Welcome back to the new and improved UCalgary Blogs! We are still in the ‘soft-launch’ phase, but it is now open for testing and light use, as there may still be further instability as we iron out the last kinks!
First launched in 2007, UCalgary Blogs has provided for the University of Calgary community in various ways over the years. In 2023, the Taylor Institute for Teaching and Learning is relaunching it as a sustainable and extensible project for the entire University of Calgary campus community.
Much of this update has been behind the scenes to allow for future development and integration with both campus and non-campus tools. This has included an updated software stack, database upgrades, and a focus on accessibility and access.
New Features
Some of the noteworthy new features for users include:
- WordPress 6.3, which includes a brand-new, extensive editor for creating content. It has been extended with the CoBlocks plugin to add more options for page and site creation.
- As an anti-feature, with the relaunch, UCalgary Blogs now supports a very small series of plugins and themes. Themes now support the new Gutenberg editor and are designed with accessibility as a priority. Plugins have been limited to ensure maximum compatibility and stability.
- More themes will be added over time and can be customized further within the site block editor. If you had an existing site that used a theme that was removed, your content may need to be reformatted.
- Plugins are currently limited, and more will be added over time as we expand the platforms feature set.
- H5P! UCalgary Blogs now supports the H5P interactive content platform.
Future Improvements
Here at the Taylor Institute, we have a number of plans and extensions in store for UCalgary Blogs. This includes performance improvements, integration with Yuja, two-factor authentication, and reorganizing how sites and blogs are distributed.
Important Notice about content retention:
- All sites that are blank or have not been updated since before December 31, 2019, have been removed.
- All users who have no comments or sites have been removed.
- All users who have not signed in since December 31, 2019, have been removed.
- All sites and users that were active should be accessible with all content – if it was not dependent on retired functionality. If your user account, site, or content is missing, contact us at blogs@ucalgary.ca.
