Showtime v4.1 - Public Release Notes
- Marina Soroka
Release date: June 6, 2023
Touchcast new branding
Touchcast has revamped its branding, and Showtime has taken a step to adopt it. You will notice the new gradient, logo and colors on the login page, as well as the accent color update within CMS pages. We love it, and hope you will enjoy the refreshed look!
The new logo has also been updated for:
the default event design (top left)
footer “Powered by Touchcast ”
fav icon
Courses and lessons
Showtime has been used for non-event type of initiatives where the primary goal of the page is to publish content and make it available for users to explore it on their own time. Resources section can be used for this, however resource cards have a horizontal layout.
We have had the feedback that it would be great to be able to post VODs, use our vertical cards and not to have to work around the timing aspect.
As a solution to this problem we are introducing a new type of content called Lessons.
Lessons are essentially your VODs but set up in a simplified way. You can add a video to a lesson, you can assign a presenter, add polls. Access to lessons and courses can be custom, with the same logic as other custom access groups.
Lessons can be grouped into categories (Courses).
Access to managing lessons in the CMS can be issued via permissions to specific user roles, and of course by default it’s enabled for the Showtime Admin role.
New permissions introduced in this release are for Courses and lessons:
Manage courses and lessons.
View courses and lessons analytics.
New setting to collapse/expand tracks by default
When a setting to expand/collapse tracks on the event page is enabled, we are giving you the option to control the default state for each track and track category so that you can manage what gets most attention as users open the page.
As a reminder, the general setting is enabled under Agenda Settings -> Enable track Expand/Collapse.
Once enabled, every track that you create will have an additional toggle and it will be enabled by default.
Every track category you create will have the same additional toggle, and will be disabled by default.
Event countdown update
When you enable the event countdown with a custom date and time for the countdown, even though you have sessions on the agenda that happened in the past, the timer will still be displayed.
Time zone information added to the agenda table
A column has been added to the Track Agenda table to make it easier to see what time zone was used to set sessions on the agenda. This is useful when multiple admins collaborate on setting up the event, or when the event itself is in a different time zone from that of the admin.
Accessibility Improvements
Closed the gap on the following accessibility requirements according to WCAG 2.1:
Enter Key - For selection
Esc Key - For closing lightbox
Tab Key - Navigation
Arrows for slider
Additionally, the majority of the Showtime page is now compatible with screen readers. Efforts to close other accessibility gaps are ongoing.