.65 | Release to production Sep 2022

The product release (2.65) includes:

  • Bug fix
  • Minor enhancement

Bug fix

  • We corrected the spelling 'calender' to 'calendar' in the Google Calendar date selection screen.

Minor enhancement

  • We've rearranged the order of the tabs in the page editors and viewers setting to show Editors followed by Viewers, to be consistent with the section, channel, and site editors.

Web Community Manager 2022 Release (2.64)

Continuous Delivery 2.64 | Release to Production Jul 2022
New feature, Updated features, bug fixes

Here's what the product release (2.64) includes:

  • New features
  • Updated features
  • Bug fixes

New feature:

We've introduced translation settings in the Site Manager with optional Weglot translation services.

Updated feature:

  1. TinyMCE editor is enhanced with the below features:
    • Link checker: This allows users to verify valid links.
    • Power paste: This allows users to copy and paste the content with the formatting.
  2. Contextual warning messages incorporated to the content versioning panel.

Bug fixes

  1. Performance improvements
  2. Minor bugs.

Web Community Manager 2022 Release (2.63)

Continuous Delivery 2.63 | Release to Production Jun 2022
Updated features, bug fixes

Here's what the product release (2.63) includes:

  • Updated features
  • Bug fixes

Updated features:

  1. Content versioning

    • Exempt Facebook, Twitter, and divider apps from versioning.

  2. Page layouts

    • New page layouts are added to the page editor, section assets, and page types.

  3. TinyMCE

    • The accessibility checker won’t flag decorative images marked by users as missing the alt-text attribute.
    • Removed the ellipsis option from the TinyMCE editor toolbar.
    • Fixed an issue with the solid bullet formatting.

  4. Security enhancements

Bug fixes

  • Mini base app

    • Fixed an issue where the labels in the Mini base app overflowed from text fields on some browsers in Mac OS and iOS devices.

Performance improvements

 

Web Community Manager 2022 Release (2.62)

Continuous Delivery 2.62 | Release to Production May 2022
Updated features, bug fixes

Here's what the product release (2.62) includes:

  • Updated features
  • Bug fixes

Updated features:

Improvements to Content Versioning:

  • Preview historical versions of all single record apps.
  • View who created the versions.
  • Show title changes to apps in version history.

Improvements to the Integrated Staff Directory app:

*The integrated Staff Directory will be released to a restricted group of early adopters.

  • Options to configure the fields for the school directory in the Site Manager.
  • Show the social media links as icons.
  • The header section is hidden.
  • Show phone numbers as links.
  • Search Staff using the title.

Improved accessibility standards for the Integrated Staff Directory app:

  • Fixed an issue of alternate formats not showing consistently for some documents.
  • Fixed a template update issue in the MyWay Ultra Titan template.

Site managers can set page-level editors.

Bug fixes:

  • Security enhancements
  • Enhanced accessibility standards in mini base, links, calendar, and staff directory apps.
     

 

Web Community Manager 2022 Release (2.61)

The 2.61 release will be merged with the 2.62 release

Web Community Manager 2022 Release (2.60)

Continuous Delivery 2.60 | Release to Production Feb 2022
Security enhancements, updated features

Here's what the product release (2.60) includes:

  • Security enhancements
  • Updated features

Security enhancements

Updated features:

  • We've removed the website embed iframe option from the TinyMCE editor toolbar.

Web Community Manager 2022 Release (2.59)

Continuous Delivery 2.59 | Release to Production Jan 2022
Bug fixes, new features

Here's what the Product Release (2.59) includes:

  • Bug fixes
  • Updated features

Bug Fixes:

  • Fixed issues with pagination, expansion chevrons, and search results in the integrated staff directory app and for limited release.
  • Security bug fixes

Updated features:

  • Upgraded the text editor and spell checker in TinyMCE WYSIWYG to the latest version with advanced features. Read the support article on the all new text editor here.
  • Upgraded RSS feeds to support identification of tag filtered records from the shared 'Headlines and Features' app instances.

Web Community Manager 2021 Release (2.58)

Continuous Delivery 2.58 | Release to Production Nov 2021
Bug fixes, new features

Here's what the Product Release (2.58) includes:

  • Bug fixes
  • Updated features

Bug Fixes

  • Security bugs.
  • Fixed a minor UI issue in the Version History panel headers.

Feature Updates

  • Performance improvements in the Integrated Staff Directory (limited release).

Web Community Manager 2021 Release (2.57)

Continuous Delivery 2.57 | Release to Production Oct 2021
Bug fixes

Here's what the Product Release (2.57) includes:

  • Bug fixes

Bug Fixes

  • Security bug fixes.

Web Community Manager 2021 Release (2.56)

Continuous Delivery 2.56 | Release to Production Sep 2021
Minor enhancements, Bug fixes

Here's what the Product Release (2.56) includes:

  • Minor enhancements
  • Bug fixes

iKeepsafe (COPPA compliance)

  • Fulfilled COPPA compliance.

Auth0 Integration

  • Closed beta release: Auth0 sign-provider now supports authentication for WCM with Azure active directory.

Content Versioning

  • Implemented mechanism to purge historic versions for improved performance.

Bug Fixes

  • Addressed critical issues with managing section editors and Google SSO option in the site manager.
  • Fixed IE 11 editing issues reported in the 2.55 release.
  • Performance and security bug fixes.

Web Community Manager 2021 Release (2.55)

Continuous Delivery 2.55 | Release to Production Jul 2021
Minor enhancements, Bug fixes

Here's what the Product Release (2.55) includes:

  • New feature - Content Versioning (Beta)
  • Security enhancements

Template configuration window

App Preview is a new button within the template configuration window. It opens a menu that allows clients to rearrange apps and preview what the layout looks like in any region of the template. This feature allows clients to test colors and other element settings with all apps in all regions before going live with a new template.

Design ready template information

Our Design Ready Templates require updates when defects are found, accessibility guidelines change, new WCM features change, etc. We've made it easier for you to keep track of updates with our subscription service. When an update has been applied to a Design Ready Template that you have subscribed to, you receive an email with the release information. You can review the release information before clicking the "Update" button for the template.

Subscribe to template updates

New feature - Content Versioning (Beta)

Versioning is a new feature that logs the changes users make to supported apps* in up to 20 versions. Users can view the changes or restore them later. Versioning is currently available in beta for select users only. Read the step-by-step guidance on versioning.

*Currently available for flex single record apps.
 

Web Community Manager 2021 Release 3 (2.54)

Continuous Delivery 2.54 | Release to Production Jun 2021
Minor enhancements, Bug fixes

Here's what the Product Release 1 (2.54) includes:

  • Bug fixes

Template configuration window

App Preview is a new button within the template configuration window. It opens a menu that allows clients to rearrange apps and preview what the layout looks like in any region of the template. This feature allows clients to test colors and other element settings with all apps in all regions before going live with a new template.

Design ready template information

Our Design Ready Templates require updates when defects are found, accessibility guidelines change, new WCM features change, etc. We've made it easier for you to keep track of updates with our subscription service. When an update has been applied to a Design Ready Template that you have subscribed to, you receive an email with the release information. You can review the release information before clicking the "Update" button for the template.

Subscribe to template updates

Minor enhancements and bug fixes

  • Security enhancements

Web Community Manager 2021 Release 3 (2.53)

Continuous Delivery 2.53 | Release to Production May 2021
Minor enhancements, Bug fixes

Here's what the Product Release 1 (2.53) includes:

  • Minor enhancements
  • Bug fixes

Template configuration window

App Preview is a new button within the template configuration window. It opens a menu that allows clients to rearrange apps and preview what the layout looks like in any region of the template. This feature allows clients to test colors and other element settings with all apps in all regions before going live with a new template.

Design ready template information

Our Design Ready Templates require updates when defects are found, accessibility guidelines change, new WCM features change, etc. We've made it easier for you to keep track of updates with our subscription service. When an update has been applied to a Design Ready Template that you have subscribed to, you receive an email with the release information. You can review the release information before clicking the "Update" button for the template.

Subscribe to template updates

Minor enhancements and bug fixes

  • Accessibility
    • Fixed the Ally issue where HTML heading structure didn't start at the right level on all pages with on-screen alerts.
  • Security enhancements

Web Community Manager 2021 Release 2 (2.52)

Continuous Delivery 2.52| Release to Production April 2021
Updated features, Minor enhancements, Bug fixes

Here's what the Product Release 2 (2.52) includes:

  • Updated features
  • Minor enhancements
  • Bug fixes

Design ready template information

Our Design Ready Templates require updates when defects are found, accessibility guidelines change, new WCM features change, etc. We've made it easier for you to keep track of updates with our subscription service. When an update has been applied to a Design Ready Template that you have subscribed to, you receive an email with the release information. You can review the release information before clicking the "Update" button for the template.

Subscribe to template updates

Minor enhancements and bug fixes

  • Photo Gallery App
    • Fixed an issue where editing the existing photo in existing Photo Gallery app and also the newly uploaded and published photo on the existing Photo Gallery app wasn't getting reflected.
    • Fixed an issue with photo adjustment in the app
    • Added an alt-text field
  • Accessibility
    • Decorative images in apps are now hidden from assistive technologies.
    • Added image alt-text field.

Technical Requirements

Here are the Web Community Manager End-User Technical Requirements and the Blackboard Privacy Policy updated to reflect the Blackboard brand.

Refresh Your Cache

It's always a good practice to clear your browser cache on a regular basis. Refresh your Cache shows you how to clear your cache in any browser.

Resources and Materials

As always, you can find resources and materials related to this release as well as to the many features and functions on the Help site. Core Resources, Hot Help Topics, Apps Showroom, Training and Creative—we’ve got the information you need to succeed with your Web Community Manager website.

Web Community Manager 2021 Release 1(2.51)

Continuous Delivery 2.51| Release to Production March 2021
Updated features, Minor enhancements, Bug fixes

Here's what the Product Release 1 (2.51) includes:

  • Updated features
  • Minor enhancements
  • Bug fixes

Template configuration window

App Preview is a new button within the template configuration window. It opens a menu that allows clients to rearrange apps and preview what the layout looks like in any region of the template. This feature allows clients to test colors and other element settings with all apps in all regions before going live with a new template.

Design ready template information

Our Design Ready Templates require updates when defects are found, accessibility guidelines change, new WCM features change, etc. We've made it easier for you to keep track of updates with our subscription service. When an update has been applied to a Design Ready Template that you have subscribed to, you receive an email with the release information. You can review the release information before clicking the "Update" button for the template.

Subscribe to template updates

Minor enhancements and bug fixes

  • Security enhancements

Web Community Manager 2021 Release 12 (2.50)

Continuous Delivery 2.50 | Release to Production February 2021
Updated features, Minor enhancements, Bug fixes

Here's what the Product Release 12 (2.50) includes:

  • Updated features
  • Minor enhancements
  • Bug fixes

Template configuration window

App Preview is a new button within the template configuration window. It opens a menu that allows clients to rearrange apps and preview what the layout looks like in any region of the template. This feature allows clients to test colors and other element settings with all apps in all regions before going live with a new template.

Design ready template information

Our Design Ready Templates require updates when defects are found, accessibility guidelines change, new WCM features change, etc. We've made it easier for you to keep track of updates with our subscription service. When an update has been applied to a Design Ready Template that you have subscribed to, you receive an email with the release information. You can review the release information before clicking the "Update" button for the template.

Subscribe to template updates

Minor enhancements and bug fixes

  • Security enhancements

Web Community Manager 2020 Release 11 (2.49)

Continuous Delivery 2.49 | Release to Production December 2020
Updated features, Minor enhancements, Bug fixes

Here's what the 2020 Product Release 11 (2.49) includes:

  • Updated features
  • Minor enhancements
  • Bug fixes

Template configuration window

App Preview is a new button within the template configuration window. It opens a menu that allows clients to rearrange apps and preview what the layout looks like in any region of the template. This feature allows clients to test colors and other element settings with all apps in all regions before going live with a new template.

Design ready template information

Our Design Ready Templates require updates when defects are found, accessibility guidelines change, new WCM features change, etc. We've made it easier for you to keep track of updates with our subscription service. When an update has been applied to a Design Ready Template that you have subscribed to, you receive an email with the release information. You can review the release information before clicking the "Update" button for the template.

Subscribe to template updates

Minor enhancements and bug fixes

  • Improved page caching
  • Security enhancements

Web Community Manager 2020 Release 10 (2.48)

Continuous Delivery 2.48 | Release to Production November 2020
Bug fixes, minor enhancements

Here's what the 2020 Product Release 10 (2.48) includes:

  • New features
  • Minor enhancements
  • Bug fixes

Removal of Meta Keywords

In this release, Web Community Manager will replace our Meta Keywords feature with a Canonical URL. We're removing the Meta Keywords because Google officially stated they stopped accounting for meta keywords in Search Engine Results Pages in 2009. Bing stopped in 2014. It's understood within the industry that if you use them, a search bot determines that they are excessive and can work against you by penalizing how you rank in Search Engine Results Pages.

Canonical URL

A Canonical URL is a snippet of HTML code that defines the main version for duplicate, near-duplicate, and similar pages. In other words, if you have the same, or similar, content available under different URLs, you can use canonical tags to specific which version is the master copy of your page. This helps further enforce your desired sitemap throughout your website.

Design ready template information

Our Design Ready Templates require updates when defects are found, accessibility guidelines change, new WCM features change, etc. We've made it easier for you to keep track of updates with our subscription service. When an update has been applied to a Design Ready Template that you have subscribed to, you receive an email with the release information. You can review the release information before clicking the "Update" button for the template.

Subscribe to template updates

Bug fixes and enhancements

  • Alternative format not tagging when file is marked as deleted
  • Security enhancements

 

Web Community Manager 2020 Release 9 (2.47)

Continuous Delivery 2.47 | Release to Production October 2020
Bug fixes, minor enhancements

Here's what the 2020 Product Release 9 (2.47) includes:

  • Minor enhancements

Design ready template information

Our Design Ready Templates require updates when defects are found, accessibility guidelines change, new WCM features change, etc. We've made it easier for you to keep track of updates with our subscription service. When an update has been applied to a Design Ready Template that you have subscribed to, you receive an email with the release information. You can review the release information before clicking the "Update" button for the template.

Subscribe to template updates

Bug fixes and enhancements

  • Security enhancements

Web Community Manager 2020 Release 8 (2.46)

Continuous Delivery 2.46 | Release to Production September 2020
New features, bug fixes, minor enhancements

Here's what the 2020 Product Release 8 (2.46) includes:

  • New and Classic Page Editing update
  • New Site Manager design
  • Design ready template updates
  • Bug fixes
  • Minor enhancements

 

Web Community Manager 2020 Release 7 (2.45)

Continuous Delivery 2.45 | Release to Production July 2020
New features, bug fixes, updated features

Here's what the 2020 Product Release 7 (2.45) includes:

  • New and Classic Page Editing update
  • New Site Manager design
  • Design ready template updates
  • Bug fixes

 

Web Community Manager 2020 Release 6 (2.44)

Continuous Delivery 2.44 | Release to Production June 2020
New features, bug fixes, updated features

Here's what the 2020 Product Release 6 (2.44) includes:

  • New and Classic Page Editing update
  • New Site Manager design
  • Design ready template updates
  • Bug fixes

 

Web Community Manager 2020 Release 5 (2.43)

Continuous Delivery 2.43 | Release to Production May 2020
New features, bug fixes

Here's what the 2020 Product Release 5 (2.43) includes:

  • New Site Manager design
  • Design ready template updates
  • Bug fixes

Web Community Manager 2020 Release 4 (2.42)

Continuous Delivery 2.42 | Release to Production April 2020
New features, bug fixes

Here's what the 2020 Product Release 4 (2.42) includes:

  • New Site Manager design
  • Design ready template updates
  • Bug fixes

Web Community Manager 2020 Release 3 (2.41)

Continuous Delivery 2.41 | Release to Production March 2020
New features, bug fixes

Here's what the 2020 Product Release 3 (2.41) includes:

  • New Site Manager design
  • Design ready template updates
  • Bug fixes

Activate Your Free Crisis Subsite For Consolidated Coronavirus Communications

As your partner in education we have a responsibility to give you the best resources for communicating with your community about updates regarding the Coronavirus. To help you create one location to share information, we are offering you a crisis subsite at no charge until the outbreak is resolved.

We recommend you populate this subsite with important information on Coronavirus, including school schedule changes, best practices for cleanliness, and state and local guidelines. This will allow you to keep your community informed while managing all the content in one location. To help you get started, here's an example of what a crisis site might look like.

Crisis template download steps

  1. Navigate to Configure in Site Manager
  2. Select Templates
  3. Under available templates select Standard 
  4. Select Download & Preview next to Crisis Management
  5. Select I’m done when the popup of the template shows
  6. Select More and select License
  7. Select the Inactive button to the left of the template name

Subsite activation steps

  1. Navigate to Sites in Site Manager
  2. Add the Crisis template to New Subsite
  3. Select the Inactive button to the left of the site name

We expect you'll see increased traffic on these pages and recommend these best practices when building out your content:

  • Avoid using record-based apps like the Headlines & Features or Blog apps. These apps open the content in separate, non-cached pages, which may slow page performance.
  • Keep your content simple. Limit images, rotating galleries, videos, and embedded documents and stick with just text. When your site is likely to receive unusually heavy traffic, it’s better to use available resources to serve relatively simple content to very large numbers of visitors.
  • Create a friendly URL (e.g. /coronavirus), but always directly hyperlink to your subsite when directing people there from other channels.
  • If your template is resource-intensive (e.g. it makes use of Mega Menus in the Channel Bar, Media Rotator, etc.), performance may be impacted. You might consider discussing alternatives with your account team and/or Creative Services.

Blackboard is dedicated to working with you and your district to ensure you’re able to get critical information out to your students, their families, and the community in a timely manner. If you have questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to our support team at [email protected] for assistance.

As your partner in education we have a responsibility to give you the best resources for communicating with your community about updates regarding the Coronavirus. To help you create one location to share information, we are offering you a crisis subsite at no charge until the outbreak is resolved.

We recommend you populate this subsite with important information on Coronavirus, including school schedule changes, best practices for cleanliness, and state and local guidelines. This will allow you to keep your community informed while managing all the content in one location. To help you get started, here's an example of what a crisis site might look like.

Crisis template download steps

  1. Navigate to Configure in Site Manager
  2. Select Templates
  3. Under available templates select Standard 
  4. Select Download & Preview next to Crisis Management
  5. Select I’m done when the popup of the template shows
  6. Select More and select License

Subsite activation steps

  1. Navigate to Sites in Site Manager
  2. Add the Crisis template to New Subsite
  3. Select the Inactive button to the left of the site name

We expect you'll see increased traffic on these pages and recommend these best practices when building out your content:

  • Avoid using record-based apps like the Headlines & Features or Blog apps. These apps open the content in separate, non-cached pages, which may slow page performance.
  • Keep your content simple. Limit images, rotating galleries, videos, and embedded documents and stick with just text. When your site is likely to receive unusually heavy traffic, it’s better to use available resources to serve relatively simple content to very large numbers of visitors.
  • Create a friendly URL (e.g. /coronavirus), but always directly hyperlink to your subsite when directing people there from other channels.
  • If your template is resource-intensive (e.g. it makes use of Mega Menus in the Channel Bar, Media Rotator, etc.), performance may be impacted. You might consider discussing alternatives with your account team and/or Creative Services.

Blackboard is dedicated to working with you and your district to ensure you’re able to get critical information out to your students, their families, and the community in a timely manner. If you have questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to our support team at [email protected] for assistance.

Web Community Manager 2020 Release 2 (2.40)

Continuous Delivery 2.40 | Release to Production February 2020
New features, updated features, bug fixes

Here's what the 2020 Product Release 2 (2.40) includes:

  • New Site Manager design
  • Design ready template updates
  • Bug fixes

 

Web Community Manager 2020 Release 1 (2.39)

Continuous Delivery 2.39 | Release to Production January 2020
New features, updated features, bug fixes

Here's what the 2020 Product Release 1 (2.39) includes:

  • New Site Manager design
  • Design ready template updates
  • Bug fixes

Web Community Manager 2019 Release 8 (2.38)

Continuous Delivery 2.38 | Release to Production December 2019
New features, updated features, bug fixes

Here's what the 2019 Product Release 8 (2.38) includes:

  • New Site Manager design
  • Design ready template updates
  • Bug fixes

Web Community Manager 2019 Release 7 (2.37)

Continuous Delivery 2.37 | Release to Production October 2019
Bug fixes

Here is what the 2019 Product Release 7 (2.37) includes:

  • Design ready template information
  • Bug fixes

Web Community Manager 2019 Release 5 (2.35)

Continuous Delivery 2.35 | Release to Production July 2019
Minor enhancements, Bug fixes

Here is what the 2019 Product Release 5 (2.35) includes:

  • Minor enhancements
  • Security improvements
  • Bug fixes

Minor enhancements

  • increased the stability of Google calendar sync
  • security improvements

Bug fixes

  • Google calendar
    • fixed the repair icon so it displays working until the repair is complete.

Design Ready Templates Updates

Web Community Manager 2019 Release 1 (2.31)

Continuous Delivery 2.31 | Release to Production January 2019
New features, Updated features, Bug fixes

Here is what the 2019 Product Release 1 (2.31) includes:

  • New page editing on the homepage
  • Enhanced page editing 
  • Bug fixes

Design Ready Templates Updates

New updates for Ally customers

Continuous Delivery Ally 1.23 | Release to Production 14 November, 2018
Updated features

The latest release of Ally (v. 1.23) contains bug fixes and other improvements that may apply to your product. Visit the Ally release notes to learn more. Don't have Ally? Learn more about Ally.

Web Community Manager 2018 Release 8 (2.29)

Continuous Delivery 2.29 | Release to Production November 2018
New features, Updated features

Here is what the 2018 Product Release 8 (2.29) includes:

  • New features
  • Updated issues

 

Web Community Manager 2018 Release 7 (2.28)

Continuous Delivery 2.28 | Release to Production October 2018
Resolved issues

Here is what the 2018 Product Release 7 (2.28) includes:

  • Updated features
  • Resolved issues

Web Community Manager 2018 Release 6 (2.27)

Continuous Delivery 2.27 | Release to Production October 2018
Bug fixes

Here is what the 2018 Product Release 6 (2.27) includes:

  • Bug fixes and resolved issues

New updates for Ally customers

Continuous Delivery Ally 1.19.4 | Release to Production 25 September, 2018
Updated features

The latest release of Ally (v. 1.19.4) contains bug fixes and other improvements that may apply to your product. Visit the Ally 1.19.4 release notes to learn more. Don't have Ally? Learn more about Ally.

New updates for Ally customers

Continuous Delivery Ally 1.19 | Release to Production 28 August, 2018
Updated features

The latest release of Ally (v. 1.19) contains bug fixes and other improvements that may apply to your product. Visit the Ally 1.19 release notes to learn more. Don't have Ally? Learn more about Ally.

New updates for Ally customers

Continuous Delivery Ally 1.17 | Release to Production 2 August, 2018
Updated features

The latest release of Ally (v. 1.17) contains bug fixes and other improvements that may apply to your product. Visit the Ally release notes to learn more. Don't have Ally? Learn more about Ally.

Web Community Manager 2018 Release 5 (2.26)

Continuous Delivery 2.26 | Release to Production July 2018
Updated features, Bug fixes

Here is what the 2018 Product Release 5 (2.26) includes:

  • Headlines & Features app improvement
  • Bug fixes and resolved issues

 

Web Community Manager 2018 Release 4 (2.25)

Continuous Delivery 2.25 | Release to Production June 2018
Updated features, Bug fixes, Minor enhancements

Here is what the 2018 Product Release 4 (2.25) includes:

  • Calendar improvement
  • Accessibility improvements
  • Bug fixes and resolved issues

New updates for Ally customers

Continuous Delivery Ally 1.16.2 | Release to Production 23 May, 2018
Updated features

The latest release of Ally (v. 1.16.2) contains bug fixes and other improvements that may apply to your product. Visit the Ally 1.16.2 release notes to learn more. Don't have Ally? Learn more about Ally.

Web Community Manager 2018 Release 3 (2.24)

Continuous Delivery 2.24 | Release to Production May 2018
Updated features, Bug fixes, Minor enhancements

Here is what the 2018 Product Release 3 (2.24) includes:

  • Calendar updates
  • Table app improvements
  • Bug fixes and resolved issues

Web Community Manager 2018 Release 2 (2.23)

Continuous Delivery 2.23 | Release to Production April 2018
New Features, Updated features

Here is what the 2018 Product Release 2 (2.23) includes.

  • Disable self registration
  • Improvements to social media sharing
  • Updates to SAML certificates
  • Updates to Blackboard Ally widget
  • Closed caption file option with the Premium Video App
  • CERC help content migration to help.blackboard.com

Web Community Manager 2018 Release 1 (2.22)

Continuous Delivery 2.22 | Release to Production February 2018
New Features, Updated features

Here is what the 2018 Release 1 (2.22) includes.

  • Continuous integration with Blackboard Ally
  • Calendar upgrades
  • Resolved issues

Ally 1.12 | Release to production 20 December, 2017

Updated Features, LMS Integrations, Web Community Manager Integration

Web Community Manager (WCM) integration

The Ally integration for Web Community Manager (WCM) is now available. WCM is distinct from Ally’s other integrations, as WCM is a content management system that is mostly used by K-12 schools and districts in the US.

In the first release of the Ally - Web Community Manager integration, Ally provides the ability to check the pages and embedded media in a WCM instance for accessibility issues, and generates an accessibility report similar to the LMS institutional report. Instructor feedback and alternative formats are on the roadmap for future releases.

More on Ally in Web Community Manager

WYSIWYG content reporting

Ally 1.12 introduces the ability to check content created in the LMS (through the text/WYSIWYG editor) for accessibility issues, and includes this data in the institutional report.

This allows Ally to review a significantly larger part of the LMS content, and is a first step towards providing alternative formats and instructor feedback for this content.

This feature is currently only available for Instructure Canvas. Blackboard Learn, Moodle, and Blackboard Open LMS require additional APIs and/or push notifications to support this feature. Those teams are working hard on this additional functionality, and we are hoping to enable WYSIWYG content reporting for Blackboard Learn, Moodle, and Blackboard Open LMS as soon as possible.

Additional language support

Ally is now available in these languages.

  • German
  • Italian
  • Turkish

Availability in these languages includes the Ally interface, as well as the alternative formats (including the audio format).

Ally 1.12 was originally going to include the ability to post alternative descriptions for images provided through the instructor feedback back into the LMS, and we have been working with all of you to make the required API permission updates. However, not all institutions have been able to make these permission changes in time. Therefore, the feature has not been enabled yet, as we didn’t want to introduce any risk over the holidays. The current plan is to enable this feature during the first week of January.

More on permission updates

Web Community Manager 2017 Release 5 (2.21)

Continuous Delivery 2.21 | Release to Production December 2017
New Features, Updated features, Integrations

Here is what the 2017 Product Release 5 (2.21) includes.

  • Blackboard Ally for Web Community Manager
  • Resolved issues

Web Community Manager 2017 Release 4 (2.20)

Continuous Delivery 2.20 | Release to Production October 2017
New Features, Updated features

  • New Sign-in With Google Login
  • Cloud Storage Dropbox Integration
  • Page Editing Experience Enhancements
  • Dashboard Personalization Enhancements
  • Paging For Apps With Many Records Enhancements
  • Added support for SAML for Active Directory Federation Services ADFS4.0

Web Community Manager 2017 Release 3 (2.19)

Continuous Delivery 2.19 | Release to Production July 2017
New Features, Updated features

  • Legacy WYSIWYG Editor Upgrade
  • Cloud Storage Integration
  • New Image Editor
  • Page Editing Experience Enhancements
  • Dashboard Enhancements
  • On-screen Alerts Enhancements
  • Section Recycle Bin Enhancements
  • New PassKeys

Web Community Manager 2017 Release 2 (2.18)

Continuous Delivery 2.18 | Release to Production April 2017
New Features, Updated features

  • Update to Google Custom Search
  • New page editing experience now available
  • Integrated Dashboard supports student accounts and includes all assignments by class
  • User Management lets you see where a user can edit
  • New PassKeys have been added to the library: Bb Classroom, SkyCentral Community Engagement Engine
  • New Section Recycle Bin to house deleted sections until permanently deleted or restored
  • Email addresses in the Staff Directory app and About Teacher app will be obfuscated to protect them from being harvested by bots
  • File Library App enhanced to link to the file from the title and now opens PDFs in the browser
  • A link to download the file has been added to the Document Viewer app
  • LDAP Group Cross Reference supports searching for Group DNs