It’s been a busy few months here at The Museum Platform. We’ve been working on a big upgrade with many moving parts and ultimately decided to call it Version 2.0 as it felt significant enough to warrant the label.
Version 2.0 contains updates to core tech stuff and new editing tools but also we’re improving a whole bunch of processes here at TMP as we grow.
There’s lots of new stuff, but here it is in a nutshell
More to come on this but so far: a new Google Analytics / Matomo dashboard widget for quick access to your site usage data.
“Block Patterns” give you a set of pre-designed layouts ready to drop into your pages, making it much easier to create stunning layouts easily.
We’ve built a whole raft of options into the TMP dashboard, including new global colours, override stylesheets, UIKIt integration and more.
The latest version of the CIIM means faster, more accurate collections searches over datasets of any size.
We’re publishing a whole new range of editor blocks for you to start playing with. See below!
We’ve moved our support into a dedicated CRM system. The aim is to make it easier for you to get in touch – and for us to respond!
Please note! Some blocks are in BETA!
Any blocks marked as [BETA] in the editor are there for you to play with on a hidden page on your site – but please don’t use them anywhere live just yet. We would, however love to get your feedback on anything you play with!
An obvious “missing block” – this one lets you just pop in a collections search form wherever you need it. It’s mega simple, and integrates perfectly with any other layout blocks. Let us know if you need specific styling!
If you want to create a form for gathering opinion, or have created a simple quiz, Google Forms are pretty great. All entries can be channeled into a spreadsheet for later analysis. We’ve now got a Google Form embed block to make this easier than ever.
We’ve been wanting to build this one for a while – a before / after slider which integrates perfectly with your collections database. Annotate a collections record image with your own notes, highlight how a scene has changed…
Refresh the page and your users get a new object image automatically pulled from your database. Perfect for highlighting how amazing your collection is – but also this is going to be a core part of some future blocks such as guess the object…
Help and Documentation
Ever since we started building The Museum Platform we’ve been aware that making something as powerful and flexible as this comes with a whole set of challenges about how to ensure that all the museums we work with make the most of the tools available to them and can easily find out how something works if it isn’t immediately obvious.
This is why we’re dedicating a big chunk of time this month to developing and launching the Museum Platform “Hub”. This will start as a comprehensive place to find out how to use the Platform – together with examples and walkthroughs. Over time, we’re going to expand this with drop-in sessions, guides and an online course.
We’re aware that documentation and guides are absolutely critical – and by the time we send our next update we should have something very cool to share with you. Watch this space!
(…we dooo it for yuuuu 🎵)
…is of course for the museums we’re helping get online. That’s you.
Your feedback – as users of the Platform – is what keeps us improving – so please do get in touch and tell us:
- What works well?
- What doesn’t work quite so well?
- What features would you like to see?
- Anything else we’re getting right or wrong
And with that, it’s time to sign off – have superb festivities, everyone 🙂
Mike, Jeremy, Rob