Version 4.1 (February 2019)

Last updated on Aug 30, 2021 4 min read

Release Notes tell you what’s new in Academic. As always, we welcome your feedback. You can also file a bug report. Want to update to this version? Refer to the update guide in conjunction with the parameter changes mentioned in the Breaking Changes section below.

See what’s new in Academic!

Welcome to the v4.1 release of Academic. This version is all about widgets and publications! There are a number of exciting updates in this version that we hope you will like, including:

  • Publication Search
    • In addition to the site search, a search box has been added to the publication archive to enable filtering publications by any attribute
    • This enables visitors to more easily discover relevant content by filtering author, publication, etc.
  • Hero widget makeover
    • The Hero widget now supports multiple paragraphs and displaying an image (in addition to the optional background image)
    • View the new hero options used to create the Demo
  • Easily apply a background to any homepage section
  • Create a Featured Blog Posts section using the new Featured widget
    • The flexibility of the new Featured widget can be seen in the updated featured.md
  • The Photo Gallery now generates web-friendly thumbnails
    • It’s no longer necessary to use third party software to make photos web-friendly
  • The Talk section can now be split into a Past Talks section and an Upcoming Talks section
Enable visitors to easily discover relevant publications by searching.
Enable visitors to easily discover relevant publications by searching.

Breaking changes

Here are some considerations to make when updating Academic from the previous version, v4.0.0:

  • Rename abstract_short in publications and talks to summary (if used)
  • Rename url_custom to links in front matter of content (if used)
  • Remove [header] from the Hero widget (if used) and replace it with the new [background] options
  • The Hero Carousel widget has been renamed to Slider
    • If using it, update widget in the front matter to widget = "slider"
  • Posts, Talks, and Publications widgets have been replaced with a Pages widget
  • Featured Talks/Publications widgets have been replaced with a Featured widget
  • Projects and Custom widgets have been replaced with the new Portfolio and Blank widgets
    • Essentially, the Projects and Custom widgets have been renamed and their front matter upgraded to be consistent with the new Pages and Featured widgets (i.e. there are now many more front matter options to personalize their functionality and appearance)
    • Refer to the Projects and Demo sections which use the new Portfolio and Blank widgets
    • Some existing Projects and Custom widgets may possibly continue to work even without upgrading your sections to use these new widgets
  • In the front matter of any talks, rename date, time_start, time_end options to publishDate, date, and date_end, respectively (See #721)

Widgets

Hero widget makeover

  • Support multiple paragraphs in the body of the widget
  • Add optional image (hero_media) which appears on the right side of the widget
  • Icon support for the [cta] call-to-action button using icon and icon_pack
  • Add optional alternative call-to-action link, [cta_alt]
  • Add optional note ([cta_note]) underneath the CTA button
  • Like all widgets, new background options can be set for the Hero widget
  • View the new hero options used to create the Demo

Users

Talks

  • Fix all_day option not working in list and compact views

Projects

  • Fix the layout of the Project widget when using Card view
    • This fully reverts the Card view from a tabular layout back to a masonry layout, similar to Pinterest
  • Fix the new v4.0.0 post_view, publication_view, talk_view options not working on project pages

Thank you

Last but certainly not least, a big Thank You to all the folks that helped to make Academic even better.

Has Academic helped you? Please consider supporting Academic.

Ask a question