eXeLearning 3.01: Greater stability, new translations, and key improvements

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The evolution of eXeLearning 3.0 continues with the release of version 3.0.1, an update that, although minor in number, is significant in content. This version focuses on refining the user experience, correcting reported errors, expanding internationalization, and laying a more solid and efficient technical foundation.

If 3.0.0 was the qualitative leap, 3.0.1 is the necessary polish, demonstrating the team’s commitment to continuous improvement. These are the most notable new features.

 

New Features for Authors and Developers

Content creators will have more refined tools and additional options to customize their projects:

  • Simultaneous Editing: It is now possible to edit the titles of iDevices and boxes simultaneously, speeding up the workflow.
  • More Control Over Pages: The options “Hide title” and “Highlight page” are added to each page’s configuration, with built-in compatibility in the styles.
  • Improved Mobile Interaction: Interactive iDevices such as Classify, Sort, and Drag and Drop now have improved touch support, enriching the experience on tablets and mobile devices.
  • New Diagram Plugin: Mermaid.js is integrated into the TinyMCE Insert menu, allowing the creation of diagrams, flowcharts, and data visualizations in a simple and elegant way.
  • Editable EPUBs: Support for opening editable EPUB files, expanding the possibilities for content reuse.
  • Project Subtitle: A new “subtitle” property is introduced for projects, offering more informational flexibility.
  • Styles and Custom Favicon: A complete review of the styles has been carried out and the use of custom favicons within them is now allowed.

 

Technical Robustness and Improvements for Administrators

For those who deploy eXeLearning on servers, this version includes important stability and configuration improvements:

  • Large File Handling: Critical optimizations for importing files larger than 100MB, a major advancement for projects with heavy multimedia content.
  • Increased Limits: The default values for client_max_body_size, post_max_size, and upload_max_filesize are increased, along with new environment variables (memory_limit, max_execution_time) to avoid errors in long operations or with large files.
  • Database Compatibility: Compatibility issues with MariaDB and PostgreSQL are resolved.
  • Better Docker Configuration: New environment variables (APP_ENV, APP_PORT, etc.) in the Dockerfile facilitate deployment and initial configuration.
  • REST API: Support for converting old .elp files and exporting content through the REST API is consolidated.
  • Updated Documentation: The deployment documentation is expanded with new instructions for Ansible and integration with Keycloak.

 

Fixes That Make a Difference

Version 3.0.1 addresses numerous points that affected usability:

  • Windows Fix: Paths are normalized in Windows systems, solving problems with backslashes in directories.
  • Fixed iDevices: Problems with multiple instances of the “Word Search” iDevice on the same page are solved, the performance and word placement in “Crosswords” is improved, and the feedback button in the “Text” iDevice is repaired.
  • More Reliable SCORM: Improvements in score recovery and the handling of suspend_data, crucial for a reliable LMS experience.
  • Styles and Importation: Problems when importing and installing styles and iDevices are resolved.
  • User Interface: The z-index problem in TinyMCE’s full-screen mode, which prevented selecting the last line of text, is fixed.
  • TinyMCE Plugins: Bugs in TinyMCE’s image and multimedia plugins have been corrected, improving reliability when inserting and managing multimedia elements in the editor.

 

Internationalization and Cleanup

The commitment to the global community is evident:

  • A general review and cleanup of the translations has been carried out.
  • Complete Translations: Catalan (CA), Basque (EU), Galician (GL), Spanish (ES), Romanian (RO), and Valencian (VA).
  • New Translations: Translations (partially automated) to Portuguese and French are incorporated, and an automatic translation to Esperanto.

 

Updates and Code Cleanup

The project keeps its technology stack updated, with significant upgrades in:

  • The base image to alpine-php-webserver:3.22.2.
  • Electron from 38.5.0 to 39.0.0.
  • Doctrine Bundle to version 3.0.0.
  • Multiple Symfony components to their latest stable versions.

Furthermore, obsolete code is removed, such as Doctrine deprecations and the old preference “Include a copy of the source file.”

Concluding, eXeLearning 3.0.1 is the consolidation update. It does not seek to revolutionize, but to perfect, making the powerful version 3.0 more stable, fast, multilingual, and pleasant to use for both authors and administrators. A highly recommended update for all users.