What's New in WebSked

Release dates

Release summary

This release streamlines the stats experience on the back end. You should not notice any changes.

Users affected

None

Action required

None

Release dates

Release summary

The second page of results in calendar view now loads appropriately. Previously, when there were exactly two pages, the second page did not load.

Users affected

WebSked users

Action required

None

Release dates

Release summary

This release streamlines the content search experience on the back end. You shouldn’t notice any change in behavior.

Users affected

WebSked users

Action required

None

Release dates

Release summary

This release introduces the following bug fixes to scenarios that occurred in specific scenarios:

Users affected

WebSked users

Action required

None

Release dates

Release summary

Phase 2: This release provides additional stability and security enhancements for WebSked.

Phase 1: This release improves the stability and security of WebSked.

Additionally, the assigned group within the task create and update form now works as expected.

Users affected

WebSked users

Action required

None

Release dates

Release summary

The WebSked team fixed a small bug on the Tasks page where the “Today” filter was not behaving correctly. That has been fixed in Sandbox and will be released to Production this week.

Users affected

WebSked users

Action Required

None

Release dates

Release summary

The WebSked team has addressed two bugs that can affect users:

Users affected

WebSked users

Action required

None

Release dates

Release summary

Updates to Tasks

The main Tasks page now includes additional flexibility for viewing and updating the list of tasks:

Additionally, all the information on the Task Page now remains visible when you open the Task Filters on the left-hand side of the page. 

Updates to the Calendar

You may recall that the WebSked Date is used to determine the placement of a piece of content on the Calendar. The WebSked Date is calculated as follows:

Each of these dates now has a unique icon associated with it (seen above), so when you see content on the Calendar you know which date was used to place it on the timeline.

Users affected

WebSked Users

Action required

None

Release dates

Release summary

Internationalization Fix

For our French-speaking customers, we have updated the abbreviation for the number of words in a story. When viewing a story in WebSked’s List View, you now see the later M for mots instead of the letter A.

WebSked Notes Field Deprecation

Users affected

WebSked users

Action required

None

Release dates

Release summary

This release includes the following items:

Users affected

WebSked users

Action required

None

Release dates

Release summary

WebSked 4.97 introduces several changes: 

Trailing Slashes on API Calls

On November 16, 2023, the WebSked team announced that it would no longer accept unsupported and undocumented calls to the WebSked API. Specifically, the WebSked API has allowed customer developers to make calls to its endpoints that include a trailing slash before the parameters.

For example: /websked/stories/?id={STORYID}

Going forward, WebSked accepts only calls that are formatted per the Arc XP WebSked API documentation. As such, WebSked no longer accepts calls with this trailing slash.

The correct format in this example is: /websked/stories?id={STORYID}

Note that there is no / after the word stories.

Brazilian Portuguese

WebSked now fully supports Portuguese (Brazil), including the text for email and Slack notifications.

Bug Fixes

Users affected

Developers and WebSked users

Action required

If you're using unsupported endpoints, contact Arc XP Customer Support immediately.

Release dates

Release summary

WebSked now supports Portuguese (Brazil) across the application, and defaults to Portuguese (Brazil) instead of Portuguese (Portugal) with one exception: notification text for emails and Slack. We will update those items in the next release.

Users affected

WebSked users

Action required

None

Update

We discovered that an update we made to the WebSked API affected undocumented endpoints that, in turn, affect some of our customers' Sandbox environments. We also identified an issue with the formatting of dates on the Task page. To ensure we address these issues, we rolled back the Production release on Monday, November 6, 2023.

To move forward, we’ve reduced the 4.95 release to just the UI updates. We will address the use of undocumented endpoints in the 4.97 release.

4.95 UI Updates

WebSked 4.95 includes the following updates per last week’s release notes:

Release dates

Release summary

The WebSked team has been focusing on several details that improve the user experience across WebSked.

Tasks

Bug Fixes

Users affected

WebSked users

Action required

None

Release dates

Release summary

This release introduces several improvements to the Task pages that you have requested as well as a few general bug fixes.

We’re also looking for customers who are interested in advising Arc XP on how to improve your ability to search for content in WebSked and Composer. If you are interested, contact Arc XP Customer Support.

Improvements to the Task Pages

Bug fixes

Users affected

WebSked users

Action required

None

Release dates

Release summary

Task pages are now in general release in the WebSked application.

We have added many new capabilities that help you create, assign, and manage tasks much more efficiently and effectively. This helps you and your teams better manage the development of your content and get it “over the finish line” more quickly.

To learn about all of the new Task features, see Managing WebSked tasks.

A few new features include:

Users affected

WebSked users

Action required

None

Release dates

Release summary

WebSked has two small updates for the Teams integrations and for the Calendar:

Users affected

Team Administrators, WebSked Users

Action required

None

Release dates

Release summary

A new Task Pages feature is in beta release in the WebSked application. At the moment, we are only releasing this as a beta version for several customers, but if you would like to take part in this beta release, you can contact Arc XP Customer Support.

We have added many new capabilities that help you create, assign, and manage tasks much more efficiently and effectively. This helps you and your teams better manage the development of your content and get it “over the finish line” more quickly.

New features include:

Users affected

WebSked users

Action required

For Arc XP customers who would like to have the beta version of the new Task pages released to their Sandbox, contact Arc XP Customer Support.

Release dates

Release schedule by region:

Release summary

We have one more improvement to the Calendar, based on customer feedback, that we are happy to release as well as two bug fixes.

Hover-Over for Content Cards in the Calendar

Often it can be hard to know what content you are looking at in the Calendar when a lot of context exists. Now, when you hover over a content card, you see the whole Headline for stories and Titles for galleries and videos.

Demonstration of hover-over on the Calendar

Bug Fixes

Users affected

WebSked users and engineers

Action required

None

Release dates

Release schedule by region:

Release summary

Following our successful launch of WebSked's Calendar feature, the team heard some great feedback and has implemented several powerful upgrades.

Distributor Filters

You can now filter the content that appears on the Calendar by Distributor. This is a critical filter if you bring in content from external wires and are overwhelmed by the number stories in the Calendar. This filter models the same behavior as the Distributor filter on the main List View page.

Filter the Calendar by Distributor

Sponsored Content and "Not Pitched" Filters

You now have the ability to filter on content that is sponsored or not. You can also filter for content that has not been pitched to any Platform or Publication. This is useful for editors and managers who want to ensure that all of their content has been sent to at least one distribution channel. To make things easier, if the Not Pitched check box has been selected for Platform pitches, then you will not be able to search for Platforms in the drop-down menu. The same is true for Publications.

Filter for Content That Has Not Been Pitched

View Updates from Teammates

If several of your teammates are updating content at the same time and you are viewing the Calendar, WebSked automatically updates those summary cards on your screen. For example, if a teammate drags a story to a new date and time (changing its Planned ready time), then within a minute you see that story at its new date and time. Similarly, if your teammate changes the Headline/Title or Workflow Status for a piece of content in Composer, then you also see those changes within a minute.

Link to Preview Content

Don't be surprised that you no longer see a link that says Preview in the Calendar, which takes you to the detailed view of a piece of content in WebSked. We've moved that link to the content's Headline / Title.

Bug Fixes

We have two bug fixes also going out with this release:

Users affected

WebSked users

Action required

None

Release dates

Release schedule by region:

Release summary

Previously, WebSked sent event data only as a webhook, and engineering teams had to set up their own infrastructure to work with them. Now, WebSked events are also available in IFX: Arc XP's Integration Framework. This means your engineering team can build custom integrations between WebSked and other software platforms in your organization all within Arc XP's secure, hosted SaaS.

IFX empowers your engineering team to easily extend, integrate, and customize your Arc XP environment. IFX also reduces debugging time and ultimately time-to-market because it enables your team to:

For example, you create a new Platform in WebSked for curating social media posts. Your team builds an integration within IFX that "listens" for platform-pitch events. When a content creator pitches a story to the platform, the integration automatically pulls data about the content that it needs. It then sends the data to your third-party social media management solution like Sprout or dlvr.it.

Similarly, your team builds an integration that listens for task-create events. The integration performs a query to get additional data about the content associated with the task and sends it to your business process management system (BPM) to further work the task. When the task is acted upon in the BPM, the integration accepts status updates and automatically updates the task in WebSked.

Available WebSked Events

To learn more about working with WebSked events in IFX visit WebSked machine-readable events.

Users affected

Developers

Action required

None

Launch dates

Release schedule by region:

Release summary

A new Calendar feature has been released to the WebSked application. The 1-Day and Multi-Day views give you the ability to view all of your content that is "in flight" on a particular day or set of days. This includes Stories, Galleries, and Videos where you have a Planned Ready Time, a Scheduled Publish Date, or an actual Publish Date.

Three-Day View of the Planning Calendar

3-Day View of Content In Flight

You can easily drag and drop content to a new day, see more details about the content, and zoom in or out on the number of days you'd like to see. The Calendar also provides powerful filters that let you focus on exactly the content that matters to you.

You can find links to the Calendar (1-Day and Multi-Day views) under the new Planning tab in WebSked. The Calendar is a new feature and adds to, but does not replace, any existing features.

Detail View of Content

Detail View of a Gallery that has been Published

We've also moved the original Stories tab under the new Planning tab as well and renamed it List view. We have not changed any functionality on the List view — just the name.

For more information about the different capabilities available with the Calendar, see Planning your content tasks.

Users affected

WebSked users

Action required

None

Roll-out dates

Sandbox: Thursday, December 8, 2022

Infrastructure Update - Release to Production: Wednesday, December 14, 2022

Infrastructure Update - Release to Production: Tuesday, January 3, 2023

Publication Update - Release to Production: Thursday, December 15, 2022

Issue Updates

Update to WebSked's Infrastructure

We are making a change to WebSked's infrastructure that will have a minor impact on your WebSked experience: you may experience a short window where there is a delay of up to ten minutes between the time content is created and when it is available in WebSked. Notify Arc XP Customer Support if you experience ongoing delays seeing content in the WebSked.

Refresh the Calendar with Available Editions After Changing the Section

When an author is pitching a story to a Publication, the calendar highlights the dates of the editions that are still available for receiving pitches. Previously, the available dates were based on only the default section of the Publication, so when the author switched to a different section, the available dates for that section were not updated. Now, when you choose a different section for a Publication when pitching a story, the dates for the available editions are updated.

Roll-out dates

Sandbox: Monday, November 28, 2022

Production: Monday, December 5, 2022

Enhancements

View the "Story Count" On the Stats Page

When you view the Stats page in WebSked, you will see a "Story count" bar graph. In the past, when you hovered over a bar, a small pop-up showed you the date for that bar. We've made an update so that when you hover over a bar, the pop-up shows you the story count for that bar. We've made this update on both the Stats overview page as well as the Story Count detailed view.

Story Count Bar Graph

Update to WebSked's Database

We are making a change to WebSked's database that will have a minor impact on your WebSked experience in Sandbox: you may experience a delay of up to 30 minutes between the time content is created and when it is available in WebSked. Notify your Arc XP Customer Support if you experience ongoing delays seeing content in the WebSked Sandbox environment.

Roll-out dates

Sandbox: Monday, October 31, 2022

Production: Thursday, November 10, 2022

Bug fixes

The WebSked team is making a small fix to address an issue that occurs when two people are updating the same Collection at the same time:

Instead of showing these misleading errors, we will use the same error that we would show if Person B tried to publish the Collection that Person A had just published:

“A newer revision for collection V4CU6SH6XREQJBCQXFNVJCHDBE found; refresh your page and try again.”

WebSked 4.79.2 — Upgrading WebSked’s Search Endpoint - New U.S. Time

Roll-out dates

Production:

Enhancements

Upgrading WebSked’s Search Endpoint

The WebSked team has updated its Search endpoint and successfully deployed it to the Sydney, Tokyo, and Frankfurt regions. We have rescheduled the release for the U.S. to the night of Thursday, November 10 — well after the elections.

There will be a minor impact on your WebSked experience, which is why we are deploying the release during later hours: in U.S. regions, you may experience a delay of up to two hours between the time content is created and when it is available in WebSked.

Monitor your Search, Stories, and Statistics pages for unexpected issues. For example, contact Arc XP Customer Support if you notice missing stories, stories that don’t match the search criteria, or missing fields in a story’s Preview.

WebSked 4.79.2 — Upgrading WebSked’s Search Endpoint - Production

Production:

Enhancements

Upgrading WebSked’s Search Endpoint

The WebSked team has updated its Search endpoint and will deploy it to all customer Production environments over the next week. The release will have a minor impact on your WebSked experience, which is why we are deploying it during later hours: you may experience a delay of up to two hours between the time content is created and when it is available in WebSked.

Monitor your Search, Stories, and Statistics pages for unexpected issues. For example, contact Arc XP Customer Support if you notice missing stories, stories that don’t match the search criteria, or missing fields in a story’s Preview.

WebSked 4.79.2 — Upgrading WebSked’s Search Endpoint - Sandbox

WebSked 4.79.2 — Upgrading WebSked’s Search Endpoint

Roll-out dates

Sandbox: Monday, October 17, 2022

Production: TBD

Enhancements

Upgrading WebSked’s Search Endpoint

The WebSked team has updated its Search endpoint and will deploy it to all customer Sandboxes this coming Monday, October 17. There should be no impact on your WebSked experience.

Roll-out dates

Sandbox: Monday, September 19, 2022, 9-11 Eastern

Production: Monday, September 26, 2022

Enhancements

Collections Now Support Multi-Site Capabilities

The WebSked team is excited to announce the release of multi-site capabilities for Collections. Currently, when you create a Collection using the Create Collection form, you assign a Primary website to it, which means only content circulated to that website can be added to that Collection.

Now with multi-site Collections, you still assign a Primary website but we also enable you to circulate the Collection to Additional websites within the same form. That means you can add any content to a Collection where they both have at least one website-circulation in common.

Once you’ve added content from multiple websites to a Collection, you can use that Collection to populate PageBuilder Pages that have been published to those same websites. Finally, when you publish that Page for a particular website, Arc XP only renders the content that has been circulated to that website.

An example with a picture may help:

Caption: Flow chart for adding content circulated to different websites to a single Collection. That Collection can be used to populate pages on those websites showing only the content circulated to each website.

This enables your teams who curate content or who create Pages to markedly streamline their process:

More good news: your current single-site Collections still work as is, so you don’t need to update them. Because we include the Collection’s Primary website as part of its circulations, its existing content shares that one website in common.

A few more things to keep in mind: When you initially create a multi-site Collection, you can add and remove additional websites freely. However, once you save the Collection, WebSked assumes that you will add content to it immediately.

That means if you remove a website from a Collection after you have saved it, WebSked will notify you that some of the content may no longer share any website-circulations with that Collection. Furthermore, when you view the list of content in the Collection and a piece of content no longer has any website in common with it, then WebSked will notify you that the content will not appear on any websites where you use the Collection.

Nevertheless, you can continue to add and remove websites to a Collection as needed after you’ve created it. That way the Collection will still serve you, even as you change which websites you want to use it for.

For more information, see Managing WebSked collections.

Viewing the Collections that You’re Adding To

We also made a small change that improves the “Add to Collection” process: When you add a piece of content to a Collection, WebSked opens a pop-up window that shows a filtered list of available Collections along with a + sign for adding the content. With the filtered list, you only see Collections that share circulations with the content you’re adding. This reduces the number of Collections that your content curators need to look through.

You can also click on the name of a Collection to see more details about that Collection. In the past, the details of the Collection opened in the same pop-up window, which is much smaller than the normal browser window. This can be problematic if you need to click further into the Collection’s details.

To address this, when you click the name of the Collection, a new full sized browser tab opens with the Collection’s details. You can navigate the details as needed, and when you are ready, you can go back to the previous tab to finish the “Add to Collection” process.

Roll-out dates

Production: Wednesday, September 7, 2022

Enhancements

Counting the “Lead Art” in Content’s Media Asset Counters

Mid-next week, the WebSked team will be deploying a small but powerful change, which is one of the top requested features on our Ideas Board. When counting the number of media assets that a story has (images, videos, galleries), WebSked now includes the lead art as part of that count.

To help distinguish between the number of inline assets and the lead art, we include an asterisk (*) to indicate that the count includes the lead art. To drive the point home, if you click the asset counter with the asterisk you’ll see a notice that Lead art is included in the count.

For example, if you have five inline images in your Composer story and one image in Featured Media → lead art, then the asset counter for that story in WebSked will be 6*. Similarly, if you have one inline video and one gallery in Featured Media → lead art, then the asset counters for that story will be 1 for the video (as expected) and 1*for the gallery.

In the screen shot below, the story has one inline image, one inline gallery, and one inline video. It also has an image as the lead art. Therefore, we see 2* next to the image icon to represent the one inline image + the one lead art image. The * lets us know that one of the two images is lead art.

Keep in mind that Composer has a great feature where you can save an image as basic and if there is no lead art saved as well, then the basic image is considered lead art. Therefore, WebSked will count the basic image as lead art, if no other lead art is specified. But it will not count both as lead art, if both basic and lead art are saved with the article -- it will only count the lead art image.

Viewing the Collections that You’re Adding To

We also made a small change that improves the “add to Collection” process: When you add an article to a Collection, WebSked brings up a modal that lists the available Collections along with a + sign for adding the article. You can also click on the name of a Collection to see more details about that Collection. In the past, the Collection details opened in the same modal, which is much smaller than the normal browser window. This can be problematic if you need to click further into the Collection details.

To address this, when you click the name of the Collection, a new full sized browser tab opens with the Collection details. You can navigate the details as needed, and when you are ready, you can go back to the previous tab to finish the “add to Collection” process.

Bug fixes

We have fixed an issue where you were able to create a new Workflow Status that had the same ID as an existing one. We now give you a warning that This ID is already in use and prevent you from saving the duplicative ID.

There was a bug where you could not move content to the bottom of a Collection if the Collection had more than 10 pieces of content. We have fixed that issue.

Roll-out dates

Production: Monday, August 1, 2022

Enhancements

New Field for the Collections API

In preparation for upcoming improvements to Collections, we have made a small addition to the Collections API. We are adding a new “websites” field, which is a string array, for example, “websites”: [“foo”, “bar”, “baz”]. The previous email stated that this was a change to an existing field, which was incorrect: it’s a new field.

This update has been deployed to Sandbox so you can test it there now. If you have any questions about the new field or the upcoming changes to Collections, reach out.

Roll-out dates

Sandbox: Monday, May 2, 2022, 9-11 Eastern

Production: Monday, May 9, 2022, 9-11 Eastern

Enhancements

Move Content to the Top or Bottom of a Collection from Preview

One of the top requested features on the WebSked Ideas board is the ability to easily move content to the top or bottom of a Collection. In practice, when a Collection is particularly long it can be cumbersome to move content from the middle of the Collection. To address this, we have added a new feature within the Preview screen: when viewing the content’s current Pitches where you can:

New Look for Email Notifications

Another highly requested improvement is an upgrade to the look of email notifications that are triggered and sent within WebSked. In addition to streamlining the design of the email and removing Arc XP’s street address, we have added a new link to the emails where appropriate. For example, when the notification references a story, we include the link to that story in Composer as well as a new link to the story within WebSked’s Stories tab. This gives you direct access to both applications so you can easily manage the story where you need to.

Improvements