{"id":3221,"date":"2020-10-12T13:13:46","date_gmt":"2020-10-12T17:13:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.tlsrv.net\/new-thinglink-saimaa-user-interface\/"},"modified":"2022-11-29T05:43:31","modified_gmt":"2022-11-29T09:43:31","slug":"new-thinglink-saimaa-user-interface","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thinglink.com\/blog\/new-thinglink-saimaa-user-interface\/","title":{"rendered":"NEW! ThingLink Saimaa &#8211; a next level user interface for efficient content management"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-size: 16px;\">The year 2020 has accelerated the adoption of new solutions for online learning and publishing at an unprecedented pace. At ThingLink, the increased demand shows as a sharp 50% increase in new monthly signups.\u00a0 Over 100,000 new users login to ThingLink every month to create engaging visual experiences for their students, employees or customers. <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 16px;\">For may, ThingLink has become a home for hundreds, even thousands of interactive images and videos. Our new interface offers them improved options for arranging and managing this content. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 16px;\">As well as an updated user experience, we are introducing a new, nature-inspired scheme for naming versions of the ThingLink interface. Each interface will be named after a lake in Finland, ThingLink&#8217;s home country. The\u00a0 2020 interface is called <strong>Saimaa<\/strong>, which is the largest and most beautiful natural body of water located in Eastern Finland.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"margin: 0px auto; display: block;\" xml=\"lang\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thinglink.com\/card\/1371540505392840705\" width=\"960\" height=\"768\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-original-width=\"2000\" data-original-height=\"1600\"><\/iframe><br \/>\n<script async=\"\" src=\"\/\/cdn.thinglink.me\/jse\/responsive.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size: 16px;\"><strong>The ThingLink Saimaa interface<\/strong> has been designed to support the creation of and management of large amounts of interactive content.\u00a0 It introduces several features that simplify the routine tasks, saving time and effort in the creation process.\u00a0 These include:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 16px;\">Bulk upload &#038; Content management<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 16px;\">Improved folders<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 16px;\">Improved user management<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 16px;\">Reworked groups<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 16px;\">New enterprise account features: Forms, Modules, and Organizational Profile page.\u00a0 <\/span><br \/><span style=\"font-size: 16px;\">(To learn more about the enterprise account, <a href=\"https:\/\/forms.thinglink.com\/en\/thinglink-elearning-enterprise-custom-quote\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">contact us here.)<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong style=\"color: #3574e3; font-size: 30px; text-align: center;\">1) BULK UPLOAD &#038; CONTENT MANAGEMENT\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size: 16px; line-height: 2; text-align: left;\">The first functional change is a <strong>reworked uploading process<\/strong>, which we\u2019ve striven to make as easy and as fast as possible. It features:<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size: 16px; line-height: 2; text-align: left;\"><strong>a)\u00a0 Bulk upload<\/strong>: You can now upload multiple items at the same time. Simply click \u2018Upload file\u2019 and select all files you\u2019d like to upload:<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size: 16px; line-height: 2; text-align: left;\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/f.hubspotusercontent30.net\/hubfs\/603436\/bulk_upload.gif\" alt=\"bulk_upload\" width=\"1888\" style=\"width: 1888px;\"><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size: 16px; line-height: 2; text-align: left;\"><strong>b)\u00a0 Automatic media type detection:<\/strong> Once you\u2019ve selected your files, we will determine media type automatically based on your upload specifications.\u00a0 You no longer need to choose the media type prior to uploading.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size: 16px; line-height: 2; text-align: left;\"><strong>c) Upload files directly into folders:<\/strong> It\u2019s now possible to upload files directly into a folder.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size: 16px; line-height: 2; text-align: left;\"><strong>d) Other bulk actions: <\/strong>The previous improvements go hand-in-hand with another major update; you are now able to select multiple files (or all files within a folder) and carry out <strong>bulk actions<\/strong>, such as changing privacy settings, deleting your media or moving it into a folder.\u00a0 We expect these changes to save you a lot of time, especially if you are using ThingLink for creating virtual tours, courses or other projects that include large amounts of images and videos.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size: 16px; line-height: 2; text-align: left;\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/f.hubspotusercontent30.net\/hubfs\/603436\/bulk_content_actions.gif\" alt=\"bulk_content_actions\" width=\"1888\" style=\"width: 1888px;\"><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size: 16px; line-height: 2; text-align: left;\">\u00a0<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size: 16px; line-height: 2; text-align: left;\"><strong>d)\u00a0 QR code sharing:<\/strong> A small update introducing a new quick way to share interactive experiences instead of sharing an image link\/URL. Automatic QR code generation in the sharing dialog also makes it faster to create\u00a0 interactive tours in physical locations such as factories, schools, museums and galleries!\u00a0<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size: 16px; line-height: 2; text-align: left;\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/f.hubspotusercontent30.net\/hubfs\/603436\/Screen%20Shot%202020-10-02%20at%2012.28.58%20PM.png\" alt=\"Screen Shot 2020-10-02 at 12.28.58 PM\" width=\"551\" style=\"width: 551px; display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\"><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size: 16px; line-height: 2; text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #3574e3; font-size: 30px;\"><strong>2) IMPROVED FOLDERS\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><span style=\"color: #3574e3;\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size: 16px; line-height: 2; text-align: left;\">Over the last year we saw a major increase in folder usage and addressed the feedback in this release.\u00a0 Saimaa brings four key updates to those who use folders for collaborating with colleagues, students &#038; peers:<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size: 16px; line-height: 2; text-align: left;\"><strong>a)\u00a0 Simplified access settings:<\/strong> All settings related to accessing folders are now displayed within one menu.\u00a0 From here, you can share the folder with selected individuals, the whole organization, or specific groups \u2013 more on that below.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size: 16px; line-height: 2; text-align: left;\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/f.hubspotusercontent30.net\/hubfs\/603436\/folder_access.gif\" alt=\"folder_access\" width=\"1910\" style=\"width: 1910px;\"><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size: 16px; line-height: 2; text-align: left;\"><strong>b)\u00a0 View-only access:<\/strong> You can now permit users in your organization to view a folder and all its content without giving editing rights.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size: 16px; line-height: 2; text-align: left;\"><strong>c)\u00a0 Subfolders:<\/strong> You can create folders within folders. This makes it easy to organize images into sets and manage collaboration with colleagues throughout the creation process.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size: 16px; line-height: 2; text-align: left;\"><strong>d) Improved sharing options for Classroom and School accounts :<\/strong> All plans that include shared folders will now be able to share them with specific users or groups. This means that the feature is also available on Premium Classroom and Premium team accounts.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size: 30px; line-height: 2; text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #3574e3;\"><strong>3) UPDATED USER MANAGEMENT\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size: 16px; line-height: 2; text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">With more large organizations using ThingLink, we are introducing two important updates for account owners and administrators:<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size: 16px; line-height: 2; text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>a) Bulk user management:<\/strong> You can now select multiple users and perform bulk actions, such as deleting multiple student accounts at once (e.g. if you need to remove all students from last year). In addition, we added a few filters to help you find the users you need.\u00a0 Email invitations for Marketing &#038; Editorial and eLearning accounts have been simplified and improved. Furthermore, both account types have access to new ways to add users. You can now assign or revoke admin rights with a single action.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size: 16px; line-height: 2; text-align: left;\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/f.hubspotusercontent30.net\/hubfs\/603436\/mass_user_management.gif\" alt=\"mass_user_management\" width=\"1910\" style=\"width: 1910px;\"><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size: 16px; line-height: 2; text-align: left;\">\u00a0<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size: 16px; line-height: 2; text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>b)\u00a0 New organization settings:<\/strong> We reworked organization settings to make sure that they are easier to navigate. Furthermore, there are two new organization-level settings: &#8220;Editor version&#8221; and\u00a0 &#8220;Default editor language&#8221;.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size: 30px; line-height: 2; text-align: left;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #3574e3;\">4) REWORKED GROUPS\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size: 16px; line-height: 2; text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">In addition to improving user management, we also made it easier to manage Groups. These feature updates include the ability to:<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size: 16px; line-height: 2; text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>a)\u00a0 Assign a group-level access permission to\u00a0 folders:<\/strong> You are now able to give access rights to folders for all members of a group.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size: 16px; line-height: 2; text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>b)\u00a0 Easier controls for adding existing users to groups:<\/strong> There is now a simpler way for adding existing users to groups. This works similarly to how you would add users to folders in the current interface:<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size: 16px; line-height: 2; text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/f.hubspotusercontent30.net\/hubfs\/603436\/groups.gif\" alt=\"groups\" width=\"1910\" style=\"width: 1910px;\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size: 16px; line-height: 2; text-align: left;\">\u00a0<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size: 16px; line-height: 2; text-align: left;\"><strong>c)\u00a0 Easier way to join organizations with existing accounts:<\/strong> The prompt to join an organization (or a group) is now permanently visible on the top navigation bar of Saimaa.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size: 16px; line-height: 2; text-align: left;\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/f.hubspotusercontent30.net\/hubfs\/603436\/Screen%20Shot%202020-10-12%20at%2011.28.31%20AM.png\" alt=\"Screen Shot 2020-10-12 at 11.28.31 AM\" width=\"1106\" style=\"width: 1106px;\"><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size: 30px; line-height: 2; text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #3574e3;\"><strong>5) NEW SET OF FEATURES FOR ENTERPRISE ACCOUNTS: FORMS,\u00a0 MODULES, ORGANIZATION LANDING PAGE\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size: 16px; line-height: 2; text-align: left;\">ThingLink leads the development of user-generated visual learning environments that are accessible and affordable for everyone. From individual users and small organizations we have moved to serve large enterprises, districts and cities that have advanced requirements in regards to security, customizability, data collection, content organization and sharing. The following set of features introduces new elements to ThingLink&#8217;s enterprise account designed to support learning and skills development in both private and public organizations.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size: 16px; line-height: 2; text-align: left;\"><strong>a)\u00a0 Forms:<\/strong> Forms introduces ThingLink&#8217;s native data collection framework for measuring learner progress and performance throughout the viewing experience. In the first phase, enterprise or eLearning account holders can create simple questionnaires and checkpoints to check activity and retention. These questionnaires can be embedded to images, videos, and 360 media the same way as other content. The feature also allows simultaneous data collection from multiple sites such as school website or LMS.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size: 16px; line-height: 2; text-align: left;\"><strong><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/f.hubspotusercontent30.net\/hubfs\/603436\/forms-1.gif\" alt=\"forms-1\" width=\"690\" style=\"width: 690px; display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\"><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size: 16px; line-height: 2; text-align: left;\"><strong>b)\u00a0 Modules:<\/strong> ThingLink&#8217;s Content Modules are designed for creating personalized learning experiences. They can be assigned to specific users or groups and made visible on the organization landing page. The novelty of this feature lies in the ability to se original files in multiple learning experiences, courses, presentations or tests.\u00a0 ThingLink Content Modules can be published externally on websites and LMS.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size: 16px; line-height: 2; text-align: left;\"><strong>c)\u00a0 Organizational Landing Page:<\/strong> Organizational Landing Page is a customizable ThingLink experience for organizations that functions as the signup and landing page for members of the organization . The Profile Page houses all Modules assigned to each learner.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size: 16px; line-height: 2; text-align: left;\">If you have specific questions or interest in ThingLink eLearning, <a href=\"https:\/\/forms.thinglink.com\/en\/thinglink-elearning-enterprise-custom-quote\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">submit a quote here<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size: 30px; line-height: 2; text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #e06666;\"><strong>DEPRECATED FEATURES<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; text-align: left;\">Features that are no longer supported in the new interface:<\/p>\n<ul style=\"line-height: 1.5;\">\n<li>Courses and Projects on Classroom accounts<\/li>\n<li>Collections<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"line-height: 1.5; font-size: 16px;\">Going forward, we will focus on supporting deeper integrations with LMS so that ThingLink images, videos and modules can be directly embedded to courses on 3rd party platforms. Note however that if you have created courses and projects on ThingLink, they will remain accessible in the old interface. Also existing collections will remain accessible, but you won&#8217;t be able to create new collections.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 16px;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">How do I gain access to ThingLink Saimaa?<\/span> This new interface will be available to all users before end of the year, including free accounts.\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 16px;\">The interface is currently under beta testing, meaning that nearly all features are ready but we are still polishing it for the general release.\u00a0 In this first phase, we would like to invite ThingLink enterprise customers, trainers and Certified Educators to test the new features and give feedback. If you are interested, please submit a request <a href=\"https:\/\/forms.thinglink.com\/request-access-to-saimaa\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">here. <\/a><\/span><span style=\"font-size: 16px;\">When the interface is available for everyone, we will update this post.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 16px;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What happens to the previous interface?<\/span>\u00a0 It&#8217;s good to remember the ThingLink Saimaa interface does not impact the core editing experience on ThingLink. Most feature updates concern user &#038; content management. There are no immediate plans to deprecate the interface you are currently using, and we will\u00a0 keep you updated on the schedule for permanently transitioning to the new interface. Both interfaces will continue to have documentation in our <a href=\"https:\/\/support.thinglink.com\/hc\/en-us\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">support center<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p style=\"font-size: 20px; line-height: 2; text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Our team hopes you enjoy using ThingLink Saimaa! If you have any questions about the new features or account types, please get in touch <a href=\"https:\/\/support.thinglink.com\/hc\/en-us\/requests\/new\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a> or email <\/span><a href=\"mailto:support@thinglink.com\" style=\"font-weight: bold;\">support@thinglink.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size: 20px; line-height: 2; text-align: center;\">\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The year 2020 has accelerated the adoption of new solutions for online learning and publishing at an unprecedented pace. At ThingLink, the increased demand shows&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":3222,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[454],"tags":[181,179,180,290,291,238,177,161,178,289],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thinglink.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3221"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thinglink.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thinglink.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thinglink.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thinglink.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3221"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.thinglink.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3221\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6402,"href":"https:\/\/www.thinglink.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3221\/revisions\/6402"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thinglink.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3222"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thinglink.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thinglink.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thinglink.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}