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Version 5.0.0 - Major New Version Release :sparkles:

This update has been in the works for the last two months. It represents the first solid step on the path of modernizing and updating Crowdpurr for the future! While this release may look like a lot has changed, only 10% of the work is new user features. The other 90% was all under-the-hood updates to the major components of Crowdpurr to continue future-proofing the application for enjoyment for many years to come! The team is very excited to get this one shipped. :partying_face:

NEW FEATURES :star2:

  • :control_knobs: New Experience Dashboard Layout - We’ve been wanting to reorganize the Experience Dashboard layout for a long time. There was much that could be improved on. The new layout includes the following features:

    • Reorganized major controls areas to a wider view that requires zero scrolling to run an experience, view its questions, etc. and overall optimizes screen real-estate much better than before.
    • The Presentation View and Participant View buttons are now located in the navigation bar and now simply say Present and Join. Additionally, the Experience Code, Crowd URL, and Quick Stats have been refined and moved further up in the UI to optimized space.
    • Editing the Experience Code is now done by clicking on the Experience Code and editing it within the pop-up modal.
    • The Experience Logo has been added next to the title of the experience on the Experience Dashboard for better context.
    • The Experience Dashboard has been redesigned when using on a mobile device to allow easier “remote control” of an experience with larger buttons near the top of the screen and other larger and interface items. Because of this, the previous Minimize Dashboard button that displayed on mobile devices when viewing the Experience Dashboard has been removed.
    • The Next Round button is relocated into the Playback Control area.
    • The Start Button now animates slightly to clue new users to where to start on the Experience Dashboard.

  • :artist_palette: Refreshed Fonts and Default Backgrounds - We’ve refreshed the fonts throughout the application on the Experience Dashboard, Presentation View, and Participant View. Additionally, new experiences now default to an updated default theme and background. The updated fonts and backgrounds give Crowdpurr a more modern feel.

  • :clipboard: Question Switching - In a major functionality change, now, the Active Question no longer updates when simply clicking on the question tabs on the Experience Dashboard. The Active Question only updates when using the Active Question arrow buttons, text input, and keyboard shortcuts. This allows the host to review, edit, and read upcoming questions via the tabs on the Experience Dashboard without affecting the Active Question of the game. This is a bit of a breaking workflow change and may take some practice, but the flexibility it allows has long been requested.

  • :speech_balloon: New Chat Widget and Help Center - We launched a brand new Help Center in this update along with an in-app lower-right Chat Widget with full chat with both our team and our AI agent. The new Chat Widget allows us to post messages, updates, and more via the lower-right widget. It also allows users to easily and quickly get instantaneous support. Check out the new Help Center at help.crowdpurr.com.

  • :trophy: Paginated Rankings - A long-time request was to add all the player rankings available on the Experience Dashboard’s Rankings tab, not just the Top 100. We have added pagination buttons that now allow hosts to review, and edit, all player rankings. Including reviewing all individual members of the team rankings.

:hammer_and_wrench: Under- the-Hood Updates

As mentioned above, the user-facing features above represent about 10% of the effort that went into this update. The majority of the work for this update was updating Crowdpurr to all the latest components that it is leverages. These updates includes the following:

  • A major rewrite of thousands of lines of code to conform to the latest version of the application’s JavaScript framework. The version of Node.js underneath the framework was also updated to the latest version.
  • The production database was upgraded from Mongo 6.x to 8.x and fully tested.
  • The user roles system was migrated to a new paradigm that involved rewriting and testing thousands of lines of code.
  • Updated all major open-source packages to their latest versions, fixing bugs, and patching vulnerabilities.

Bug Fixes :lady_beetle:

  • Fixed an issue where experiences in the Experience List can get corrupted and not allow themselves to be removed and also not maintain their order correctly (CPDV-649).
  • Fixed an issue on the Participant View when using Crowd Controlled Mode, if the timer expires on a Type-In Text/Numerical question without an answer, the correct answer would then be shown in the input (CPDV-650).
  • Fixed a bug on the Experience Dashboard Crowd Activity table where after doing a search, the Response Time column would be missing its data (CPDV-651).

We can’t wait to keep the release train running and get more great updates out to you soon. Thanks for being a Crowdpurr user!

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