CMS Lite Release Notes - 2016

Last updated on January 9, 2024

The following section describes upgrades in previous releases and, where applicable, links to additional information and functionality.

Product: CMS Lite


​Product: CMS Lite

Release Number: 2.5.3

Release Date:  Dec 13, 2016

What's New?

CMS Lite

  • Grid layouts have been implemented to ensure government accessibility standards are met
  • A Workflow Status button has been added to the top of the Home screen providing quick access to the Workflow Status Pane
  • The functionality for unlocking a page has been adjusted, so that pages locked by a user (which does not exist in CMS Lite, or has no email address associated to the account), can now be unlocked
  • Fixed: Alt/title text for images are now being saved after a subsequent edit/save
  • Other (general) fixes and back-end changes have been made

​Product: CMS Lite

Release Number: 2.5.2

Release Date:  Nov 15, 2016

What's New?

CMS Lite

  • When using the Open Item by URL or ID Field, messaging will now indicate if you do not have security access to open the item, or if the item does not exist (invalid URL or ID)
  • Email notification has been implemented
    • If you unlock a page locked by another user, the user will receive an email that you have unlocked their page
      • If you unlock a page currently locked by yourself, you will not receive an email
    • If you publish a page locked by another user, the user will receive an email that you have published their page
      • If you publish a page locked by locked by yourself, you will not receive an email unless you check the option 'Notify me when published'
  • The Publish button was not showing immediately after unpublishing a page or external link. This has been corrected
  • Other (general) fixes and back-end changes have been made

​Product: CMS Lite

Release Number: 2.5.0 and 2.5.1

Release Date:  Nov 1, 2016

What's New?

CMS Lite - Two upgrades

2.5.1

  • Similar to Asset Usage, Content Usage Tab provides the ability to see what pages link to a specific page
  • You now have the ability to add display and hide dates and times to Alert banners
  • You now have the option to create links that look like a button
    • Designed to meet accessibility standards and eliminate the use of ad hoc graphic buttons that are not accessible.  
      • Non-compliant buttons should be replaced as soon as possible
    • Should only be used for call-to-action links
  • Right Column tab now indicates the maximum (4) allowable components

2.5.0

  • Data & Review actions have been added to the History tab, providing the ability to view or copy previous versions of content
    • A version of content is one that has been PUBLISHED
    • In addition, you will have access to saved work (aka, draft work) from your most recent save to the most recent version (published content). The draft work will be removed once you publish your page
    • You will have access to previous versions (starting from July 26, 2016), and work that you save (starting the evening of November 1, 2016)
    • Note: All MCFD Intranet pages, any Search pages and all homepages will not have the review option (only access to view data)
  • CMS Lite Terms of Use (TOU) page has been implemented. You will be prompted to accept the TOU the next time you log into the CMS Lite application
    • GCPE has the right to update the TOU as needed, at which time you will be prompted to accept the updated terms
  • The Link Checker report will now indicate which link is broken by location on the page, and the links text
  • General fixes and back-end changes have been made

​Product: CMS Lite

Release Number: 2.4.4

Release Date: Sep 27, 2016

What's New?

CMS Lite

  • Additional improvements have been made to the link checker service to improve accuracy
    • The link checker report can be run on a page locked by another user
  • Additional functionality to the URL reverse look-up service now allows you to paste a link to an asset or page or embed an image using a human readable URL (HRU), and the system will convert the URL to a GUID-based URL (GBU)
  • In addition to embedding maps in CMS Lite, you may now embed DataBC visualizations
    • This new feature applies to www2.gov.bc.ca, intranets and ALC sites
  • A fix has been applied to correct an issue that allowed for more than 4 right-column components to be added to a page. The number of right-column components allowed is 0 to 4
  • An enhancement has been implemented to improve the way the max character count works for right-column, promo box text field 
    Improvements to the expand/collapse feature of CMS Lite componenets will provide a better user experience
  • Other back-end changes have been made to increase performance

​Product: CMS Lite

Release Number: 2.4.3

Release Date: Aug 23, 2016

What's New?

CMS Lite

  • The User Interface for CMS Lite has been upgraded to the latest release of the 3rd party theme. This will assist in future development (as we can leverage pre-built components for new functionality for CMS Lite). Some colors are a bit different, but the overall structure of the UI is still the same
  • An Alpha (phase 1 - internal to GCPE staff) release of a new toolset within CMS Lite has been launched, called Recordsets. This feature will allow authors to create data records (using metadata, vocabularies, tag collections and Enhanced Search) which will form catalogues of information
    • General release of this new tool is TBD
    • Records are intended to be small, focused and data-rich pages of metadata, bypassing the need for authors to create full-fledged Topic pages
  • An update to the link checker service has been released (beta version 2.0). Thank you for your feedback
  • The action buttons on the Asset Folder Pane remained fixed at the bottom of the display as you scroll down and up (like the Content screen)
    • Button labels have been modified slightly to accommodate the new positioning
  • When deleting a page using the Delete action button, the message has been modified to 'Are you sure you would like to delete this page'. The message 'Are you sure you would like to delete the selected item' will still be displayed when deleting the following:
    • a component, for example, a right-hand column box
    • a page or pages, or external link, from the Action menu
    • an asset using the action button on the Asset Folder Pane
  • Other back-end changes have been implemented to improve performance in certain areas of the application

​Product: CMS Lite

Release Number: 2.4.2

Release Date: Jul 26, 2016

What's New?

CMS Lite

  • The 2.4.1a patch has been applied to this release
  • Content editors can no longer upload asset files of the following types: html, htm, shtml, js, css, php, jsp and json
    • This list can be updated at anytime (to add/remove types) as GCPE deems neccessary
  • When embedding maps, CMS Lite now supports three corporate frameworks hosted by DataBC. For more information, please refer to the Web Mapping Frameworks
  • A new Manager role has been implemented to allow ministries to manage their own security groups (e.g: add an existing user in the system to your security group)
    • Each web team will need to decide who should have this role and submit an iTop Service Request or an email to the COS Service Desk to have the role added to their system access
  • We have developed and released a link checking service (this version is being released as a beta version, and not final; therefore, feedback is welcome):
    • You can check the accuracy of links in QA (on a per page basis) using the [Link Checker Report] button provided at the bottom of the Content Pane.
      • Note: It is intended that only the user who is editing the page can run the Link Checker. Though not advised, another user could unlock your file, and run the report.
    • Also, we will release (launch date is TBD) a daily link checking report run against all pages in www2.gov.bc.ca site (only). More details will be released shortly
  • A new History tab has been included for all page-types. A running log of each action (e.g. New, Clone, Save, Publish, Unpublish, Revert to PROD, etc.) that is performed on a page is recorded
    1. The logging of history on a page begins today (Jul 26, 2016), at the conclusion of the change window
    2. The history does NOT list Modification Reasons or the actual changes to the page, only that the page has been saved
    3. The history does NOT list who viewed the page in QA or PROD
  • Multilingual support has been included in the Taxonomy Manager
  • Other back-end changes have been implemented to improve performance in certain areas of the application

​Product: CMS Lite

Release Number: 2.4.1

Release Date: Jun 28, 2016

What's New?

CMS Lite

  • CMS Lite is now running under a new application server. This change will improve application response times, and will result in fewer connection errors
  • You now have the ability to add in-page alert messages
  • When you save content, the confirmation window includes a Modification Reason input field. This optional field allows users to put in a message, to advise colleagues about the status of the page they are editing
    • Icons (when doing a Revert body to PROD or Bulk tagging) will appear. The icons and the message will be removed after the page has been published (and refreshed)
  • The Right Column Promo Box now enforces the inclusion of an Image Description, when the image field is populated
  • When pasting content into the WYSIWYG (CKEditor) field, all formats and styles that do not adhere to the design of our websites will be stripped
  • Clicking anywhere on an Item Control Bar will expand/collapse the component
  • You now have the ability to include an Enhanced Search input field into the body of your Topic content. See the Enhanced Search release notes for more details
    • A new Search page Picker has been implemented to assist in this new feature
  • For those who use Tag Collections, the fields can now be manually ordered. They will also appear collapsed upon loading. Also, defined default vocab terms will appear as the a default term on the Tag Collection tab (for pages/assets)
  • Failed published jobs will now be purged from the Workflow Status grid after five days. Failed jobs, previously, remained listed indefinitely (until removed by the user or SYSADMIN)
  • Other back-end changes have been implemented to improve performance in certain areas of the application

​Product: CMS Lite

Release Number: 2.4.0

Release Date: May 10, 2016

What's New?

CMS Lite

  • The Asset Filters on the CMS Lite homepage now allow you to choose how you want to search for Assets - by folder name or file name (or both)
  • When you create a new page or clone an existing page, you now have the ability to create more than one during a single instance
    • When creating a new page, the dialogue box is now labelled New Page instead of Save
  • The action buttons on the Content Pane scroll with you during content creation
  • If you delete a Right Column Component (RCC), you will be prompted to confirm the deletion
  • Improvements to the character count functionality in certain WYSIWYG fields has been implemented
  • Functionality when publishing asset folders and assets from the Asset Action menu has been improved
  • The Asset Folder Pane has been simplified to display all the information on a single tab
    • When you are viewing Asset Settings details a [Back to Folder] action button has been added
  • You can now rename asset file names in addition to the Title field
    • Note: please allow 10-20 seconds for the file to be renamed throughout the system, before viewing
  • Other back-end enhancements and bug fixes have been made

​Product: CMS Lite

Release Number: 2.3.10

Release Date: Apr 12, 2016

What's New?

CMS Lite

  • The Asset, Page and Image Pickers now include a [Reset] button. This allows the content editor to clear the Tree navigation history without ending the session
  • By default, existing Right Column Components (RCC) created under the Right Column tab will be collapsed. Users can expand the individual components by using the the arrows on the Item Control Bar
  • Centre alignment of Images has been added to the Insert Image properties box
  • Pages that have an extremely large number of links to assets (e.g.: PDFs), can be saved/published without issues

​Product: CMS Lite

Release Number: 2.3.9

Release Date: Mar 1, 2016

What's New?

CMS Lite

  • The rendering of the CMS Lite homepage and grids have been improved to load 3 times faster than before. This has also resulted in fixing links not "working" when clicked after the homepage loaded (e.g.: clicking on Content would "hang").
  • Carousel tab has been added to the Sub-theme and Topic template.  Do not use this feature until you have an approved use plan with your GCPE Comm shops. 

​Product: CMS Lite

Release Number: 2.3.8

Release Date: Feb 9, 2016

What's New?

CMS Lite

  • A link to the Web Style Guide has been added to the Help menu on the CMS Lite Banner
  • Result per Page option has been added to the Asset Folder Pane
  • Minor fixes to the CKEditor upgrade in the previous release

PROD site

  • "Related" videos will no longer appear at the end of YouTube videos. This means, once your video has played, it will not advertise videos from other users.  This does not apply when viewing the videos on YouTube
    • Note: If you have any pages that use YouTube videos, please republish the page to make the changes take effect

Product: CMS Lite

Release Number: 2.3.7

Release Date: Jan 26, 2016

What's New?

CMS Lite

  • Release of new content and presentation templates to support Intranet sites
  • A new feature has been added to the CKEditor (WYSIWYG tool) to allow for the embedding of web accordion (expand/collapse) content
    • Note: This feature is available on www2.gov.bc.ca and the new Intranet templates
  • Upgrade of the CKEditor to version 4.5.5

Product: CMS Lite

Release Number: 2.3.6

Release Date: Jan 19, 2016

What's New?

CMS Lite

  • Additional roles for authoring and managing content and assets have been developed, to support your line of business. Note: the rollout of the new feature is TBD
  • A new Usage Tab has been added to the Asset Settings pane to provide a list of page(s) that an asset is attached to in CMS Lite
  • The dynamic pickers (e.g.: Assets, Pages, Images) will remember the last location, when the Tree Navigation is used
    • Note: This applies during a single browser session. If you close your browser, the previous location will not be remembered
  • The Created By and Created Date values of a cloned page will indicate the actual day it was cloned, and who cloned the page
  • The Media Embed properties box now indicates that both the URL and title fields are mandatory when adding a YouTube or government video to content
  • The Table Properties box now defaults to 100%, instead of 500 pixels, to comply with responsive design standards
  • If you do not modify a page or asset, the browser will no longer display the Leave Page prompt when you navigate away from it
  • Fixed: A bug that caused external links from being sorted properly on the homepage grid
  • Fixed: New external links were not appearing on the homepage grid has been rectified
  • Other back-end changes have been implemented to improve performance in certain areas of the application
Recent Release Notes

This page contains information about the latest upgrades to CMS Lite.