Watch the webinar for a complete look at what's new:
Build lists of pages on your site
It’s now possible for authors to build a list of content, not just developers. Content lists can be placed on any page, so you can link to content from other parts of your site without duplicating it.
You can create a list of pages with the same content type, or with the same content label.
Some list ideas to inspire you
- Child-friendly events
- Everything on your site to do with keeping the city clean
- Libraries in a specific area
See a demo, or check out Build a content list for more information.
Show more information about meetings
We know that your meetings sometimes have extensive minutes and agendas. Using our Minutes & Agendas module, you can now upload several documents for the same minutes or agenda. These can even have their own attachments, so no detail of your meeting is missed.
You can also make the same document available in different formats, so your citizens can download the version they need.
See a demo - you can see the new layout under 10 January 2018 Special Meeting.
Or, check out Upload minutes and agendas for more information.
Make your images shine
This release is packed with improvements to how images work in OpenCities.
Eye-catching focal points
Our Image Editor now automatically finds the focal point of any image you upload. Whenever an image appears in a thumbnail, we’ll use this point to focus the image so that the most important part is on display.
From now on we’ll also make sure that thumbnails on new sites are the same height and width, so everything stays streamlined and beautiful.
Don’t worry, the thumbnails on your existing sites won’t be cropped or resized. If you want to change your theme to include thumbnails with a fixed height and width, update it yourself in Theme Management, or log a ticket and we’ll do it for you.
Images balanced with your content
We’ve made your pages less clunky - most images will now automatically align on the right side of your page. This way they won’t get in the way of your body content. Images in WYSIWYGs won’t have their alignment changed.
If your images are still aligned on the left, you might have some CSS styling that’s blocking our updates. Get in touch with us if you need help with this.
Hidden images on general pages
There are two new templates for general pages that will also help smooth out your content. These let you show a featured image for the page when it’s listed on a landing page but hide the image on the page itself.
See a demo, or check out General page templates for more information.
Unique background images for sections of your site
Give different sections of your site different flavors with background images. There’s a new field that lets you apply a background image to a page and all its child pages. You can even apply them to sections with parent pages that already have their own background images.
See a demo, or go to Change your background and homepage message for more information.
Plenty of small improvements
A template for showing waste collection dates
Previously, your citizens have been able to find waste collection dates on My Area. Now you can show those dates on their own dedicated page. Don’t worry - they’ll still be visible on My Area.
See a demo, or check out Show waste collection dates on their own page for more information.
A page for listing every initiative on your site
In the past, you could show your initiatives in a relative initiatives directory. This would only list initiatives that were in the same section of the site. There’s now a global initiatives directory template that lists all your initiatives from all over your site.
Check out Create initiatives and initiatives directories to find out how to create a global initiatives directory.
Google Analytics about user searches
For a while now, you’ve been able to link OpenCities with Google Analytics to record information about how your citizens are using your site. Now, we’ve added site search data to your Google Analytics toolbox. You’ll be able to see what people are searching for and what pages they click on.
To set this up, visit Use Google Analytics to capture data about your site.
Linked phone numbers
In WYSIWYG editors, you can now add phone numbers as hyperlinks. When someone clicks on it, their phone will automatically open a call to that number. If they’re on a desktop, they’ll be asked to choose an app to open the call.
Any phone numbers entered into Phone number fields will now be displayed as links as well - just make sure there’s no other text in that field.
We hope you enjoy OpenCities 1.12!