August 2009
1 post
Welcome back
Summer’s over, and that can only mean one thing, kids: it’s time to start doing your homework your teachers are posting on Essign!
Performance of the Web application has been rock-solid since we switched to a new hosting provider in early May. This ensures that you will always get your assigned homework, rain or shine! Don’t think we didn’t hear that collective groan,...
May 2009
2 posts
Essign has a new home
Well, it turned out to be much easier to fix the random errors than we originally thought. This is good news for us, but even better news for you guys.
Essign is now on a faster, more reliable server. You should notice that the pages load much more quickly, and you shouldn’t have any of the recent problems.
Naturally, we have to add the disclaimer that this switch was made very quickly,...
An update on recent problems
So, Essign has been a little spotty lately. Sometimes when you log on, you won’t get any errors at all, and sometimes almost every click throws an ugly message your way.
Think of it like a friend who immediately responds to your voicemail on some occasions, but at other times can leave you hanging with nothing to do on a Friday night.
Unfortunately, this isn’t a problem that can be...
April 2009
1 post
Oops
So we had a little glitch this morning, April 1st – no joke! Service is still a little spotty… we’re working on it. Service should be back to normal. If any teachers put in new assignments early this morning, the assignments might be missing now. You’re going to have to put them in again; sorry!
Sorry if anyone got caught up in this mess.
February 2009
1 post
"They're just these features, you know?"
We’ve got a few new things to roll out today. First off, check out that fancy new page header block. In it, you’ll find the current page title, along with any relevant links and pretty icons to boot. From now on, common page actions and navigation will be located here.
Here’s a fun one for teachers. If you are using the “student questions” feature, now you can choose...
January 2009
3 posts
Attachment errors?
Recently, we’ve been seeing a lot of error messages in the log files that pertain to attachment files being missing, yet nobody has reported any problems. We have been unsuccessful in recreating this scenario, and would be grateful if anyone who has encountered this error would send in a Support message with details about how it occured. Thanks a bunch.
Irony
It looks like the Support and Feedback forms were both broken! Go figure. Anyway, they’re all fixed now.
You’ll also notice some new fancy icons on the welcome page. These beauties are courtesy of Mark James. We’re going to try to work these into the interface in more places to add a little color and make things easier to find.
Edit: I guess many other things were also not...
Hic-hic-hiccups
Thanks, everyone, for bearing with us during the recent application issues. Our hosting company just updated some software that Essign needs to run, causing some minor things to break here and there.
We think we fixed everything, but if you find a newly-broken page, please let us know ASAP using the support form.
December 2008
1 post
Server Issues (Resolved)
I’ve been told the site has been down since yesterday. There seems to be a problem with the server on which this site is hosted. Our Web host knows the problem exists and is working on it now.
Sit tight, folks!
Update: “Outage resolved: We believe the issue to be resolved. […] We’re very sorry for any inconveniences.”
November 2008
8 posts
Ahh, Refreshing
We performed a little refresh of the user interface today. Everything should be in the same place as you found it before, but you will notice a few tweaks here and there that help clean up the site.
Most notably, the page header has changed and opened up a little. Along the left side at the very top, you will find application-related links: your school’s home page, the teacher list, and...
What's Your Preference?
Today we rolled out some new preferences for teachers. They are all course-related. That is, these settings exist for an individual course only. You may find them by going to your Control Panel and clicking on “Course Options” next to that course.
Let student see future assignments
This setting controls whether students may or may not see assignments that have a “date...
Hey, I Remember You!
Today’s fun new feature was actually a student request! Before, it was really annoying to log in to essign as a student or a teacher, because you would automatically be logged out as soon as your Web browser closed. Now there is a “Remember me” check box that will keep you logged in for up to thirty days. Of course, you can still log out at any time.
Teachers should be wary when...
Any Questions?
Today we are introducing a feature that we have been wanting to add for a long time. essign used to be a one-way communication tool: teachers post homework, students check homework. This isn’t the way education is supposed to work! To learn is to have a conversation and to share ideas.
That’s why today, students may now ask questions about their assignments. Assignments with this...
The Beta Beat
Teachers might have noticed that there is now a link to this blog in the control panel. It lists the most recent blog post and its date so teachers can be informed of changes as they happen. Do you have a question about a new feature? Check the blog first!
But that’s not all! Because of the block scheduling system at Nauset High School, some of the teachers present the same course material...
The Missing Links
A big advantage of having your homework posted online is that it is easy to access all kinds of related resources, such as bulletins and file attachments. However, we left out a big one, the very foundation of the Web: links. Now teachers can add related links so students can read additional online resources. Students can find these links on the right-hand side of the course pages, right below...
You Clicked the Shiny Green Button, Didn't You?
I know that you did!
Here’s a tip for skimming the blog: important stuff is highlighted.
Links Should Be Underlined
It’s been that way since the Web was born: links were designed to have underlines. It doesn’t matter how fancy the text becomes when you roll your mouse cursor over it; if it isn’t underlined to begin with, you won’t want to click it. That’s why you will find that all links are now appropriately underlined. Click away! You might also notice that the layout of the main...
October 2008
1 post
Small Refinements
With little fanfare, I’d like to present the premiere of the essign Web application development blog.
Now, on to the important stuff.
Bug Fixes
So, apparently the Feedback and Support e-mail forms were themselves throwing error messages. I believe this is the very definition of irony. Whatever the case, it is fixed now.
User-Interface Improvements
Most of the changes made today are...