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2020 RELEASE NOTES BY MONTH:
- 2020-02-06 Editor updates, improved security, faster load times
Release date: February 06, 2020
- Fixed a bug with adjusting adjacent subtitles in the Amara Editor. We noticed that in a couple of cases, only one subtitle edge would get selected. We fixed this issue so that you can adjust start/end times together.
- Improved login and username security. Our sincere thanks go out to Mr. Doel, M Shahzaib, and Sagar Yadav, who have found and reported the security issue that was fixed in this release.
- Faster loading for Amara homepage. We cleaned up our landing page resources to help connect you to Amara more quickly!
- 2020-01-28 New usage guide, new language, and a little adjustment
- 2020-01-08 Fixed semi-space issue and updated MAC shortcuts
Release date: January 28, 2020
- Adjusted the Notes panel within the Editor for better viewing. We noticed that the bottom note was partially covered by the interface. We added padding so you can see the details you need!
- The Nuer (nus) language is now supported on Amara!
- New documentation to help you embed with ease! Check out our new usage guide for embedding videos.
Release date: January 08, 2020
- Fixed a bug with semi-spaces in Persian languages. The semi-space is used for certain prefixes, suffixes and compound words and it was not appearing correctly for our users.
- MAC users can use CMD + Arrow UP/Down again. We reverted to the previously used keyboard shortcut for starting and ending subtitles for MAC users. Thanks to the users who provided feedback about this issue.
2019 RELEASE NOTES BY MONTH:
DECEMBER – NOVEMBER – OCTOBER – SEPTEMBER – AUGUST – JULY – JUNE – MAY – APRIL – MARCH – FEBRUARY – JANUARY
- 2019-12-31 Improved user experience from login to subtitling
- 2019-12-03 Fixed issues with new editor
Release date: December 31, 2019
- We improved login journey for Amara users. We added guiding massages in the log in page, updated page styles, and simplified the steps needed to reset your password.
- Based on feedback from users like you, we resolved some editor issues. Here are some editor features we improved after user feedback: creating new subtitles, checking notes, syncing subtitles, and switching between syncing and editing.
Release date: December 03, 2019
- We hear you! We fixed user-reported issues with video playback, error messages, and shortcut key behavior. We want to thank the users that gave feedback and contributed to user testing.
- 2019-11-20 Fixed several editor issues
- 2019-11-07 Beta editor merge and a new language
Release date: November 20, 2019
- We fixed an issue with subtitles in right-to-left languages like Arabic, Hebrew, Persian, Urdu, and Sindhi. Punctuation in the subtitle was incorrectly shown on the right side of the subtitles instead of on the left.
- We fixed some issues with video playback. In the updated Amara editor, subtitlers were unable to leave spaces in the Notes box. Instead, the space bar would play and pause the video. And for HTML5 videos automatically played when the editor opened.
- We fixed an issue with the information tray in the editor. The information tray that keeps track of subtitle character count, syncing times, and characters per second was not available.
Release date: November 07, 2019
- New beta editor features are live in the default Amara subtitle editor! Get into a new subtitling groove with an interactive progress panel, handy handle controls, colorful alert cues, and syncing improvements.
- The Minangkabau (min) language is now supported on Amara!
- 2019-10-28 Fixed a subtitle display bug
- 2019-10-17 New languages supported on Amara!
- 2019-10-14 Fixed a bug and added a new indigenous language
- 2019-10-09 Fixed a security issue and retired legacy editor
Release date: October 28, 2019
- We fixed a bug with subtitle positioning in video player. Subtitles were displaying too high in some video players and devices, obscuring content in the middle of the video.
Release date: October 17, 2019
- The Hakka (hak), Sylheti (syl), Wu (wuu), and the Romani (rom) language are now supported on Amara!
Release date: October 14, 2019
- Page title bug fixed! Some of the video page titles were not displaying in browser tabs. We fixed the issue and now you can quickly recognize and return to your work on Amara.
- The Gondi (gon) language is now supported in Amara!
- We have officially retired our legacy editor. This is part of our continuing effort to add new and exciting features to our award-winning Amara subtitle editor. Check out more about our new editor features.
- Fixed a security issue. Our sincere thanks go out to Ravi Kumar, who found and reported the security issue that was fixed in this release.
- 2019-09-06 Thumbnail bug and new timezone features
- 2019-09-25 New language supported on Amara!
Release date: September 25, 2019
- The Gilbertese (gil) language, also known as Kiribati, is now supported in Amara!
Release date: September 06, 2019
- We fixed a bug with saving thumbnails. We noticed an error when saving a user’s or team’s thumbnail on Amara and fixed the issue so they could save and display correctly.
- See your timezone in Amara! Assignment due dates and time limits in new style teams are now shown in your local timezone so that you can meet deadlines with confidence! We also added a timezone display at the top of the site which you can see in new style Amara teams and on our home page.
- 2019-08-27 Fixed bugs and errors, new activity page filter
- 2019-08-22 Improved embedder code and fixed subtitle sync bug
- 2019-08-19 New AOD client, team workflow improvements
- Fixed a bug with updating multiple subtitle requests at a time. Before, if you made a change to the subtitle requests but left the date alone, you would see an error in the Edit dialog. Now you can change the status or assignee for multiple subtitle requests without that error message.
- Improved our caching system. We made a few small improvements to our caching system to help boost site performance.
- Feel confident creating more secure passwords. We recently fixed a bug with our password validator for new and current users. Now you will get a warning message if your new password does not meet security requirements.
- Filter Activity page by date range in new Amara teams. Go to your team Activity page and select Start Date, End Date, or both to search for activity within a specific date range.
- Cleaned up our embedder code. We fixed several bugs, including an issue where the subtitle font size changed when you opened the video transcript. Our updates will also make it much easier to add new features to our embedder in the future.
- Fixed a bug with YouTube subtitle export. Subtitles were failing to sync to YouTube after automatic attempts to re-sync made teams exceed their export quota. Now automatic re-sync attempts will retry each language once to avoid this issue.
- We are proud to feature Expedia as an Amara On Demand customer. View other customers, read testimonials, or submit an inquiry to find out what Amara On Demand has to offer.
- Fewer workflow interruptions. If a user leaves a team or deletes their Amara account, all of their team assignments are released.
- Update video information through multiple Amara teams. To export video title and description from a Sync team, go to your team page > Settings > Integrations. Then click Export titles and descriptions in the hover menu.
- 2019-07-29 Video feeds, video titles, and API security
- 2019-07-16 Bug fixes and new subtitle request due dates
- 2019-07-04 New languages and a security fix
- Easily keep track of your video feeds! While working with multiple teams, it can be hard to remember which team is your source team, your work team, or your evaluation team. So we added a guiding message that tells you if a video feed has already been added to another team to help you feel confident in your workflow!
- Export video titles to YouTube! In addition to allowing translated video titles to YouTube, you now have the option of updating your video title in Amara and exporting it to your YouTube account! Go to Settings > Integrations to enable this setting.
- Fixed an issue with API security. Our sincere thanks go out to user Noha Noha, who found and reported the security issue.
- Enable specific due dates for subtitle requests! Go to your team Settings > Workflows page and to enable due dates for your team. With due dates enabled, you can select a specific date and time to display. You can choose to use assignment time limits, subtitle request due dates, both, or neither.
- Follow edits to your completed subtitles! We updated notifications in new style Amara teams. Now if a manager or admin makes changes to your completed subtitles, you will get a notification on Amara.
- Manage your projects in new style Amara teams! We fixed a bug with project list sorting. You can sort your projects by title or by date created in the Projects page in your team settings. When you add a video, the project list is sorted by title.
- Mirandese (mwl) and Nhengatu/Nheengatu (yrl) subtitle languages are now supported in Amara!
- Fixed security issue! Our sincere thanks go out to Dinar Gataullin, who found and reported this issue to us.
- 2019-06-26 Project list bug
- 2019-06-19 Password reset security and selection messages
- 2019-06-03 Updates to Amara team dashboard and assignment cards
- Fixed a bug to help you organize your videos! The entire list of projects in your new Amara team are available again in the Moving Video dialog box, making it easier to organize your workflow.
- Improved password reset security! Our sincere thanks go out to Nitesh Sharma, who found and reported the security issue that was fixed in this release.
- Fixed a bug with required fields in forms! Now, if you try to create a subtitle request but forget to select the subtitle language, a message will pop up as a quick reminder.
- It’s now easier to find the right assignment for you! New Amara teams had several updates to the dashboard, available assignments page, and assignment cards to help make your choices clearer. View time limits, assignment types, and find the right fit for your workflow!
- 2019-05-28 Bulk subtitle download and custom video naming
- 2019-05-20 More information on the subtitle management page
- 2019-05-06 New Beta Editor, languages, and updated API behavior
- New bulk subtitle download for new Amara teams! Managers, admins, and owners of new style Amara teams can go to the Management pages, select, and download subtitles in bulk on the Subtitle requests tab or the Videos tab. Filter and sort to find your subtitles faster!
- New custom name setting for bulk video addition! Set the titles of videos on you Amara team instead of importing the title from the video hosting site. This can be helpful if the original video title is unset or if you need to set a helpful custom video name for future reference.
- More information to help you manage your subtitles! Managers of new Amara teams can go to the Management page to see a new column that shows the due date for each request. Click the row to expand it and view assignees for each assignment within the request.
- Limited Contributor role can now be set through API. When a team has Limited Contributor role enabled, a team Admin can set or modify a user role to “limited_contributor” through their API. Check out our API documentation to learn more.
- Sranan (srn), Palauan (pau), Daakaka (bpa), Yola (yol), Kʼicheʼ (quc), Gullah (gul) subtitle languages are now supported in Amara!
- Check out our Beta Editor’s new features! Unsynced subtitles are now visible in the video player while you are editing them. Subtitles with timing issues are highlighted orange in the timeline. Try out the Beta Editor or learn more from our recent Beta Editor blog post.
- 2019-04-22 API changes, a new role name, and due dates in Amara teams
- 2019 API changes are ready to explore! You have until June 19th to make any changes in your client code before the switch. Check out our blog post about the upcoming changes and try them out yourself! Or read our new and improved API documentation to learn more.
- We renamed a member role on Amara teams. Instead of the title “Novice”, which implies that the member is inexperienced or new to the team, members who cannot take Review or Approval assignments will now be called a “Limited Contributor”. We hope that this more descriptive title will make this role more intuitive for you to use.
- We updated due dates on Amara teams. Keep your team members informed and your workflow smooth with these improvements! Go to the Team Settings > Workflow page to enable due dates for subtitle requests and time limits for the assignments within those requests. Team members will be able to view due dates for their available assignments.
- 2019-03-29 Team statistics on new style Amara teams
- 2019-03-25 AOD application update and security improvements
- 2019-03-04 Layout and search options in Management pages
- Learn more about your team with dashboard statistics! Go to your Team Dashboard to see how many videos were added, how many members joined, and how many subtitles completed. Compare statistics from the past week, the past 30 days, or the team’s entire history. You can even see a breakdown of most frequent subtitle languages.
- Set yourself apart when applying to join Amara On Demand! We now have options for applicants to share what industry experience they have in subjects like healthcare, finance, law, media and others. Also, we now require that applicants create complete subtitle samples on the Activity tab of their user profile before they can submit their application.
- We improved security for setting up integrations with Brightcove and Kaltura in new style Amara Teams.
- Compact layout for Management pages in new style Amara teams! We added a second layout option to our Management pages for a cleaner, more compact look. Switch between list view and grid view using the toggle in the top right corner to see the difference and choose your preferred layout:
- Multiple ways to search for requests on new style Amara teams! Managers and admins can search by subtitle language, video language, and request status on the Management page. We hope this helps you find the request that you need, exactly when you need it!
- 2019-02-26 New style team member role to restrict review assignments
- 2019-02-18 Improved playback for Vimeo videos
- 2019-02-12 Subtitle position workaround and new languages
- 2019-02-04 New team notifications settings and updated team member profile
Release date: February 26, 2019
- Novice role for new Amara teams! Novices cannot take review or approval assignments, which makes the Novice role perfect for new or inexperienced team members. Team admins can choose “Novice” as the default role for all new team members. You can also change the roles for existing team members in the Member Directory.
Release date: February 18, 2019
- Improved Vimeo video playback! Users were having issues with playback and keyboard shortcuts for Vimeo videos. We fixed the buggy shortcut behavior and switched to directly embedding the videos through the API.
Release date: February 12, 2019
- New way to position subtitles in Amara Subtitle Editor! Google Chrome’s latest version broke drag and drop subtitle positioning, so we created a simple workaround for our Chrome users. Right click on a subtitle and choose the correct position from the dropdown menu:
- Upper Kuskokwin (kuu), Upper Tanana (tau), Tanacross (tcb), and Deg Xinag (ing) subtitle languages are now supported in Amara!
Release date: February 04, 2019
- Send notifications for new assignments based on team roles. Use the Notifications page in your team settings to select which team members should receive notifications for each type of assignment. This can be useful if you only want managers or admins to complete certain types of assignments.
- Review Team Member Profiles with ease. We relaxed the spacing on this page for a better view. Click on a team member from the Member Directory to view a summary of a team member’s role, languages, and activity. You can also view information about a users public activity on their Amara Profile.
- 2019-01-31 Filter and Sort assignments and preview Assignment Details
- 2019-01-15 Updated style and special new features for new style team page
Release date: January 31, 2019
- Get more information before you take an assignment. Subtitlers can now see more information about an assignment before entering the Amara Subtitle Editor to begin work. Go to your team dashboard and click an assignment to preview the video and assignment details.
- Find the right kind of assignment for your next contribution. Filter and sort through your team’s newest assignments on your dashboard or click the “Find more assignments” link. From either page, you can choose which language, which video, and which assignment type that you want to work on next in your Amara team. Combine filters, sort the results, and choose the best assignment for you.
Release date: January 15, 2019
- New: We updated the style and function of the Messaging settings page in new style teams. Owners and admins can now create assignment guidelines, notifications, and team resources for their members in more than one language.
- New: Owners and admins can create distinct guidelines for each type of assignment in new style teams. Team members can view the assignment-specific guidelines directly in the Amara subtitle editor as they complete their work.
- New: Members of new style Amara teams can now see the titles of team pages in their browser tabs and history, which can make it easier to return to work after clicking away or closing the browser.
- New: Managers of new style teams can now only view the pages they have permission to perform actions on. If managers are not allowed to add or remove videos in team settings, they will not be able to view the video management page.
DECEMBER – NOVEMBER – OCTOBER – SEPTEMBER – AUGUST – JULY – JUNE – MAY – APRIL – MARCH – FEBRUARY – JANUARY
- 2018-12-17 Updated new style team notifications and fixed a missing link bug
- 2018-12-14 Fixed Vimeo playback issue with Google Chrome browser
- 2018-12-12 Improved timecode support for TTML format
- 2018-12-10 New layout and functionality for several new style team pages
- 2018-12-03 Save Changes button and settings page style update for new style teams
Release date: December 17th, 2018
- Bug fix: The link to more/less link video descriptions on the Subtitle Information tab is accessible again.
- New: We updated notifications and messages for new style team workflows.
Release date: December 14, 2018
- Bug fix: Google Chrome users can again play Vimeo videos in the Amara subtitle editor and embedder.
Release date: December 12, 2018
- New: We added better timecode support for TTML subtitle formats.
Release date: December 10, 2018
- New: We updated the Integrations settings page for new style teams. It is now easier to view and edit your linked accounts and troubleshoot subtitle exports.
- New: The Member Profile page for new style teams now has a more spacious design that displays useful information, like the number of subtitles a member has completed.
- New: We clarified the way auto-create settings work for subtitle requests on the Workflow settings page for new style teams. Team admins can auto-create subtitle requests for newly added videos, existing videos on their team, or both.
- New: We made it easier to find projects on the Projects settings page for new style teams. Admins can now sort projects by creation date or alphabetically by title.
Release date: December 03, 2018
- New: For new style team settings pages, the Save Changes button now only appears after changes are made on the page.
- Style update: We updated the Video Feeds settings page in new style teams!
- 2018-11-21 Several bug fixes and a new language
Release date: November 21, 2018
- New: The Enga subtitle language is now supported in Amara!
- New: The Project settings page style has been updated.
- Bug fix: We fixed an issue with creating accurate timecodes during ITT export.
- Bug fix: We fixed a bug where audio files of Brightcove videos could not be accessed for Machine Automated Captioning.
- Bug fix: We fixed some buggy behavior on the recently updated Members page. Selecting and filtering the Members list should be more straightforward now.
- Bug fix: The small green user menu used for smaller screen sizes now opens properly.
- 2018-10-29 Two new languages, new style team page updates, and a bug fix
- 2018-10-23 Fixed bugs and improved site stability
- 2018-10-11 Clearer team settings and viewing team member experience
- 2018-10-2 Updated filters and team page styles
- Bug fix: We fixed a bug with team invitations so that every invited user receives a notification instead of notifications only going to users assigned to certain roles.
- New: The Nahuatl and Southern Sotho subtitle languages are now supported in Amara!
- New: The Workflow settings page for Collaboration teams now has an updated style, with an interactive workflow diagram, and a clearer layout for the other options.
- New: The Permissions settings page is brand new! Permissions for each team role are laid out and there are a few permissions options that can be edited.
- Bug fix: We fixed one-click signin with Twitter.
- Bug fix: We updated our CSS for the Amara Editor so that the red time marker does not disappear when you decrease the zoom in Opera and Chrome browsers.
- New: We separated our cache and storage databases to improve site stability when we deploy updates.
Release date: October 11, 2018
- New: The Team Member Directory for Collaboration teams now displays an expanded view for each member, which includes the number of assignments they have completed, by type.
- New: When a team member’s role is changed on a Collaboration team, the user now receives an Amara message and email notification.
- New: We now display the due date for overdue subtitle requests on Collaboration teams, so that the team’s work can be prioritized easier if multiple requests are overdue.
- Style update: The General Settings page for Collaboration teams now has an updated style, with help text that changes based on the chosen options.
- New: We upgraded our web framework to django 1.11. This upgrade improves site security and makes it easier and faster for our developers to make new features for our users.
- New: We updated the filters on our Activity page in Collaboration teams. Now you can click anywhere at the top of the activity list to open the filter menu.
- Style update: We updated the landing page for Collaboration teams. Non-members of Amara teams will now see our updated page style when they explore new-style teams.
- Style update: The URLs tab on individual Video pages in Collaboration teams have a new style. We added color-coded tags to give you more information about the source of your videos.
- 2018-9-18 Cleaned up Collaboration team dialog boxes and activity page
- 2018-9-10 New language and a new way to invite team members through email
Release date: September 18, 2018
- Style update: We updated our dialog boxes in Collaboration teams with relaxed spacing and scrollbars to ensure content is easily accessible.
- New: We re-imagined our Activity page for Collaboration teams to make searching simple. You can combine multiple language and activity type filters or clear all filters to search for something new!
- New: We added two new volunteer teams to our Volunteer page. Welcome to Amara, Plural Plus and Dif!
Release date: September 10, 2018
- New: The Franco-Provençal subtitle language is now supported in Amara. Thanks to Alexandre Raymond for your request!
- New: Team Administrators of Collaboration and Simple teams can invite new members through email even if the members do not have an Amara account yet.
- 2018-8-24 Switched task system over to redis/rq
- 2018-8-23 Style update for team application page and video title bug fix
- 2018-8-13 New Project and Language Manager role for Collaboration teams
- 2018-8-2 Security fixes, new language, and subtitle export improvements
- New: We switched our task system over to redis/rq. We previously used rabbitmq/celery. This should make our site even more stable! It also:
- Simplifies the transition to newer django versions
- Reduces the chance of the task queue going down
- Allows us to move toward reducing our memory usage
- Style update: Applicants to Amara teams now have an updated page with clearer styles from which to apply.
- Bug fix: We fixed a bug that was making partial HTML tags appear in video titles in some cases.
New: Project and Language Manager Role (see blogpost for more details)
- For Administrators of Collaboration Teams:
- Project and Language Managers can be set and filtered on the Member Directory page. When you change a user’s role to project and language manager, you select which projects and languages to give them management permission over.
- Project and Language Management Page:
- Special manager permissions are preserved through migration to Collaboration teams. Managers for projects and languages keep both project and language permissions.
- Project and language managers can use the Management tab to manage requests for individual projects and languages that are assigned to them.
- After selecting a project or language in the Management page, only requests in the selected project or language are available for managing.
- Project and Language Manager Permissions
- Project/Language Managers can view and manage collaborations by clicking “Manage requests” on the video page.
- Project/Language Managers can edit subtitles after they are completed with the “edit subtitles” button on the Subtitle Details Page.
- Project/Language Managers can take approval assignments from their team dashboard or available assignments page.
- New: The Benhti Kenaga’ [taa] subtitle language is now supported in Amara!
- New: Dari [prs] subtitle tracks now successfully export to Vimeo in one of Vimeo’s supported languages: Farsi [fa-af].
- New: We added a new social media button to Amara.org. Visit our LinkedIn page to connect with our community of professionals!
- Security fixes: Thanks to the following users for reporting security vulnerabilities that were recently fixed! Nikhil Sahoo and Ipsita Subhadarshan Sahoo, Junaid Mumtaz, Shiv Bihari Pandey, Jolan Saluria, Yadnyawalkya Tale, Nikhil Mittal , Sheher Yaar, Alina Iqbal, and Shawar Khan.
Highlights of the new features we launched in July.
- 2018-7-25 Evaluation, assignment history, and activity feed improvements
- 2018-7-04 Collaboration team improvements and bug fixes
- New: From an assignee’s endorsement to a manager’s manual override, all status changes to subtitle requests and their associated assignments can be seen in one filter on the Team Activity page of a Collaboration team.
- New: The Zarma [dje] subtitle languages are now supported in Amara!
- New: Managers of Collaboration Teams can now send back several evaluations at the same time from the Management page > Evaluations tab by selecting them and choosing “Edit.”
- Bug fix: If a user has completed an assignment in a language they don’t speak, an exclamation mark now overlays the user’s icon in the Assignments History on a Collaboration team dashboard.
- New: We’ve added pricing tables for new Subtitling Solutions on Amara. Check out Amara Plus, Amara Pro, and Amara Enterprise!
- New: Owners of Collaboration and Simple teams can add new owners to their teams. Go to the Member Directory, select a member, and change their role to Owner. (see it in GitHub)
- Style update: Cleaned up layout changes for different screen sizes. (see it on GitHub)
- Bug fix: You can now save in the subtitle editor, when the only change is to subtitle position. (see it on GitHub)
- Bug fix: Sending back a request without subtitles does not result in an error.
Highlights of the new features we launched in June.
- 2018-6-26 fixed bugs with machine-assisted captioning and Collaboration team assignments and management
- 2018-6-21 delete all empty subtitles, and bug fixes for the Amara Subtitle Editor
- 2018-6-14 fixed bugs with video hosting site integrations and Collaboration teams
- 2018-6-12 data protection measures around passwords and deactivating Amara user accounts
- 2018-6-04 finishing touches for the undo function in the editor
- Bug Fix: We removed or disabled some confusing call-to-action buttons on other team members’ profiles. You can no longer claim or decline assignments that have already been claimed by another user.
- Bug Fix: Removing a user from a Collaboration Team no longer gives you an error.
- Bug Fix: Machine Automated Captioning requests can now be successfully completed for Brightcove MP4 videos without an error accessing the audio file.
- New: You can delete all empty subtitle cells in the Amara Subtitle Editor in just a few clicks. Check out the new item in the Subtitle Tools menu!
- Feature Update: SRTs exported from Amara are now unformatted, which means they can be used on YouTube and Facebook without issue!
- Bug Fixes: We fixed some issues with ITT files: subtitle position is now preserved when uploading this file type to YouTube, and ampersand characters no longer create problems with exporting.
- Bug Fix: Embedding a YouTube video with Amara subtitles used to block the YouTube video progress bar. We’ve raised the position of the Amara subtitles on the screen, so that you can now use YouTube’s progress bar with Amara subtitles.
- Bug Fix: The info tray and subtitle list are now back to automatically updating as you change subtitle timing. We had a short lapse in this functionality.
- Bug Fix: We fixed several bugs with our Undo feature in the Amara Subtitle Editor to make it work more intuitively with text and timing edits, subtitle splits, and the info tray.
- Bug Fix: Users can now add a new subtitle at the bottom of the subtitle list as expected, whether the timeline is showing or hidden.
- Security fix: user passwords can no longer be changed via the API.
- New: Team administrators can now send Evaluation assignments to another team even after the work team has completed their assignments.
- Bug fix: Adding a video to a Collaboration team with auto-create turned on and machine-assisted captioning enabled no longer causes an error.
- Bug fix: If you attempt to add a previously connected YouTube channel to a second Amara user account, we now show you the previously connected username with the error.
- Bug fix: If you are logged in to your YouTube or Vimeo account in your browser and add a video anywhere on Amara, the metadata and subtitles now import as expected from the video hosting site.
- New: Deactivating user accounts is now more comprehensive, giving users more control over their personal data and videos added to Amara.
- New: We now require a certain strength of password for new users to create Amara accounts, and for existing users to change their password.
- New: Resetting passwords for user accounts is more secure now – the password reset page requires an extra email verification step.
- New: We’ve given a little more flexibility when purchasing subtitles through Amara On Demand. Providing your billing address is now optional when sending an inquiry from the form on the Purchase Subtitles page.
- Bug fix: You can now upload ITT files with UTF-8 encoded characters without issues. For example, you can upload a file with the musical note character ♪! (see it in GitHub)
- Security fixes: our sincere thanks to the following users, who have reported the security vulnerabilities fixed in the current release: Kaushik Sardar, Krishna, M Shahzaib, Ravi Kumar, Vismit Sudhir Rakhecha (Druk)
- Bug fix: Polish keyboard combinations for Polish letters ł ó or ż were creating an unwanted undo action. This doesn’t occur anymore. (See it in GitHub)
Highlights of the new features we launched in May.
- 2018-5-29 undo/redo in the Amara Editor
- 2018-5-22 Improvements to using assignment deadlines to keep subtitlers accountable for their work
- 2018-5-2 Customizable Resources tab for Collaboration team admins to share helpful information with their team
- Bug fix: briefly, the warnings for characters per second and per line were not updating in real time in the editor. Now they update in real time again.
- New: we added an undo/redo function to the Amara Editor! Use it with the keyboard shortcut ctrl+Z (PC) or cmd+Z (Mac).
- Style update: We’re unifying the experience you have on amara.org, starting with standardizing the way we display text and use colors. Text is generally bigger and teal is now the color of important things.
- Bug fix: shifting subtitles forward starting from the middle of a subtitle now updates the end time, as expected.
- Bug fix: metadata from public Vimeo videos is now correctly imported when a Vimeo video url is added to Amara. This means the title and description, along with some other information about the video, will be transferred automatically to Amara.
- Feature update: on the team dashboard, we disabled the “popular languages” option in the Available Assignments section, so that team members are encouraged to take assignments only in the languages they speak.
- Feature update: team administrators now have the flexibility to leave team members assigned when their assignment deadline expires. Before, automatic un-assignment was the only option. If you would like to take advantage of this option, please let us know at enterprise@amara.org. We will add it into the Collaboration team settings pages soon!
- Security fixes: thanks to Dinar Gataullin and Ishwar Prasad Bhat for reporting recently fixed security vulnerabilities!
- New: subtitles can now be positioned to the top of the video player in the editor. Cues for subtitle positioning are included when exporting subtitles in webVTT, DFXP and ITT formats. (See it in GitHub)
- New: we added a new Resources tab to Collaboration Teams, where team admins can share helpful links and contact info for their subtitlers. Text is customizable in team settings -> messages.
- Feature update: when assignment deadlines are set on your Collaboration team, the assignee will now get notified when 50% of the time toward the assignment deadline has passed. We hope the reminders help subtitlers complete subtitles more quickly!
- Feature update: we made the form fields clear and consistent on the Edit Video modal on the Management -> Videos page for Collaboration Teams.
- Bug fix: subtitles downloaded in .ssa format now include line breaks. Before, they were squashed together upon export. (See it in GitHub)
- Bug fix: we handle splitting unsynced subtitles more gracefully than before. (See it in GitHub)
Highlights of the new features we launched in April.
- 2018-4-24 Splitting subtitles available in the editor, and improvements to managing multiple requests and videos
- 2018-4-9 Metadata import with Brightcove integration
- 2018-4-3- Task Teams can now switch to upgraded Collaboration Teams
- New: We added a split subtitles feature to the editor with keyboard shortcut ctrl+enter. (See it in GitHub)
- New: An activity record is now stored every time a video title is changed. This will help team admins track changes now that team administrators can edit video titles.
- New: The Stoney Nakoda [sto] subtitle language is now supported in Amara!
- Bug fix: We fixed several bugs with scrollbars, and they appear consistently for all screen widths now. (See it in GitHub)
- Feature update: In the Member Directory, we disabled the management checkbox for the user viewing the page, so that it’s clear that you can’t change your own role or remove yourself from the team.
- Feature update: You can now click anywhere in a video card to select it in a list. The video card gets highlighted when you hover over it to illustrate this. There’s no longer a need to be super accurate and click the small checkbox to the left of the list entry.
- Feature update: Error messages for the bulk shift subtitles feature we released in late 2017 now read more clearly as full sentences. That way it’s easy to understand what we mean, and to translate them to other languages.
- Bug fix: Typing a language code and then pressing enter in our multiple language selector now creates a single entry, as expected. No more duplicate entries for language code and language. This makes the most efficient way to create multiple requests simpler: typing all the languages, with commas or without, and then hit enter once at the end and you’ll get exactly the languages you expected.
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- Bug fix: The Newest Video panel on Collaboration Team dashboards now correctly shows the number of additional videos in the selected project, rather than in the entire team.
- Security fixes: thanks to the following users for reporting recently fixed security vulnerabilities!
- 7h3xc4 (Manesh Raykar), Eliran Itzhak, Vikash Chaudhary, Shubham Yernale
- HackersEra: Kumud Kant Sinha, Mayuresh Satao, Shubham Maheshwari
- New: Santali [sat], Ho [hoc] and Paraguayan Guarani [gug] subtitle languages are now supported in Amara!
- Feature update: Metadata (video title and description) from Brightcove videos now imports to Amara for teams using our Brightcove integration.
- Feature update: our inquiry forms for Amara Enterprise and On Demand, as well as our application page for On Demand linguists, have been restyled for better usability.
- Bug fix: the “Get Started” link on the Amara Subtitling Platform page now directs correctly to the Enterprise inquiry form.
Release date: April 4, 2018
- Bug fix: the expected success message now appears when team administrators remove members from the team. No more confusion when the validation message and the behavior don’t match here.
Release date: April 3, 2018
- New: Hän [haa], Gwich’in [gwi], Holikachuk [hoi], and Koyukon [koy] subtitle languages are now supported in Amara!
- New: Task Teams can now safely be switched to their upgraded version, Collaboration teams. If you are a task team administrator, email enterprise@amara.org to find out about early migration! We’ll be reaching out in the next couple of months with the timeline for moving all task teams over to the upgraded model.
- Bug fix: the “see all” link under Assignment History on Collaboration Team dashboards no longer leads to a 404 error for some users. Now it directs you to your team member profile where you can see your full assignment history on that team.
Highlights of the new features we launched in March.
- 2018-3-20 Ability to edit video titles on Collaboration teams
- 2018-3-14 New setting for Collaboration teams
- 2018-3-6 Better handling of SCC format for subtitles
Release date: March 20, 2018
- Feature update: in Collaboration teams, the “select all” option on the Member Directory for team admins now selects every member but yourself. This is more consistent than before, since you can’t change your own role in the team or remove yourself from the team. (See it in Github)
- Bug fix: we fixed a bug in our message hiding code so that now works correctly: if you click “x” on the “you have this many messages” banner, it stays hidden next time you log in. (See it in Github)
- Bug fix: long video titles used to display awkwardly on the activity listing on the team member profile page. Now they are easier to read. (See it in Github)
- New: A video’s original title (in the video language) can now be edited by team administrators on Collaboration teams without entering the editor. This is possible from the Edit Video modal on the Team Management Page, Videos tab.
Release date: March 14, 2018
- New: Collaboration team administrators can now configure whether public users can add copies of the team’s video in Amara Public. This option appears on the General Settings page.
Release date: March 6, 2018
- New: for SCC subtitle format, we now shift the start time forward by 1 hour and adjust the frame rates so that the subs will be sync’d correctly.
- Bug fix: Search boxes and dropdown menus are now the same height.
- Bug fix: In Collaboration team workflow settings, teams that set their collaboration due dates to “never” accidentally got a due date generated if they used the “Generate Missing Collaborations” feature. This no longer happens.
Highlights of the new features we launched in February.
- 2018-2-12 updates to minimize downtime and maximize performance
- 2018-2-6 shift subtitles feature in the Editor
Release date: February 12-16
- New: we did a series of infrastructure updates that make amara.org run more smoothly. That means less downtime, and faster, more consistent performance.
Release date: February 6, 2018
- New: you can now shift subtitles forward and backward in the editor in bulk! (See it in Github)
- New: Amara teams now offer more choices for who can view your team, videos, and subtitles. Collaboration team admins can configure their team’s privacy on the General Settings page.
- Feature update: we updated the code for the embedder to handle attributes better. (See it in Github)
- Bug fix: we fixed a bad link on the email sent when one Amara user messages another
- Bug fix: the “prevent duplicate videos” option for teams is now working properly, and duplicate videos posted in the public area can be moved to the team.
Highlights of the new features we launched in January.
- 2018-1-31 more consistent UI for adding a video without setting the video language
- 2018-1-24 finishing touches on full-screen mode for the Amara embedder
- 2018-1-18 Improvement to our Brightcove integration
- 2018-1-10 Full screen mode for the Amara video player/embedder
- 2018-1-3 fixed some bugs for collaboration team notifications and and application-based admission teams
Release date: January 31, 2018
- Feature update: while you have to select a language when you add a video to Amara, you can now choose “don’t set the language” from the very bottom of the language dropdown.
- Style update: we adjusted the spacing and colors of our form fields, to make the labels stand out more, show a clearer relationship between each label and its field, and make the help text easier to read.
Release date: January 24, 2018
- Feature update: We’ve made sure the Amara embedder gracefully handle video formats that do not support full-screen mode.
Release date: January 18, 2018
- Feature update: For users of the Brightcove integration with Amara teams, you will now see the name of the language as the “label” in Brightcove studio when your subtitles are exported to Brightcove.
- Feature update: team admins can now select all results across all pages of the members list in the Member Directory
- Feature update: Sending a duplicate invite to a collab team now returns clearer error message: “User has a pending invite or is already a member of this team”
- Bug fix: we fixed an issue with application-based admission to teams
Release date: January 10, 2018
- New: full screen mode is now available for the Amara video player. Use the button in the lower-right of the player to enter full-screen mode.
Release date: January 3, 2018
- Feature update: Collaboration team members now get notified when they are made managers or admins
- Bug fix: fixed some inconsistencies for when a member leaves a team with an application-based admission policy
- Bug fix: the menu was missing from onsite Amara embedders, but it is now back!
- Security fix: we made our login page more secure from attacks