[Xerte-dev] Re: v2 User Notes

[Fay Cross]

I need to go back and look at how things can work best in IE.  I still have Windows XP so am still on IE8 which doesn't support the HTML5 tags (canvas etc.) but this doesn't affect too many page types and as Ron said there should be warnings where this applies.  I do need to look at the css as the buttons on the interface don't align quite right in IE but it should work even if it doesn't look as nice.

I'm not sure if Thomas is referring to the LOs though or Toolkits in general - the workspace etc.  I know this doesn't work in Opera so maybe IE10 has the same problems?

From: xerte-dev-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk [mailto:xerte-dev-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk] On Behalf Of Ron Mitchell
Sent: 02 May 2013 12:41
To: thomas.rochford at jiscadvance.ac.uk; 'For Xerte technical developers'
Subject: [Xerte-dev] Re: v2 User Notes

Hi Thomas
what exactly doesn't work very well?

This might be a Windows 8 issue rather than IE 10 issue because I'm using IE10 on Windows 7 without any problems. There are a couple of page types that don't have full functionality in IE but Fay has included on-screen warnings about that. In my experience the Xerte HTML 5 is far more cross browser than output from tools like Articulate and iSpring.

Ron

From: xerte-dev-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk<mailto:xerte-dev-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk> [mailto:xerte-dev-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk] On Behalf Of Thomas Rochford
Sent: 02 May 2013 12:07
To: 'For Xerte technical developers'
Subject: [Xerte-dev] Re: v2 User Notes

Hi Julian,

One caveat. Using IE 10 doesn't work very well. You may want to check this for yourselves, as it may just be IE 10 in windows 8. It won't probably be a problem for corporate users as they won't have upgraded their organisational hardware, but it will be a problem for learners who have recently (e.g. at Christmas or more recently) acquired a new computer which will come with W8 and IE10 by default. The pages work best in the current version of Firefox, and acceptably in Chrome, but IE 10 is pretty much unusable for Xerte as it comes.

You may need/wish to draw attention to this in the 'Release Notes'.

You may also want to include the kludge for getting IE 10 to play Flash in the 'Metro' or 'Modern' interface which I noted earlier. This is not just for the Surface RT.

Thinking ahead a bit more, would it be possible to the get the LO to check to see if Flash is available and revert to HTML 5 if it's not or to see if the browser is on the 'supported' list for HTML 5 (currently Firefox, Chrome, versions of IE prior to 10? and Safari?).

Kindest regards, Thomas

From: xerte-dev-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk<mailto:xerte-dev-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk> [mailto:xerte-dev-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk] On Behalf Of Julian Tenney
Sent: 02 May 2013 10:41
To: For Xerte technical developers (xerte-dev at lists.nottingham.ac.uk<mailto:xerte-dev at lists.nottingham.ac.uk>)
Subject: [Xerte-dev] v2 User Notes

We're going to update our install today(!)

I want to put a summary of the changes in v2 for our users to read somewhere (maybe in a bootstrap template piece I create and link to). I've written some text, can you think of anything else to add, or anything that is not clear here? Thanks,

Xerte Online Toolkits v2.0 - Release Notes
==========================================

In Xerte Online Toolkits v2.0, you now have the ability to deliver content using HTML5 rather than the Flash Player. This has a number of advantages: you can deliver content to a much wider range of devices, and specifically you can deliver content to devices that do not support Flash. You should use the HTML5 delivery option for new pieces of content.

Existing content will continue to play using the Flash Player. You can change this setting for existing content, but you should check that the content runs properly, and looks as you intended if you change the setting. New content is set to play using HTML5 by default and will be able to take advantage of new developments in the software in the future. We will not be updating the older Flash delivery engine to handle new page types and templates, and so we recommend that new Learning Objects use HTML5 rather than Flash for delivery. New Learning Objects will automatically be set up to use HTML5, so you do not need to do anything.

When using video, you should use the .mp4 file format in conjunction with the HTML5 delivery option to ensure that video plays on the widest range of devices. The .mp4 file format is not compatible with the older Flash player.

To summarise, you do not need to do anything. Existing content will continue to use Flash and nothing will change unless you want it to. New content will use HTML5, and we recommend that you keep this setting. You should use .mp4 video rather than .flv video in new learning objects.

The Xerte Online Toolkit now contains over 70 templates for presenting rich media and interactivity. If you have idea for new ways to present and deliver content, the developer team would like to hear from you. The software continues to be user-driven, most of the functionality has been developed to meet real use cases, and we think this is an excellent way to capture great ideas that meet real needs.

The MediaInteractions, Interactive Diagram and  Multiple Perspectives templates have been retired. All the functionality they provided is now available in the Xerte Online Toolkit template. Existing Learning Objects created using these templates will continue to function but you will no longer be able to create new ones.

The new Bootstrap Template allows you to create responsive learning objects that work well on the widest possible range of devices and function well on a wide range of screen sizes, from phones to desktop PCs. The Bootstrap template is designed for the presentation of text, graphics, video and audio in a structured document: note you can embed content created using the Xerte Online Toolkit into content created using the Bootstrap Template.

We hope you enjoy all the new features and functionality in Xerte Online Toolkits v2.0!


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