The FirstVoices development team has been working hard on the new release of FirstVoices 3. All new updates have been prompted by the hard-working Language Teams and community members, whose valuable feedback, ideas and suggestions have been crucial in making FirstVoices a better platform.

If you have questions about any of the updates listed below, or have ideas for ways to improve FirstVoices, please contact us at: hello@firstvoices.com

What’s new? 🌄

Editing for songs and stories

The FirstVoices team have redesigned the create/edit form for songs and stories – both of these have a new look on the new website.

Create/edit songs. There is a more streamlined upload form for songs and their lyrics which should be more simple and straightforward to use, compared to the old site.

Create/edit stories. The areas to upload and edit stories and their pages is back. There are separate areas for managing the cover page and the individual pages, and there is now a single-page preview so you can see how everything looks together.

• Coming soon: Knowledge Base pages about song and story management.

Contact forms for FirstVoices users

The “Contact Us” widget is back! Language Administrators can now add a contact form to any page to receive inquiries from FirstVoices users visiting their site.

• New/Returning Widget option: “Contact Us”

• When creating the widget, you will see a list of what email(s) the messages will be sent to.

• By default, contact forms are set up with the last contact email that we confirmed with language administrators – or otherwise will default to messaging FirstVoices staff at hello@firstvoices.com.

• Only logged-in users with FirstVoices accounts can send messages at this time (as spam prevention).

Media search and Dashboard improvements

• Media Library search features. Use a search bar to find the audio, image, or video files that you are looking for in your Media Library. Like the rest of the search bars, a “fuzzy” search makes sure you find something close to what you were looking for.

• “Sign Out” button on the Dashboard. Need to leave in a hurry? There’s a new sign out button in the language team Dashboard for your convenience.

What’s improved? 🐞

Dashboard bugfixes and styling

• Improved validation on various create/edit forms. Forms should be less buggy and behave more predictably while you are entering your content.

• Fixed thumbnails, sizes, and image/video dimensions in site Media Libraries. Images and videos will now show the actual file sizes and dimensions of all your media files when you browse your library.

• Fixed missing “Upload Files” button on smaller screen sizes. If you are using an iPad to enter content in the Dashboard, the “upload” button should fit on your screen and show properly.

• Fixed a bug with editing custom pages. You should be able to edit custom page headers correctly.

• Rearranged buttons in the Dashboard area. The buttons should be in more intuitive positions now.

Bugfixes on site homepages

• Fixed buttons on Alphabet pages and widgets. The first letter is now selected by default, and the buttons work correctly for all characters (including letters like “.” / period)

• Fixed banner image auto-sizing. The correct size should now be used, so homepage banners will not be blurry.

General improvements

• Styling improvements on public-side Dictionary/Songs/Stories view.

• Visual improvements on mobile and tablet screen sizes.

• Performance improvements for content loading and search.

• Performance improvements for media loading.

What’s next? 👀

Got feedback? 🗣️

The FirstVoices development team has been working hard on the new release of FirstVoices 3. All new updates have been prompted by the hard-working Language Teams and community members, whose valuable feedback, ideas and suggestions have been crucial in making FirstVoices a better platform.

If you have questions about any of the updates listed below, or have ideas for ways to improve FirstVoices, please contact us at: hello@firstvoices.com

Language team launch for FirstVoices 3

It’s time for an exciting announcement: the new FirstVoices (version 3) is now available for language teams to access! This is the biggest website update in FirstVoices history and has involved a top-to-bottom rebuild of the FirstVoices website, from the look and feel of the pages to the database and servers running behind the scenes.

The FirstVoices team appreciates all language teams' patience during the data migration period. All of the invaluable language data stored on FirstVoices is now available on the new website, which is now open for teams to continue their work.

During this period, we encourage language teams to think about what they would like to feature on their homepages for the general public or for their communities, and redesign their homepages as much as they wish. Teams can also review the new look for words and phrases on their site, and continue their regular editing and upload work for words, phrases, and media.

FAQ

How do I login to the new site?

Your FirstVoices account has been migrated with the same email address and access permissions. To login for the first time, you will need to click “Forgot password?” and set a new password. Then you will be able to sign in with the new password.

Do I have to create a new password?

You must set a password, but it can be the same as your old password if you wish.

If you have not updated your password in more than a year, it is good security practice to choose a new password!

What can I do on the new site?

At this time, we recommend getting used to the new look and feel, creating/editing words and phrases, and redesigning your language site homepage using the new page features.

Can I add new members to my team to work on our site?

Yes! Part of the process must be handled by FirstVoices staff, but you can absolutely add new users to your language team. In order to do this:

1. The new team member should login to FirstVoices to ensure their account exists and is verified. If they do not have an account, they should create one. Important: You must verify your email and login before continuing!

2. The Language Administrator should contact FV staff at hello@firstvoices.com with the team member’s email and the new role they should have on the site: Language Admin, Editor, or Assistant.

3. FV Staff will provide the correct role and access.

Can I still use the old FirstVoices?

The old FirstVoices is now in archive mode. The content will no longer change, and editing on the old FirstVoices is closed. If you wish to add new content or make edits, you must do this on the new FirstVoices.

However, the old FirstVoices will remain the hub for general FirstVoices traffic for a while, and is not going anywhere anytime soon. During this transition period while we continue building the new FirstVoices, FirstVoices staff recommends that the general public and most community members access the old site for browsing and FirstVoices Games, until the new version has all major features and language teams have had time to design their new homepages.

Language teams can still access the old site in order to approve ongoing membership requests to view the archive, or if they need to view reports on the archive.

Can I share the new site with my community?

FirstVoices staff recommends that the general public and most community members access the old site for general browsing until the new version is fully launched. Some key features on the new site are still in development, such as requesting to join a site as a community member.

However, we recognize that the new version of the site is exciting and you may really want to share! You are welcome to share your new site on a small scale with your community when you are ready, but please advise them that this is a sneak peek, and that other sites or certain areas are still “in progress”.

If you plan to share links or QR codes, please note that the current links and QR codes are temporary and will reset when the new platform officially launches.