New Features


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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.

Gender Diversity: Interview with Hans Hellendoorn

DEWIS is talking with Professor Hans Hellendoorn about women in science and equal opportunities at TU Delft. Hellendoorn is a professor of Control Theory and has been the head of the Cognitive Robotics Department at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering since April 2018. He has also held the position of Pro Vice Rector Joint Education Affairs since February 2021 and is acting as a replacement for the position of Vice President Education since 1 October 2024. In this interview, we discuss his ideas, priorities and aspirations for creating gender-diverse and inclusive work environments. If you enjoy academia, science and research, we invite you to join us. Strengthen and lend your voice to our team and we’ll work together to change the culture. These changes already underway and will continue gradually. Several women have already told me that this is a good place to work, so join us and see it for yourself. Prof. Hans Hellendoorn DEWIS has seen the departure of a lot of female talent over the past year. This included a number of female professors and many talented associate professors who got senior positions more quickly elsewhere. Why do you think this is? Hans: "Yes, I’ve noticed that too. It’s partly because technical universities are fishing from the same pond nationally and internationally. I conducted exit interviews with several women who said that they were not dissatisfied with Delft. They simply received attractive offers elsewhere, often from their home countries, which were likely motivational factors. It's important to continually reflect on why staff leave and to keep looking critically at ourselves." In autumn 2024, the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) will start a pilot in the Talent Programme that is expected to lead to more allocations of Vidi grants to women. What’s your opinion on the developments in NWO's Talent Programme? Hans: "That’s undoubtedly a very good thing. If we want to grow the number of women inacademia and science, we need to temporarily introduce a preferential policy. And I can see the impact of this. According to the sector plans, we had to hire a certain percentage of women, which led to more women in the department. This initiated a culture change.Traditional thinking about academic careers has changed. This traditional thinking meant that women, and some men, were given fewer opportunities due to stereotypical views aboutacademic roles and unconscious biases in hiring and promotion policies. We have demonstrated the value of going about this in a different way." How did you become aware of your biases? Have you ever had 'implicit bias' training? Hans: "Although I haven’t had specific training on that, I have participated in workshops within the department. These were quite useful because I learned more about myself and my prejudices."Some people still say: "I just want to hire the best people for the job and don't look at colouror gender as part of the process." What would you say to those people? Hans: "I’ve noticed that professors tend to choose staff or PhD candidates who are similar to themselves. We like to think that we are hiring the best candidate, but they’re often a copy of ourselves. I consciously encourage them to hire people who bring something new or differentto the table. Diversity enriches the team and we’re better for it." W hat can the university do to highlight female talent at the university so that they have better opportunities to grow and flourish in their academic careers? Hans: "The career development committees assess candidates but apply a lot of implicitrules. While this has certain advantages, such as not only looking at H-indexes, it also brings risks. These implicit rules leave too much to the random composition of the committee and result in one-sided assessments. By making the benchmarks and criteria more explicit, we can include all the different aspects in the assessment." TU/Eindhoven's Irene Curie Fellowship programme is bearing fruit, as discussed in the article TU Eindhoven trekt na radicaal beleid spectaculair meer vrouwelijke medewerkers aan | de Volkskrant | deVolkskrant (TU Eindhoven attracts huge increase in female staff after radical policy).Wouldn't something like this also be a good idea for us? Hans: "I believe it would. If you want to increase the number of women in academic positions, you have to put energy and effort into incentive policies. We tried it for years without such measures and it had little effect. So it would seem that it is necessary." What would you suggest to promote the advancement of women at TU Delft?I strongly advocate the hiring of women. More women joining the TU Delft team means more women being able to advance in their careers. However, I take a rather cautious approach to promoting advancement because it can quickly raise eyebrows. Importantly, women should be given the same opportunities as men when it comes to places on career development committees. Combining family and an academic career is still often seen as a source of a lot of stress. Do you think enough is being done to change this perception? Hans: "I completely understand that point. Young women have to deal with a lot of challenges, including project-related issues that arise during their maternity leave, inadequate breastfeeding areas and overcrowded childcare facilities. Psychological complaints, such as having a colicky baby, can also weigh heavily. Instead of offering direct solutions, we should organise more listening sessions with young parents to discuss their experiences and look for solutions together. Unfortunately, maternity leave is often seen as a problem instead of a cause for celebration." Have you noticed changes within the university over the years when it comes to diversity and inclusion? What exactly has changed? How did that go? Hans: "It’s a lot different now compared to when I did my PhD in Computer Science. Back then it was a predominantly male community with women mainly in supporting roles. It is a lot more diverse now and there is a far greater understanding of the need for increased diversity." What is your vision of the ideal inclusive university of the future? Hans: We still take too narrow a view of the career path of an excellent academic and often place too much emphasis on traditional things such as the number of publications, grants and conference speeches. These are obviously important, but we must also learn to look at it from a broader perspective because there's more than one way to be an excellent academic.I hope we remain open to and create more space for these diverse paths and develop new forms of recognition and appreciation. Does your ideal inclusive university also need new leadership? Hans: "Yes, I think so. We can learn a lot from other universities, both nationally and internationally, in terms of leadership and regarding the process of choosing administrators. We don't have to adopt everything but we can certainly get some valuable insights. My biggest wish is for all of us to take staff issues seriously and not trivialise them." Society also demands a new kind of engineer - one who can help solve complex social issues.What additional skills are important for the engineers of the future? Hans: "Engineers used to provide solutions within our society, often with a 'here is the solution to your problem' mentality. Modern society is more empowered and outspoken and people demand that engineers listen more to their needs. So our new engineers must not only provide solutions but also be more attuned to what people really want, which requires adifferent approach to research and education. This will be more effective if our teams include a good balance of men and women and reflects the actual makeup of society as a whole." What would you say to women who are unsure whether an academic career is for them? Hans: "If you enjoy academia, science and research, we invite you to join us. Strengthen and lend your voice to our team and we’ll work together to change the culture. These changes are already underway and will continue gradually. Several women have already told me that this is a good place to work, so join us and see it for yourself." What advice would you give to women who encounter resistance in advancing to senior positions? Hans: "If something doesn’t seem right or fair, you need to discuss it with a colleague,manager or confidential adviser. You can also visit me if necessary. Patience is important because careers tend to develop slowly, mostly over a period of about 40 years. But injustices need to be addressed. We are now in a situation where that is not just possible, it’s actively encouraged." When do you foresee DEWIS no longer being needed? Hans: "DEWIS has facilitated a much greater understanding of the barriers women face.Cross-faculty organisations where people meet are important and must continue. We should stop DEWIS only when nobody comes to those meetings anymore." Questions or comments can be sent to dewis@tudelft.nl

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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.

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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.

 

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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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