12-31-07  Upgrade Announced (updated 01-13-08)

A significant upgrade to newSLATE is now on-line. This upgrade adds new functionality to newSLATE and changes the way in which you do some existing functions. Everything that you could do in newSLATE is still be available, your data files are not affected, and all the same quizzes are available.

The upgrade will install automatically the next time you run newSLATE. This will be true for both the applet and the Java Web Start versions of newSLATE. For the Java Web Start version, you may see a window showing the new software being downloaded and installed.

Summary of Changes

Here is a summary of the main changes. The new version offers the ability to create folders to organize your files. (This feature is available only to paid accounts.) Free account holders will also see a new interface with folders providing an improved organization of content and functions. Editing and quiz functions remain unchanged.

1. The “work on files” and “take a quiz” screens have a new look. There is no longer a “GO TO” drop-down menu. Instead, everything is organized as files and folders in a file list that appears on the right.
2. Every account has folders for “my files”, “incoming files”, and “shortcuts”. Every paid account also has an “outgoing files” folder. Access accounts have one additional folder called “my access area”.
3. A small triangle appears to the left of each folder to visually distinguish a folder from a file. To view the contents of a folder, click on the small triangle to left of the folder name. The triangle will now point downwards (instead of towards the right) and the names of all the files and sub-folders of the given folder will be visible. Click on the downward pointing triangle to hide the folder contents.
4. At the top of the files and folders list, you will see a header bar that defines the three columns in the list: name (of file or folder), type (folder or file type), and date created. You can click on a column name to sort the items in the list in ascending order according to that column. Click the same column name again to sort in descending order, and a third time to turn off sorting. (With no sorting, items appear in each folder in the order they were created.) You can also drag the small divider between column names to resize the column. You can also drag the column names into a different order.
5. On the "work on files" screen, the list of functions on the left-hand side of the screen now changes as you select different files or folders, showing only those functions that apply to the file or folder currently selected.
6. If you have a paid account, you can also make your own folders under “my files” (and under “my access area” if you have an access account). The [make a folder] function is available whenever you have selected “my files”, “my access area”, or a file or folder under them. Existing files and folders can be copied or moved from folder to folder using the [copy/move file] or [copy/move folder] function. The top-level folders cannot be copied or moved.
7. To add a shortcut, select the "shortcuts" folder and click on the [add shortcut] button. You can now also remove a shortcut that you no longer want. Highlight the shortcut and click on the [delete shortcut] button.
8. On the [take a quiz] screen, you can select files from multiple folders for use in the same quiz.

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