Lectora 18 Release Notes

Released on:

October 30, 2018

Current Version:

Lectora Inspire 18 (11533)
Lectora Publisher 18 (11532)

Supported Browsers:
Published content is cross-platform compatible with Microsoft Internet Explorer 8.0 and newer, or any recent version of Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Apple Safari, or Microsoft Edge.

New Features:

For Lectora 18 we are pleased to announce the following 14 major enhancements to the platform that not only update the appearance of the application, but also make it easier to use and offer a more contemporary and up-to-date approach when creating eLearning.

• Updated Getting Started screen focusing on new, powerful templates to create inspired learning faster and easier.  New templates make getting started with Lectora easier and simplify finding a reference for building standardised course content in Lectora. These templates are focused on the following: basic linear navigation,  non-linear navigation, audio and video, to Pre-Test/Final Exam, accessibility, and interactive page samples. They provide an easy to use template that can be copied and modified according to the needs of the user.
• Stock buttons have been improved to make them easier to use, and are showcased in the Buttons folder of the Stock Library. The new buttons are configurable, allowing the user to change the colour and gradient behind a transparent button image.
• Inspire includes Camtasia 2018 and Snagit 2019
• Added ability to disable tablet or phone (landscape or portrait) views to simplify Responsive Course Design by allowing authors to focus only on the views they want to and allowing for normal scaling in the others.  When a view is disabled, publish content for that view will revert to its parent view.
• Adding an HTML5-only publish option, since Flash is coming to an end of life. HTML5-only publishes exclude any Flash fallback elements so there are no issues importing into your LMS.
• For non-responsive (traditional) titles,  the standard desktop view will be scaled in every browser regardless of the device as long as either of the two existing publish scaling options are checked.
• Enabled the ability to view the waveform for audio files when synchronising events
• HTML objects now include their Title Explorer object name as text with the globe-placeholder image making them easier to identify
• Allow limiting the number of drag items per drop zone
• The product license key on the Getting Started screen is now selectable and can be copied and pasted into a Support ticket to ensure accuracy.
• The option to “Add Submit Button” for a question to trigger feedback had been only available when the question was initially created. It is now available after the question has been created and can be added in the question editor

Accessibility:

In addition, we have addressed a number of issues for accessibility, and wanted to highlight these improvements, as this is a key area of focus for us, as well as for many of you.

• When “Use Web Accessibility Settings” is checked,  an option for focus colour and width will now be enabled. They will be disabled when the option  of accessibility is unchecked
• When “Use Web Accessibility Settings” is enabled, “Publish for Seamless Play” is now disabled, improving the ability for screen readers to recognise page changes.

Accessibility Issues Fixed:

LD-6401: JAWS will no longer read form objects twice on a page

LD-6387: Corrected an issue for 508 where sub-bulleted items were being read continuously, rather then than as list items

LD-5610: CSS can now be disabled to meet accessibility requirements

LD-5597: Text blocks without actions are no longer tabbable in published mode, which addresses an accessibility issue

LD-4699: The screen reader will no longer read objects that are not on the page

LD-6361: JAWS will now read lengthy text found on page one of titles

LD-6306: The user now has the ability to enable/disable closed captioning using the keyboard

LD-5439: Questions are no longer being read out of order for accessibility when there are multiple questions on a single page

LD-5170: Have addressed an accessibility issue with NVDA not reading buttons correctly

LD-4888: Added scope attribute to table headers for 508 accessibility

LD-947: Addressed the issue with accessibility where the tab order was always putting the focus on hyperlinks last

LD-6490: For WCAG titles, hyperlinks will now show the selection indicator

LD-4088: The import of a title from Lectora Online that has closed captions will no longer cause errors

LD-6459: Eliminated having to tab twice for shapes and actions for 508 titles

LD-6457: List boxes and drop lists are now showing focus indicators in IE for WCAG titles in SCORM publish

LD-6445: The tabbing index has been fixed so that it is correct with the audio player when in a WCAG title

LD-6444: JAWS will no longer read anchored buttons several times

LD-6414: When JAWS is interacting with questions that contain radio buttons, the tabbing will now bring the user to the next question

LD-6408: When tabbing, JAWS will no longer read shapes that do not have actions

LD-6383: JAWS will now read the text in all shapes

LD-6360: JAWS is now reading the names of shapes  (Alt Tags) correctly

LD-6355: Transparent buttons will now show the focus colour when tabbed to in a WCAG title

LD-6347: When tabbing to WCAG title with shapes that have actions, there will no longer be duplicate focus lines

LD-6340: WCAG titles will no longer show partial focus lines on non-selected objects in Firefox

LD-3747: When tabbing to a button with an ALT tag in IE, JAWS will no longer read the next object twice

LD-993:  The spacebar will now fire OnClick actions on objects other than buttons in all supported operating systems, and not just limited to IE as it was in the past

LD-6469: Users will no longer be able to publish WCAG titles with seamless play publish enabled, which are incompatible

LD-6461: JAWS will no longer read labels twice when they are located on the right for checkboxes

Issues Fixed:

LD-623: When printing the current page, it will now print a lengthy page in its entirety, rather than stopping at one page

LD-6575: Inline variables will no longer created an issue for bulleted text

LD-6582: Corrected an issue where the anchoring feature was not working correctly

LD-6472: Addressed intermittent issues with the drag and drop feature for questions not always functioning

LD-6412: Fixed an issue where Chrome disables auto-start for media that has audio tracks

LD-6395: Allow behind-the-firewall users to verify their maintenance end date

LD-6374: Title Manager is now available in seamless play publishing for IE/Edge

LD-6363: Closing the notes report, located in the ‘Tools’ menu, will no longer close Lectora

LD-5891: When there is a text block with bullets on a page and another with an inline variable, it will no longer break the page and show code/scripting during preview and will now publish correctly

LD-5455: When publishing a course out to AICC, while selecting the seamless play publishing option, and then attempting to open up a standard pop up window for a Lectora page, you will receive no longer receive error messages

LD-6551: Randomised tests with sections, will no longer have a premature exit

LD-6536: The design themes have been reordered so that the newest themes are at the top

LD-6415: There is now the ability to randomise sections within tests, vs. the entire test

LD-6379: Custom radio buttons and checkboxes are now working correctly

LD-6366: When printing a page, form object content will now be printed as well

LD-6330: Have now made ffmpeg optional

LD-6234: A CMI5 option has been added to the command line publishing feature

LD-6227: Buttons are no longer misaligned in published content responsive course design mode

LD-6224: Improved the drawing of matching lines for questions, tests and surveys

LD-6148: AICC published content with the seamless play publishing option will no longer error

LD-6035: Audio and video files will now auto-play on Chrome for iPhone and iPad devices

LD-5884: When using change contents actions for audio objects, they will now function correctly when you view them in run or preview mode, as well as when published out to EXE

LD-5760: Stock buttons will no longer be disabled while transition effects are occurring

LD-5642: Lectora can now submit to the new version of Google Forms

LD-5588: Certificates will now print correctly with protect content enabled when using the seamless play publish option

LD-5338: Drag and drop questions will now retain their position as the user navigates from page to page and will no longer shift

LD-4809: An object placed off of a page will no longer be tabbed to in published content

LD-4325: Items that are in a ‘locked’ status, will no longer be interactive

LD-4236: For Android, when exiting a full screen while in landscape view, will no longer cause the page to zoom in

LD-4167: The hand cursor is now visible with drag and drop questions when in the protect mode

LD-1846: Users can now change the title name in title explorer that contain accented characters when the language is set to Portuguese

LD-6605: Unsaved titles will no longer show in ‘Recent Titles’

LD-6581: Inherited form objects with values will no longer error, causing the field and the page number to not display on every other page

LD-6549: The last page in titles with graded tests will now display in IE 8

LD-6546: Responsive course design scrubbing is no longer disabled in page preview

LD-6538: For questions, tests and surveys, when the attempts are limited, a user can no longer make multiple attempts beyond the set limit when using custom radio buttons

LD-6501: Shadows in objects will no longer be reset to no shadows when the operating system is German

LD-6493: Questions with individual feedback will now show when the operating system is Hindi

LD-6475: List box and drop lists with a single quote in the options will no longer stop the page from loading

LD-6468: Eliminated the page from freezing when transitions fade to text and images

LD-6462: Addressed label text being truncated for form objects in the build view

LD-6456: In languages where the text for the preview button is longer than the English version, the text will no longer extend over the cancel button

LD-6452: Questions with a list style format (both dropdown as well as listbox) now display in columns for IE 10

LD-6447: Drag and drop questions have had the drag option addressed for IE 10

LD-6400: Importing translation file will now translate all pages and not simply the ones that were viewed prior to publishing

LD-6399: Corrected an issue when responsive course design is being used where the view is truncated on mobile devices when scale to fit is selected

LD-6398: When using variables, instead of hard-coded values, the MoveTo actions are now working as expected

LD-6396: Publish warnings have been added for entry fields that are greater than 255 characters

LD-6371: Text box colour outline that is set to hidden initially, will no longer show in Edge and IE

LD-6367:  Users will no longer receive an error message when navigating to another page in a new window while publishing to AICC with SPP enabled

LD-6331: Drag and drop questions are now working correctly on mobile phone devices

LD-6310:  Open attachment action will now fire in run mode

LD-6308: When setting sync events timing to include a 9, the duration will no longer be treated as 0

LD-6244: The exit button in the question creator is now functioning

LD-5413: The upper right hand ‘X’ in the synchronise events will now close the dialog

LD-6232: Titles are no longer shifting in run mode, when objects are placed in the grey space to the top or to the left of the canvas

LD-6153: Addressed an issue with missing JSON for xAPI

LD-5683:  When the keystroke actions of ‘M’ and ‘U’ are assigned to ‘Mute’ and ‘Unmute’ respectively, they now function

LD-4706: Eliminated javascript errors in pages containing table objects

LD-4504: When using the command line to execute a xAPI publish, the directory will no longer be incorrect

LD-2406: Resource override with cropped images will now function correctly in responsive course design

LD-2113: Updating test and test section names from the tools ribbon will now update the variable name

LD-1827: When in publish, after having used the ‘Save As’ feature, the destination folder is now pointing to the correct directory

LD-2935: The application will no longer crash when doing M4A to MP3 conversions

LD-6384: Publish to xAPI is no longer generating a blank page in IE

LD-6454: FTP used in languages other than English will no longer cause errors to be generated

LD-2036: OnDone action will now fire for .WAV files in IE

LD-6322: Users can now navigate back and forth between buttons and not have the page freeze