There are some known issues with the new glow blogs service. There were not deemed sever enough to stop the new server going live and the resulting downtime. Below you can see the known issues at the time the service went live.
You can also read about any new issues discovered.
Email Issues
There are a few issues around email addresses
A standard WordPress install uses emails addresses to add users and send users messages to inform them or in some cases to complete actions.
The new site has carried over the old glow RM easy mail addresses, which no do not work.
Users can add email addresses into the User section of the dashboard. This new email will get a confirmation with a link to follow to confirm.
Going forward this address will be able to receive notification of new comments. Currently email notification of comments is not enabled and these emails are not sent. This is reflected in the disabled state of the comment notification checkbox.
Hopefully this should not impact users in the short term as email did not work in the old glow blogs.
Deleting Blogs
Blog will not be deleted but held in an inaccessible archive and can be restored by the Super Admin
You need to respond to a confirmation email before the ‘delete’ happens.
The confirm emails often end up in spam folders, make sure you check if you think the mail does not get through.
This mail will also contain a misleading message:
if you delete your blog, please consider opening a new blog here
some time in the future! (But remember your current blog and username
are gone forever.)
some time in the future! (But remember your current blog and username
are gone forever.)
The blog will be archived, but your username will still exist.
The Flash File Uploader
The New WordPress 4 Add Media facility fixes this problem.
Vimeo embeds
The Upgrade to WordPress 4 included fixes for this issue.
The Upgrade to WordPress 4 included fixes for this issue.
Importing blogs
The Upgrade to WordPress 4 included fixes for this issue.
WordPress has a facility for importing and export from another blog. When you import the xml file it gives you a chance to map the posts from the import to existing users. The list of existing users is presented as guids, which look like a string of random characters.
My Blogs link
This issue was fixed in release phase 1.1
On the home page of each instance of blogs is a link to create blogs and a link to ‘My Blogs’. The My blogs link allows users to see a list of the blog they have a role on.
However if a user who has never logged onto the blogs service before is added to a blog by an admin they will not see this link.
Workaround, if you add users to a blog send them the link to the blog rather than the link to the Local Authority Home page.
Pupil’s comments always held for moderation
A student user’s comment is going into a moderation queue, even when they have an editor level role on a given blog.
Workaround, all comments by students will have to be moderated.
Access to non-public blogs on other Local Authorities
The blogs authentication is currently tied to the LAS instance. That means if you need access to a glow only or private blog in another Local Authority you will need the tile for that instance on your Unify Launchpad. Your school Unify administrator will be able to make that Tile available for you to your personal launch pad.
Hi Elizabeth,
I think we need a little more detail, could you log a call with the glow help desk through West Lothian please.
I’m having difficulty with a hyperlink which doesnt seem to be live.
I reqyested a new link form the site and it was sent to my glow account but same problem . Any ideas how to remedy this ?
Hi Fran,
I am uncertain about he nature of your problem so will drop you an email.
Hello
I have recently been made an administrator on the blog page for my schools Early Childhood Centre. I am trying to upload a couple of short videos and while they work on my iPhone when I edit the page when you check it as a webpage viewer it says ‘Invalid source’ or shows a video play box but it will not play. Both are .mov files and have been saved to Onedrive they are also both under 50mb.
Can you help me please and suggest what might be the issue? Our webpage is added below.
Thank you
Carol
Hi Carol,
Unfortunately some web browsers will not play .mov files. For example I can play your video in Safari & Firefox on my mac but chrome does no play it.
It is also tricky to convert .mov files to mp4 or m4v on a mobile device.
If you have access to a pc or mac you can use Handbrake to reduce video files and save as mp4 (there are plenty of other desktop apps but handbrake is free and very good. https://handbrake.fr
There are some video editors that export to m4a on iOS, I quite often use snapthread. Most of the apps I’ve seen for conversion don’t seem to last long in the app store.
The other way is to change the file extension from .mov to .m4v I don’t know how to to this on iOS, but if you can access the files in OneDrive on a computer you can do it there. Not from the iOS app or a web browser I am afraid.