Citizen Space v5.9 (our second Kaizen milestone of 2020) is a mini but jam-packed release focusing on mostly behind-the-scenes accessibility improvements and buggity bugfixes, but with a few extra visual changes added to the mix!
It will be rolled out to all customers next week beginning 20th April 2020. You can read more details below.
What’s new
Wider date input boxes
We’ve made a small tweak to the way the date answer component boxes appear. This has made the response boxes slightly wider for everyone. Prior to this release, the numbers in date boxes were slightly cut off for iOS mobile users. Now it’s easier to complete the date inputs regardless of the device being used — once again showing that even tiny accessibility tweaks make things better for everyone.
Improved colour contrast for open / close dates on the homepage
You told us that the open and close dates can be difficult to see on your Citizen Space homepage. We’ve adjusted the colour so that it meets WCAG 2.1 AAA colour contrast levels. We hope this helps to make the dates stand out more and easier to read.
Improved screen reading
We made some adjustments to bits of ARIA and other pieces of code to improve the user experience for those using screen readers as we continue to improve the accessibility of Citizen Space for all of our users.
Getting that copy / paste right
Not only did we upgrade the CKEditor to its newest version to help resolve some weird things that would randomly happen when pasting content, but we’ve also fixed the niggling issue of italics that would sometimes occur when pasting text into the editor. So go forth and Control+C / Control+V!
Forgotten password gets a subtle makeover
We tidied up some accessibility attributes on this page and as a result also gave it a brand new look — now it’s looking so fresh and so clean, clean.
Display of embedded PDFs is no longer platform dependent
There was some hinkyness when displaying embedded PDFs across different browsers and devices (some browsers showed the embedded PDF, others did not). This is no longer the case as all browsers and devices, including mobiles and tablets, will now show the embedded PDF as intended, without converting it to an inline link. Huzzah!
And much more…
This release has also tidied up a few wee niggles including the usual bug fixes.
Consultation showcase
We love seeing the public engagement opportunities our customers publish on Citizen Space. However, during these times, many of the usual engagement activities and consultations have been postponed while everyone shifts to responding to COVID-19. We will highlight a few examples we’ve pulled from the Aggregator of how our customers are using Citizen Space to help respond to this crisis:
- London Borough of Havering Council created a Business Impact Survey to collate information and better understand the impact of COVID-19 on local businesses.
- Police Scotland incorporated questions about the role and response of police during the COVID-19 pandemic in their annual Your Police 2020-21 survey so the public can be involved during these challenging times and beyond.
- Scottish Borders Council are publishing weekly survey forms for childcare bookings and setting them as featured consultations so key worker parents are supported and can easily find the provided service.
- West Lancashire Borough Council are creating a database of local businesses who are delivering during this time so residents know who they can contact to purchase their goods, to help support the local economy.
Our user groups and centralised training
Due to COVID-19 we made the early decision to postpone all of our upcoming spring 2020 in-person events, including the London and Scotland User Groups along with the Bristol and Edinburgh centralised training sessions.
We don’t know yet when these will be rescheduled, but we look forward to being all in the same room with everyone once again — whenever that may be.
Remote training
We know that with social distancing measures, engagement is shifting to be more digital than ever before and the need to utilise your online platforms to their fullest potential is vital. We want to continue to support our customers and help you and your colleagues get the most out using Citizen Space. You can still book onsite training days, and we can formally schedule the training once things are more settled. Alternatively, we are also starting to offer remote training for Citizen Space and Dialogue — we’ll cover the same topics as we do on a normal in-person training, just in an alternative format and a slightly different structure.
Stay healthy and safe
Many of our customers are on the front lines during this global pandemic, balancing decision-making, communication and safety with so much uncertainty, and working hard to protect their citizens. We offer our deepest gratitude and support — thank you.
