Release Notes: 2017 Q4

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New Features

New Features

Improved Features

Bugfixes

Styling of text element

This is a new styling of text elements. It will give the element a white background, a coloured side bar, and a slightly smaller font. It can be useful to visually distinguish content.

In the element properties, under Appearance, select 'Wit met Zijlijn' and choose one of the TU Delft theme colours:

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Dynamic content overview - Card Layout

News and Agenda items are usually displayed in what is called a Dynamic Content Overview. The news / agenda feed on your page is one as well. There are several overview templates available, but there was great demand for a template that displayed the search results in a card layout. This has now been introduced, an example can be seen on the right.

Also, check out more Card Layout display options!

Styling is determined by the available content of the result pages, as well as custom settings in the overview element. All card variations (normal, half height, horizontal, and horizontal half height) are available to choose from, as well as the number of results per row.

Because the overviews are difficult to set up properly, changing from your current template to this new template is not done by editors. Please contact your local content manager to apply for this overview template.

October 2024: Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Month

Theme: “United for Change, Together we Grow” The EDI Month programme focuses on bringing together people from different backgrounds, perspectives, and opinions to foster an environment where meaningful conversations and innovative ideas can flourish. From interactive workshops on diversity and teamwork to inclusive leadership training, all with an emphasis on “practical learning” and free of charge . Curious about what's on offer? Visit the online calendar for a full overview of the events and sign up.

SPTL contributions at European Transport Conference (ETC) (18-20 September, Antwerp)

The 2024 edition of the European Transport Conference (ETC) will be held from 18-20 September at University of Antwerp, Belgium. The following Smart PT Lab contributions will be presented: Passenger preferences for (emerging) public transport access/egress modes Nejc Gerzinic, Mark van Hagen, Hussein Al Tamimi, Dorine Duives, Niels van Oort [Abstract] - [Slides] An application of Latent Class Analysis to explore the impact of sociodemographics on travel behaviour profiles – the importance of sociodemographics in transport policy Nadine Martje Eichenauer, Niels van Oort, Bert van Wee, Jan Anne Annema [Abstract] - [Slides] Towards a Global Standard for Estimating Life Cycle Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Public Transport Services Marko Kapetanovic, Niels van Oort [Abstract] - [Slides] The full program can be found here: https://aetransport.org/etc/programme

Towards more efficient solar cells, with a lower carbon footprint

The SiLEAN project, funded by the European Union, has officially launched with the goal of setting a new benchmark in solar cell efficiency by over 25.5%, while reducing costs and lowering the carbon footprint by up to 75%.

Ensuring safe and quick food bike-delivery services in cities

Cyclists rushing to deliver food on time to hungry customers is an increasing problem in cities with the growing demand for fast home delivery services. This surge has resulted in more traffic in bike lanes, contributing to accidents and raising concerns about rider safety. In the framework of SINERGI project researchers like Yousef Maknoon are looking into solutions that will help boost logistic operations that are both efficient and safe. ‘Bike delivery services are a great way to transport goods from A to B in a green manner, replacing delivery cars or vans. These micro-delivery systems can really help make city logistics more sustainable,’ says logistics and modelling expert Yousef Maknoon, who is involved in developing real-time decision models for the SINERGI project. Besides looking into sustainability, the project aims to empower delivery providers to offer cost-efficient services, while prioritising the well-being of riders. ‘We want to help bring down the number of accidents,’ stresses Maknoon. Private and public stakeholders have joined to conduct pilot initiatives in the cities of Amsterdam, Shanghai, Singapore and Copenhagen. Yousef Maknoon Safe routing ‘To improve rider safety, the app automatically provides recommended routes when food delivery riders receive their task, helping them avoid dangerous intersections and busy streets. In Amsterdam, the goal is to develop a map that will show the safety of cycling infrastructure. The map is planned to be enriched with real-time information such weather conditions, busy days, and times of the week to not only improve delivery time prediction but also assess route safety in real time,’ explains Maknoon. ‘But everything depends on the cyclist's willingness to take the safer route. When a rider is paid per delivery, they might not be willing to take a longer route. Especially when they know the area well, it can be tempting to take a shorter route that may not always be the safest option.’ A survey held amongst 300 delivery riders found that they can be nudged to follow the recommended routes when they are compensated financially. Profit versus safety Maknoon: ‘What we also found is that paying an hourly fee, instead of paying per on-time delivery, promotes safer riding behaviour, like Just Eat Take​away does in the pilot in Amsterdam. However, other issues arise because riders might not be so motivated to deliver on time. Then you need other incentives to motivate efficiency among riders. Otherwise, customers might switch to other service providers. This puts the business model which is based on hourly payment and prioritize safety, under pressure.’ It seems now that delivery services need to make a trade-off between profit and safety. ‘With the SINERGI project we want to empower delivery providers to offer cost-efficient services while prioritising the well-being of riders.’ Government regulation Public authorities can, for example, improve road safety by enhancing infrastructure, such as building separate bicycle lanes.’ Delivery providers can introduce incentives for riders that compensate the extra time a longer, but safer, route might take. But this puts pressure on profitability and could cause micro-delivery logistics platforms to struggle or even go out of business. It is likely that government regulation will need to play a role in profit-driven societies, as safety risks being overshadowed. Fair delivery system This is also the case for ensuring a fair delivery system where all customers are serviced, whether they live in the busy city centre or the less densely populated countryside. Otherwise, customers who live farther away may not be serviced, as longer cycling times mean less money for riders when they are paid by commission. Riders can simply reject these orders and choose to deliver only to places where they think they can earn more. Human factor In this digitally connected world, we need to consider the human factor in real-time decision-making. The wellbeing of riders, their working conditions, and their quality of life are also important when we talk about making operational decisions. It is interesting to compare the four cities and how they manage the tension between cost-efficiency and safety, and to see what they can learn from each other. About SINERGI SINERGI is a three-year project that runs from 2023 to 2026. It involves thirteen research institutions, governmental authorities, and companies collaborating on a comprehensive framework to improve sustainable city logistics. The project aims to enable real-time management and strategic planning of efficient, safe and user-friendly delivery services. Besides Yousef Maknoon other researchers from TU-Delft involved are: Shadi Sharif Azadeh (project leader), Gonçalo Correia, Kuldeep Kavta and Dongyang Xia. Read more about the SINERGI project.

Causing near collisions with cyclists to improve traffic models

It’s surprising, but in the Netherlands – a nation of cyclists – there’s very little data on how cyclists respond to each other in traffic. Yet this data is essential for creating more realistic traffic models, which in turn are key to designing better cycling infrastructure across the Netherlands. Anna Marbus, a master’s student in robotics, wants to change that by causing near collisions with cyclists.

Contributions of Smart PT Lab at ODS2024 (September 8-12, Badesi, Italy)

From September 8-12, the 2024 edition of the International Conference on Optimization and Decision Science (ODS) was held in Badesi on Sardinia (Italy). The Smart Public Transport Lab contributed to this event with presentations by Rina (Jingyi) Cheng and Renate van der Knaap. Short-term Bike-sharing Demand Forecasting under Multiple Sources of Uncertainties: A Sequential Framework with Multivariate Inputs Jingyi Cheng, Gonçalo Correia, Oded Cats, and Shadi Sharif Azadeh Abstract: A sequential framework is proposed for short-term probabilistic demand forecasting of bike-sharing services, considering uncertainties from public transit systems. Leveraging the transformer-based structure, the proposed solution is generalizable, scalable, and adaptive to new data. Through a case study with Washington data, our preliminary results suggest that the proposed approach enhances forecasting. This work is part of the Horizon-EU SUM project. Multi-period Railway Timetabling to Match Time-dependent Demand Renate van der Knaap, Niels van Oort and Rob M.P. Goverde [Abstract] The full program can be found here: https://www.airoconference.it/ods2024/schedule

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Tabs as Grid Elements

What changed?

Tabs were difficult to manage, especially when you wanted to re-use and swap content from other pages. Therefore, the tab element has been redesigned for a more user-friendly interface, a better overview of the embedded content, and the added possibility to cut/paste and reference elements in it.

The old Tab element still exists and is not automatically replaced, but will be phased out. For this purpose, the old version has been disabled for editing. In the following weeks, we'll be changing all existing Tab Elements to Tabs Grids. Should you however come across an old Tab Element and you find yourself unable to edit it, please contact your local content manager.

How can I create a new Tabs Grid?

Tabs Grids are created like all other grids. When creating a new element, under Grid Elements, select Tabs grid. This will place a grid on your page with 5 rows, each row representing one of the tabs.

  • The Header in the first element of each tab will also be the title of that tab. So for instance, in this case, the Header of this text element ('How can I create ...') is adapted as Tab title.
  • You can select a colour theme by editing the Tabs Grid properties; under Appearance, select a theme (see fig.)
  • If you don't put any content in a tab, it will be invisible.

 

Any tips and tricks?

When you don't want to start a tab with a header (for instance, when it's an image), you still need to tell Typo3 which title to use for this tab. You can do so by creating a 'Header Only' element, and under Type, select 'Hidden'. This will not show the header inside your tab, but it will be adopted as Tab title.

 

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Youtube video in Header Slider

It is now possible to put a video in the Header Slider on top of any page. 

If you want to add a Youtube video to your header-slider, just paste the youtube URL in the link field of a slide; a play button will be shown on your slide, and a pop-up style video will play when the button is pushed.

Like all slides, this feature also requires you to upload an image.

View an example!

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Full Width page template

This page combines the regular Content page with the Homepage. Its features are identical to the Homepage format in many ways, but it adds the bread crumb on top, so visitors can easily find their way back.

This layout was frequently created with a workaround (Content Page with Left Column, combined with specific element settings), which is why an official option has been included instead. 

To create this layout, go to the page properties, under Appearance, select the Backend Layout 'Content page that is full width'.
(feature renaming can hopefully be included in our next release)

This page is actually an example of this layout. Click 'To Top' to view the breadcrumb.

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Special Page template

This is another new page template (see: Full Width page template). This layout is designed for a long-read format, by dividing the screen in two halves; the left one is designated for images, the right one for all content. There is also a special connection between picture and content, enabling a nice scrolling experience.
Try it out!

This layout is particularly useful for magazine-style pages.

To create this layout:

  • go to the page properties; under Appearance, select the Backend Layout 'Special Page' (see fig.).

  • On this new page, create a new element; under Grid Elements, select Special Container (see fig.). This grid consists of two columns.

  • In the left column, you place a 'Special Image' element.
    This is the image that is displayed stationary alongside the scrolling content on the right; when the visitor is at the end of the content in this Special Container, the image will scroll up, and display the next Special Container.

  • In the right column, you place a normal 100% Grid element.

  • In the element properties of this Grid Element, under Appearance, select 'Used for content on special pages..' (see fig.).

  • Inside this 100% grid, you can place all elements to your liking.

The last steps, creating a 100% grid, are necessary to create the Special layout as it was designed. This element layout compresses the width of the elements within - otherwise, the text would run the entire width of the column.

 

View the new Special Template

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Facts and Figures element

This is a new element to display, for instance, facts and figures.

To create this, add a new Fact element inside a grid. Under Theme, select the header colour.
Then, edit the grid properties, go to the tab Appearance, and choose a background colour under 'Theme'.

Please note: the fact element only properly works in combination with this coloured grid background.

What is the coolest new feature?
Fact Element
How many features are in this new release?
40
Number of new features
11

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Coloured grid background

The background colour feature for grids can also be used without a fact element. It may for instance be useful for magazine-type pages, to highlight a specific text.

Two layout guidelines:

  • Dont overdo it! These coloured grids are very dominant. Don't create an abstract piece of art.
  • See if you should add top and bottom margins (under Appearance), to prevent the grid from overlapping with other elements. 

To create this, edit the grid properties, go to the tab Appearance, and choose a background colour under 'Theme':

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Notification element

This element can be used to draw attention to a certain part of your website, or a call-to-action (for instance, when an application deadline is approaching). You can add one or two buttons. The element is available in all TU Delft theme colours.

To create this, add a new Notification element. Enter a header, text, and theme, and, optionally, one or two buttons. The buttons can either be white or transparent.

Notification element

These are not the only release notes; they are only the new elements. Check out our improvements and bug fixes!

Improvements Bug fixes

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Read More-toggle

This option allows you, in a Text element, to hide paragraphs under a 'read more'-line (as seen below).

To create this, in the Rich Text Editor (RTF) of the Text element, stand in the text on the desired location. Click on 'Insert Custom Element', then 'Tudelft', then 'Insert Readmore'. An orange marker will appear in your text.

To demonstrate this, a piece of literary history:

Alice

There was a table set out under a tree in front of the house, and the March Hare and the Hatter were having tea at it: a Dormouse was sitting between them, fast asleep, and the other two were using it as a cushion, resting their elbows on it, and talking over its head. ‘Very uncomfortable for the Dormouse,’ thought Alice; ‘only, as it’s asleep, I suppose it doesn’t mind.’Read more

The table was a large one, but the three were all crowded together at one corner of it: ‘No room! No room!’ they cried out when they saw Alice coming. ‘There’s plenty of room!’ said Alice indignantly, and she sat down in a large arm-chair at one end of the table.

‘Have some wine,’ the March Hare said in an encouraging tone.

Alice looked all round the table, but there was nothing on it but tea. ‘I don’t see any wine,’ she remarked.

‘There isn’t any,’ said the March Hare.

‘Then it wasn’t very civil of you to offer it,’ said Alice angrily.

‘It wasn’t very civil of you to sit down without being invited,’ said the March Hare.

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Image side caption

An option has been added to display a caption next to an image. This was a feature in the original design, and works well in storytelling articles.

To create this, go the the element properties, under Appearance, and choose 'Image fullwidth with caption'.
On the General tab, under Description, fill in the caption text.

The caption can now be placed next to the image.

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