Release Highlights

CMS 8.15 - Release highlights

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Release schedule

The release of Pangea CMS 8.15 is scheduled for May 18 2022 at the times specified below:

  • Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.: 6am - 7:30am CEST / 12am - 1:30am EST
  • LibertyNet: 7:30am - 8:30am CEST / 1:30am - 2:30am EST
  • Voice of America (VOA): 8:30am - 10am CEST / 2:30am - 4am EST
  • Office of Cuba Broadcasting (OCB): 10am - 11am CEST / 4am - 5am EST


What's new?




Removal of features that pose a security risk

In order to comply with Federal Information Security Modernization Act (FISMA) regulations, we will remove the following features that present a security risk:

  • User Generated Content (UGC)
  • Contact us widget

We recommend taking the actions below before the release:

  • Approve all User Generated Content that you want to keep. Any User Generated Content that is not approved will be deleted after the release. To review User Generated Content, click the UGC button in the left panel on the main Search page.
  • Remove any links to the UGC page from the public website. After the release, these links will no longer work.
  • Replace any Contact us widgets on the public website. After the release, any remaining Contact us widgets will be deleted, leaving a blank space on the page.

After the release you may notice the following additional changes:

  • The User Upload Page on the public website will no longer be available. Visitors to this URL are redirected to the homepage.
  • The Upload Content option will no longer appear in the mobile app settings.
  • The Contact us option will no longer be listed in the Widgets list on the Section Editor screen.



New Audio Clip BETA upload tool

We’ve created the brand-new Audio Clip BETA upload tool that matches the look and feel of the redesigned Video upload tool.

Audio Clip BETA offers the following benefits:

  • Pangea CMS can now upload two audio files in parallel.
  • Start the upload from any edit screen in Pangea CMS and continue working while the upload runs in the background.
  • Conveniently manage uploads via the Upload manager.

You can access Audio Clip BETA via New > Multimedia > Audio Clip BETA.

For more information, see our dedicated support article.




New Audio Clip BETA edit screen

We've created the brand-new Audio Clip BETA edit screen that matches the look and feel of the redesigned Video edit screen.

The new Audio Clip BETA edit screen now opens when you click the title of any Audio Clip on the search results page. You can also open the Audio Clip BETA edit screen by clicking Edit (BETA) (the white pencil icon).

For more information, see our dedicated support article.



IMPORTANT: Audio Clip BETA does not currently include the option to share an audio clip via Sound Cloud. We plan to add this functionality to Audio Clip BETA in future releases.



Redesigned ‘Categories (Zones)’ screen

The Zones screen has been redesigned and renamed to Categories (Zones). This is part of the on-going project to consistently rename zones to categories throughout the Pangea CMS user interface.

Go to Settings > Categories (Zones).

The new Categories (Zones) screen matches the look and feel of other CMS 8 list pages and offers the following new tools:

  • Search: Use the search option to display only categories containing a specified phrase or keyword.
  • Filter: Use the filter options to display only categories with a specific status, or display only a specific category type.

For more information, see our dedicated support article.




‘Zones categories’ renamed to ‘Categories Distribution’

The Zones categories settings screen is now renamed to Categories Distribution. This is part of the on-going project to consistently rename zones to categories throughout the Pangea CMS user interface.

Go to Settings > Categories Distribution.

For more information, see our dedicated support article.




Improved Upload manager

We’ve improved the Upload manager for video and audio uploads:

  • The Upload manager now remains open for 10 minutes after all of the files are uploaded (unless you manually close it). This change aims to replicate functionality from the old Batch Upload tool that was previously missing in the new upload tool. To start editing a file directly from the Upload manager, hover the cursor over a panel and click Edit (the pencil icon).
  • An icon showing the status for each upload now appears in the Upload manager:
    • Uploading: If the file is uploading, you see the upload progress.
    • Uploaded: If the file is uploaded, you see the green tick icon.
    • Waiting: If the upload has not yet started, you see the clock icon.
    • Failed: If the upload has failed, you see the red alert icon.
    • Canceled: If you cancel the upload, you see the x icon.

For more information, see our dedicated support articles:




BETA edit screens now default

The following edit screens are now default:

  • Live Blog BETA
  • Photo Gallery BETA
  • Static Infographics BETA

This means the following changes:

  • Live Blog BETA is renamed to Live Blog throughout the Pangea CMS user interface.
  • Photo Gallery BETA is renamed to Photo Gallery throughout the Pangea CMS user interface.
  • Static Infographics BETA is renamed to Static Infographics throughout the Pangea CMS user interface.
  • The classic Live Blog, Photo Gallery, and Static Infographics edit screens are no longer available.
  • When you make a clone or a copy of a Live Blog, a Photo Gallery, or a Static Infographics page, you see the redesigned edit screen.

Photo Gallery only offers the Photo blog layout. For services that use the Slider gallery layout, we’ve added the separate Slider Gallery edit screen.




Separate Slider Gallery edit screen

Previously, Pangea CMS included a single Photo Gallery edit screen that offered both of the following layout options:

  • Photo blog
  • Slider gallery

Now, Pangea CMS includes two separate edit screens:

  • Slider Gallery: Lets you create and manage Slider Galleries (previously Photo Galleries with the Slider gallery layout).
  • Photo Gallery: Lets you create and manage Photo Galleries (previously Photo Galleries with the Photo blog layout).

Both Photo Gallery and Slider Gallery are available via New > Multimedia.

Slider Gallery and Photo Gallery are now treated as separate content types in Pangea CMS. This means they are listed as separate items in the search parameters on the main Search screen.




Improved image source list

We’ve made it easier to add a source for an image via the Image upload or Image edit screen.

Just click inside the text box and start typing the name of the source you want to add. The drop-down menu displays only the items that match your search. Click the name of a source to add it.




Redesigned 'Distribution options' for Video show edit

We've redesigned the Distribution options settings that are available when you edit a Video show via Scheduler & Template week.

The accounts for each multimedia channel are no longer hidden in a drop-down menu. You just need to select the account where you want to share the video. A video can be shared via one account for each multimedia channel (YouTube and Facebook).




New Help buttons

We’ve added Help buttons on additional screens and dialogs in Pangea CMS. When you click Help, a relevant support article opens in a new tab.

Help buttons are now available on the following screens and dialogs:

  • Live Blog edit screen
  • Photo Gallery edit screen
  • Static Infographics edit screen
  • Video upload dialog
  • Video edit screen
  • Audio Clip BETA upload dialog



Improved History dialog

We’ve redesigned the History dialog to make the key information more visible. In Pangea CMS 8.15, the redesigned History dialog is available for the following content types:

  • Audio Clip, Audio Feature, Backgrounder, Document, Dynamic Infographics, Live Blog, Loop Video, Photo Gallery, Poll, Quiz, Slider Gallery, Snippet, Static Infographics, Video

In future releases, we plan to apply the same changes for more content types.

To access the History dialog, click the History icon in the relevant box on the Search results page. You may need to click … More options (three dots) > History.




New 'Upload' button on Live Blog edit screen

We've added an Upload button on the Editor screen that allows you to conveniently perform the following actions while editing a Live Blog:

  • Add an Author
  • Upload an Image
  • Upload a Video
  • Upload a Loop Video
  • Upload an Audio Clip



Removal of GDB Uses

Because it is no longer possible to assign GDB Uses to images, or search for images based on GDB Uses, we’ve removed the GDB Uses item from the top menu (previously available via Administration > GDB Management).

For more information, see our dedicated support article.