Dear User,
Here is a list of the latest changes we implemented in Aviary during Sprints 49 & 50. These are available on the site as of June 15, 2020. Complete change log can be found in the Aviary Knowledge Base.
All users, please note that Aviary has updated its Privacy Policy as of April 27, 2020, which can be found here: https://www.aviaryplatform.com/privacy_policy.
New Features
Aviary now supports HLS (m3u8) streams from local media servers. Aviary organization users can now provide m3u8 URLs successfully to add a Resource File to a Resource using the Embed option. Bulk Import now also supports the inclusion of m3u8 URLs in the Embed Code field using the Local Media Server type.
Aviary now supports playback of 360 video files (MP4/h.264) if uploaded directly to Aviary. Aviary organization users can now provide 360 video files successfully to add a Resource File to a Resource using the Direct Upload or Link Upload options. If you are providing such a file you will have an option to select "360 Video" to ensure that Aviary's media player responds appropriately to the video file. If you are Bulk Importing, you can add a column to your Media.csv file called "360 Video" and add the value "yes" for any files that need to be 360 enabled.
Enhancements
Aviary subdomain landing pages have been updated.
Aviary site navigation has been updated to display on the sub-navigation menu below the footer for all pages. These will be seen on the top right side of the user interface.
The Aviary logo has been moved to the far right side of the sub-navigation menu.
A search bar has been added to the center of the hero image on Organization and Collection landing pages.
Collection Title is centered on the hero image and is no longer displayed under the hero image.
When a user clicks on "Advanced Search" under the search bar, it takes the user to the search page for the collection, instead of flipping the search bar into an advanced search bar.
The old search bar at the top of each page has been removed.
The “Resource” tab now displays search and facets instead of a static list of Resource cards. If an Organization sets the "Resource" tab to be the default landing page, then users will land on the search page when they arrive at the Organization’s site.
Collection cards on the Organization landing page now read “Search Collection” instead of “Browse this Collection”.
Only one display title is required for a resource and this resource title now appears in search results and is highlighted on the resource detail page when search results are found within the title.
The value “Organization” is no longer displayed as part of the Tombstone metadata on the Resource Detail page.
Updated the strategy to load Playlist items onto the page to improve load performance and functionality throughout the Playlist page.
Improved the spacing and size of the Resource Title in the “Now Playing Info” tab of a Playlist.
Added “Reason for Request” so that it is available to Organization users after an access request has been accepted.
Added an Export option for the Access Request management table so that Organization users can export this data for use outside of Aviary.
Fixes
Access request buttons for public users have been fixed to show over the media player again.
Playlist entry description fields now display with line breaks between paragraphs appropriately. Also, words are broken at word level, and not within words, when lines wrap.
Playlist and transcript view analytics have been fixed. Data for these was not collected from March 27 until June 15.
Fixed a bug where adding a media file identifier from one organization to the end of the media embed URL from another organization allows a non-public media file to play in a browser.
Fixed a bug where records about media files from multiple organizations were being exported within the resource file management table in Aviary’s back end.
Fixed search behavior on the Playlist page so that Aviary shortlists entries where results occur, and includes entry titles and entry descriptions in the search results.
Fixed the sizing of the "Set Start" and "Set End" buttons on the Edit Playlist page so they do not get cut off, even when the screen is resized.
Updated the list of Collections on the "Add Resource Page" so that they are displayed alphabetically.
Maintenance
Updated code to respond to a variety of code warnings and failures reported to us by Airbrake, which monitors failures and warning flags on pages when users interact with the page.
Updated code to respond to security warnings as reported by Codacy, which monitors security and code quality. We updated a list of Ruby gems that have security vulnerabilities.
Updated underlying Rails version to 5.2.4.2 and adjusted configurations, gems, and integrations to make sure Aviary experienced no downtime during the migration.
Complete change log can be found in the Aviary Knowledge Base.
Join the conversation!
Share your experience with other Aviary users in the Aviary Google group: https://groups.google.com/forum/?hl=en#!forum/aviary-users
Your feedback is valuable to us! Feel free to submit your questions, concerns, or requests at any time.
