Author Release 36

Boost the power of content creation even further with the all-new Design Package Mercury Vertical, custom design package colours per project or LO, new LO and Global Options for configuring the behaviour of visual elements, and more. 

Star Feature

Brand new Design Package Mercury Vertical

Avallain Author Release 36 further expands the possibilities of user experience with the new Design Package Mercury Vertical, with which learners can scroll through all activities in an LO top to bottom. 

This new design package is particularly useful for mobile-first learning experiences, and it’s fully compatible with all layouts and devices.

And we have very good news for all clients that use Avallain Magnet, our all-in-one learning management system and learning experience platform: Mercury Vertical will be fully supported for use in your Magnet-powered platform by the end of June.

Please note: If you want to use Mercury Vertical and it is not available yet in your projects in Avallain Author, please get in touch with your contact person at Avallain.

Backend Enhancements

New process to create users in Author

From Avallain Author Release 36 onwards, admins will be able to create new users by simply entering their email address, username, first name and surname.

New users will receive an email with a link to activate their Avallain Author account and enter the password they wish to use. After completing this process, users will be able to log in immediately. 

In addition, as a measure to further increase the security of the tool, the system will only allow the creation of passwords with at least 8 characters, one digit and one capital letter. 

This new method to create users benefits both admins and content creators, and further enhances the security and privacy of each user’s data. 

Step 1: Create a new user and insert their full name and email address

Step 2: Users receive an email with a link to activate their account and assign a password to it

Step 3: Users activate their account and assign a password, following the system’s requirements

Design Packages

Design Package colours can now be configured per project or LO

Avallain Author Release 36 enables content creators to apply Design Package colours either on a project level from the Project Settings/Global Options, or for LOs individually directly from LO Options in the Edit screen.  

The new option can be found as Design Package Options, and replaces the former Themes option. Primary, secondary and tertiary colours can be indicated in the panel using HEX colour codes. 

Important:

• The number of colours available and the effect this configuration has on the LO will depend on each Design Package. For example, in the Design Package “Mercury”, the primary colour in Design Package Options will correspond to buttons and other interactive elements, and the secondary colour will determine backgrounds and navigation bars. The tertiary colour will affect some additional icons in the interface. 
• When using this new option, the colours indicated in Design Package Options will be superimposed on the colours defined in the platform where the LOs are published. 

This is an example of the design package default colours

In the LO Option Design Package Options you can insert the HEX codes

This is how the LO looks with the custom design package colours applied via the new LO Option

LO & Global Options

New LO Option Confirm Before Submit

The new LO Option Confirm Before Submit allows content creators to decide whether to display the Submit confirmation dialogue before submitting an LO, without relying on the Design Package to determine this behaviour. 

This way, content creators can select to always display the confirmation dialogue, to disable this notification entirely, or to show it only when there are unanswered questions in the LO.

New LO Option See Answers Automatic

Avallain Author Release 36 introduces a new Global Option called See Answers Automatic, which enables content creators to show the answers of an activity without the learner needing to click a button.

This means that, for example, when the Global Option See Answers is set as On, and the new LO Option See Answers Automatic is enabled, learners will see the answers of the activity after clicking Submit or Check Answers.