Release Notes

This list is updated regularly with information about releases for the Editor, add-on products, RAI, templates, and other relevant information pertaining to the Mono product suite.

 

November 2024

In November, we worked hard to deliver even more performance and UX improvements. We also have an exciting new webinar coming up. Let's dive in!

 

Improved UX for Module editing layers

We have introduced several UX improvements to the Module editing layers:

• The visual design has been streamlined for a more consistent look with a well-structured hierarchy and clearly labeled sections
• Readability has been improved with better contrast
• The Local Design menus have been restructured into distinct sections to help you easily identify which part of the module you’re editing.
• Accessibility has been prioritised by making menus clearer, more user-friendly, and easier to navigate
• Shapes and icons have been updated with softer, curved edges, providing a modern aesthetic.

These changes make it easier to navigate the Module settings, both for Global and Local Design.

 

WebVitals optimization

Mono has implemented website performance improvements, with a special focus on mobile websites. Here are the key enhancements we made in November:

• Dynamic image resizing for row slider modules: We optimized image resizing for row sliders, ensuring better performance and visual consistency.
• Preloading render-blocking links: By preloading critical resources, page rendering speeds up significantly, reducing delays caused by render-blocking elements
• Explicit width & height attributes for image modules and image list modules: Adding defined dimensions prevents Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS), ensuring smoother page layouts and a better visual experience.
• Optimizing LCP and lazy loading with prefetching: High-priority images are preloaded or prefetched to improve Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), especially when using lazy loading, ensuring key visual elements load faster.
• Automatic WebP conversion for backward compatibility: We have implemented WebP conversion to already existing images. As soon as you make a content change to a given page and hit publish, all images on that page will automatically get converted to WebP, regardless of when the images were originally added.

 

Webinar on how to sell Scheduling+

We recently ran a webinar on how to sell Scheduling+. To watch a recording, and access more resources, visit the insights section on the Mono website.

 

Bug fixes and minor improvements

• Mobile number added to Global Data: The mobile number field is now included in global data under Business information and Persons.
• Language selector bug fix: We resolved an issue where the language selector did not initially load the active language. This functionality now works as expected.
• Outlined icons now active: Outlined icons have now been activated and can now be selected as an option along with solid icons, offering more design flexibility.
• Global data text field in accordion modules: There was a missing text field under the global data settings for Accordion modules. The field now appears as intended.
• Map height adjustment: An issue with adjusting the height of the map module when no padding was applied has now been resolved.
• Additional Scheduling+ set-up options: We’ve introduced two new dropdown options when adding a Scheduling+ subscription in RAI:
  • Location/Currency: Set the default location and currency for the Timify app and booking widget.
  • Timezone: Define the default time zone for the booking widget.
• Previously, site data served as the default. This update provides greater flexibility.

Quick Tip: Navigating the new module editing layers
As of November, we have updated the Module editing layers to make them more user-friendly and modern.

One of the first things you may notice is the cleaner, less cluttered layout, with more settings organized under clearly labeled headings. This improvement enhances the hierarchy, making it easier to find and access the tools you need.

In this short article, we cover how this structure works.

 

October 2024

In case you missed it: Mono Scheduling+

A quick reminder that our new appointment booking solution, Mono Scheduling+ (powered by Timify), launched last month!

• You can enable Scheduling+ in RAI by signing an addendum. Once activated, you’ll be able to add subscriptions on a per-site basis. Reach out to Lisbet Ravn to get started.
• We recently held an onboarding webinar for Mono Scheduling+. You can watch the recording here.

Bug fixes and minor improvements

• New icon for pop-up windows: Icons have been updated for expanding windows in the HTML, custom CSS, and accordion modules.
  
  
• New icon for hidden pages: Hidden pages now feature a slashed eye icon instead of an open eye, making it clearer that the page is not visible.

• Lowered scroll speed: The scroll speed in the Editor was previously considered too fast, especially when using a trackpad. To enable more precise work, we have reduced the scroll speed.
  
  
• Sitemap now updates when creating a blog post via API: When creating a blog post via the API, the sitemap was not updating. This issue has now been fixed.
  
  
• Improvements to the Text Module: Placeholder text now displays as "Type text here" and is pre-selected, so you can start typing directly without manually deleting it.
  
  
• Video plays after accepting cookies: Background videos blocked by Cookiebot will now start playing after accepting cookies and refreshing the page.
  
  
• Sharing blog posts without a featured image: When a blog post was published without a featured image, a blank image would show when sharing the post on social media. This issue has been resolved.

 

Quick Tip: How Scheduling+ works for the Fitness, Health and Beauty Industries

Today's quick tip is a longer article showcasing how different types of businesses could use Mono Scheduling+.

This use case guide demonstrates how to set up Scheduling+ for SMBs in the fitness, health, and beauty industries, covering the following examples:

• A dentist using the Classic - 3 Resources Plan
• A hairdresser using the Premium - 5 Resources Plan
• A fitness studio using the Premium - 10 Resources Plan

View all use case guides here.

 

September 2024

We’re excited to announce several important updates this September, including the launch of a highly anticipated new product. Additionally, we’ve enhanced website performance for mobile users. Let’s dive into the details.

 

New Product: Mono Scheduling+

We are very excited to announce the release of our new scheduling solution, Mono Scheduling+!

Powered by Timify, a trusted global supplier of scheduling solutions, Scheduling+ is an online appointment booking tool that allows SMBs, such as opticians, fitness trainers, and hairdressers, to seamlessly accept and manage appointments from their customers.

To enable Scheduling+, please reach out to your Account Manager or contact us on info@monosolutions.com to receive an addendum with pricing information. Once the addendum is signed and we have enabled the product for you, you will be able to add Scheduling+ subscriptions in RAI.

For more information on how to get started, please read the Onboarding guide: How to set up Scheduling+.

Some parts of the setup process must be completed by the end user when a new scheduling+ subscription is created. Here is a white-label guide to share with your clients: How to set up your Scheduling+ account.

 

New AI Assistant in the Text Editor

We are thrilled to announce the successful release of our new AI Assistant functionality in the Text Editor! Text Editor AI Assistant will allow you to create AI-generated content quickly without leaving the Editor. Once enabled on your account (see instructions in guide linked below), you can access it by clicking on the magic wand icon on the far left of the text editor ribbon.

 

The Text Editor AI goes beyond generating text. It let's you:

• Shorten or lengthen text
• Translate between languages
• Change tone or style
• Write custom prompts
• And more!

For a detailed description of the AI Assistant, please read this help guide.

Mobile Websites Performance Improvement

We’ve been working on optimizing the performance of mobile websites and are happy to report an average improvement of about 13% so far! Please keep in mind that Lighthouse scores can vary based on the machine and network conditions used during testing. We’ll continue our efforts throughout the next month to ensure an even better mobile browsing experience. Stay tuned!

 

Paypal update

As of September 23, 2024, the legacy PayPal version was disconnected from Ecommerce+ online stores; PayPal no longer appears at checkout as a payment option. We have directly contacted the partners affected by this change.

For your clients to continue accepting payments with PayPal, please advise them to update their PayPal account or enable an alternative payment provider in their online store.

 

Bug fixes and minor improvements

• Form Submission and Blog Post Issues
  We encountered some problems with form submissions and blog posts. All of these issues have now been resolved.
  
  
• Settings Page Enhancements
  Since launching the new Settings page, we’ve made a few small design improvements for a more polished look—such as updated tooltip icons, new time and date format input fields, and an improved sticky header.
  
  
• Incorrect Map Size After Page Reload
  A bug where the OpenStreetMap in a map module displayed the wrong size after reloading the page with a Cookiebot banner has been fixed.
  
  
• Text Editor Overlapping the Text Module
  Previously, when a text module was located in the first row of the header, the text editor would overlap the module, making it difficult to see or edit the text. This issue has now been fixed.
  
  
• Disabling Mono Google Tag
  We fixed a bug in the editor settings where disabling Google Analytics would turn off both the Mono Google tag and partner tags; now, users can disable only the Mono Google tag while still adding their own Google tag.
  
  
• Consent Link Styling
  The Consent link text in the form module used to inherit styles from other elements (Labels, Checkbox, and Radio labels), and changes to its style did not appear in the editor, only in preview/live mode. This issue is now fixed.
  
  

See you at Siinda?

The Mono team will be attending Siinda Split, and we’re excited, as always, to catch up with you in person and network over great food and insightful keynotes.

You'll find us at the Mono booth, attending keynotes, or participating in other exciting events.

We look forward to seeing you there if you’re attending!

 

Quick Tip: How to apply dimension through parallax and other visual effects

This short guide covers how to add dimension to your website to create a faux 3D effect in Mono Editor. This effect is achieved by enabling specific parameters that make it appear as though the foreground and background content are separated.

The sense of dimension occurs when the foreground shifts while the background either stays still or moves more slowly.

 

August 2024

We have some exciting updates to share with you for the month of August, including UI improvements to the Editor, an invitation to an upcoming event, and an early look at a new product that’s on the way. We believe it’s something you’ll appreciate.

 

New UI: Global Data

The Global Data page has been redesigned with a fresh, modern look and an intuitive interface that not only enhances its visual appeal but also improves functionality. Editing tasks, such as selecting opening hours, are now more user-friendly, making the overall experience smoother and easier.

 

Quick Creator AI Training

Have you yet to try Quick Creator AI? Maybe you are not sure how to set it up?

Not to worry - we had a live training session this Thursday to walk you through each step needed to set up Quick Creator AI on your account.

If you missed the webinar - you can watch the recording here:

 

Coming soon: New scheduling tool!

We're very excited to share that we will be integrating a new scheduling tool into our platform soon! The new solution will be powered by Timify - a trusted supplier of scheduling solutions for SMBs and enterprises.

The tool will allow your SMB customers to accept bookings and appointments on their websites. More information to come soon!

Bug fixes and minor improvements

• New Text Editor Enhancements. The following improvements have been implemented to the Text Editor:
  • The table dropdown menu now appears in the correct position.
  • When a text module contains a large amount of content, it may extend beyond the screen's visible area. Previously, the Text Editor ribbon would remain at the top of the module, making it inaccessible when scrolling. Now, the ribbon stays visible on the screen, even if the top of the text module is out of view.
  • We added a tooltip to the 'Save' button for better clarity.
• Product menu only visible when there are active products: The product menu is now disabled when no product is added.
• Cursor update for the hamburger menu: The cursor now correctly changes to a pointer when hovering over the hamburger menu icon.

 

Quick Tip: How to add AI tags to templates (for Quick Creator AI)
This short guide covers how to set up AI tags for your Quick Creator AI templates.

 

July 2024

As July wraps up, we're thrilled to share some exciting updates with you! This month, we've launched a highly anticipated new product that we know you've been eager to see. Plus, we have some fresh UI updates designed to enhance your experience. Let’s dive in!

 

Quick Creator AI

Quick Creator AI is now broadly released and available to all Mono Partners.

Once enabled on your account (see directions below), you can log into Quick Creator AI here with your RAI credentials.

A huge thank you to all our partners who participated in the beta testing. Your invaluable feedback has been important in shaping the product into what it is toda

How to enable Quick Creator AI:

1. Create an OpenAI account and create an API key following this guide.
2. Load a prepaid amount to your OpenAI account for AI token usage (see more information in guide above).
3. Create a Google My Business (GMB) key following this guide.
4. Submit a support ticket here to request access and provide your keys from the previous steps.

For the flow to work in the best possible way, we recommend spending time on setting up AI templates that fit your verticals and needs. Please review this Getting Started Guide for more information.

Check out more resources under the Quick Creator AI section in Mono’s Help Center.

 

New UI design: Website settings

The website settings page has received a sleek and functional redesign. You can now access all your settings from a single page, with row anchors for smooth and easy navigation between sections.

The Global Data page will receive a similar revamp in the coming months.

Bug fixes and minor improvements

• Ecwid product pages can now be indexed by Google: Some partners experienced issues with Ecwid product pages not being properly indexed by Google. This issue has now been fixed. By clicking a new pop-out ribbon on the Ecwid page, you can update your Ecwid shop sitemap with just one click - an important improvement for the SEO-friendliness of customer web shops.
  

• Missing label for forms causing accessibility issue: There was a missing <label> in the form module with hCaptcha, leading to an accessibility error. Additionally, an old label for reCaptcha was causing an issue. Both of them have now been fixed.

• GTM issue with Cookiebot: There was an issue preventing new tags or actions in Google Tag Manager (GTM) from being viewed on sites using Cookiebot. This issue has now been fixed.

 

Winner Announcement: Best Website Competition 2024

The 2024 Best Website Competition has concluded, and we have a winner: Hundested Rørvig by Krak A/S 🏆🏆

A big thank you to everyone for your submissions! It was a tough the decision to make with so many high quality, professional websites.

Check out the winning website, the top contenders, and more outstanding examples of great websites here.

 

Quick Tip: Adding horizontal dividers to your website or template
In this guide, we cover how you can add and style horizontal dividers to your website or template.

 

June 2024

Let’s take a look at what’s been happening at Mono in June! The new Inline Text Editor is live. We are also very close to releasing Quick Creator AI. More about that below.

 

Inline Text Editor

We are thrilled to announce the successful release of our new Text Editor! It features a more modern and minimalistic look and feel, with improved usability.

The toolbar is no longer fixed at the top but is now conveniently located near the text module you’re working on.

New AI text editor feature coming!

You might also notice a magic wand icon on the far left of the new text editor ribbon, symbolizing an upcoming addition: Text Editor AI - an AI text generator! 

Set to be available in the next several weeks, Text Editor AI will allow you to create AI-generated content quickly without leaving the editor.

The Text Editor AI will go beyond generating text. You'll be able to:

• Shorten or lengthen text
• Translate between languages
• Change tone or style
• Write custom prompts
• And more!

 

Accessibility – help us build the product

Since we released major improvements on accessibility, we're working on a tool to help you build a compliant website. But first, we need your insights.

Join us for a casual interview and share your expectations with us.

📅 Book here.

 

Upcoming release: Quick Creator AI

Quick Creator AI will be broadly released soon. Huge thanks to partners that have been beta testing and providing valuable feedback.

New AI Templates: Quick Creator AI will use AI to generate and place website content, with new AI-optimized templates tailored for any vertical. No need to worry about template compatibility, as the content will adjust to fit your vertical.

Stay tuned for updates!

 

Quick Tip: Did you know this shortcut? Header Global Design Menu
Did you know you can access the global design menu for the Header with just one click? All you need to do is click the magenta Header ribbon and it will open the menu up.

 

May 2024

Let’s take a look at what’s been happening at Mono in May! We’ve been working on some exciting new features in the Editor that we can’t wait to share with you. Some of you may have already gotten a sneak peek at Siinda Berlin. We’ve also made significant improvements to the publish flow and we would love to hear your feedback on accessibility - there is an invite for a chat with a product manager further down in this email. Let’s dive in!

 

Upcoming release: New Text Editor

An improvement to the text editor is coming very soon! When editing a text module, the editing toolbar will appear right above the module instead of at the top of the page. This will provide a smoother and more intuitive experience. This change will take effect in June 2024.

New AI text editor feature coming!

You might also notice a magic wand icon on the far left of the new text editor ribbon. This symbolizes another cool upcoming feature to the text editor: Text Editor AI - an AI text generator! ✨

Set to be available later this year, Text Editor AI will allow you to create AI-generated content quickly without leaving the editor.

The Text Editor AI will go beyond generating text. You'll be able to:

• Shorten or lengthen text
• Translate between languages
• Change tone or style
• Write custom prompts
• And more!

Stay tuned for more information!

 

Faster Publishing: New Improvements to Publish Flow

We're excited to share that publishing times have become even faster! Last year, we made significant improvements to our publishing flow, and we’ve continued to optimize this process. This month, we've managed to reduce publish times even further, making them 75% faster on average. We hope this enhancement improves your experience.

 

Accessibility – help us build the product

Since we released major improvements on accessibility, we're working on a tool to help you build a compliant website. But first, we need your insights.

Join us for a casual interview and share your expectations with us. Sign up for a quick user interview with our product manager!

📅 Limited spots available. Book here.

 

Quick Tip: Link the company name to the homepage
When building websites, it is best practice to link the company name to the homepage. In the Mono Editor, this is simple to set up. In this mini tutorial we go through how you can set up this link and style it. Read more.

 

April 2024

April brings a fresh batch of updates and insights. The Mono Team is also gearing up for the much-anticipated Siinda event in Berlin! We're eager to reconnect face-to-face with many of you. 

 

See you at Siinda for a product sneak peak?  

The Mono Team will be at Siinda Live, eager to connect with you.  Catch us at the Mono booth, at keynote events, or at our hosted Welcome Cocktail on Sunday.

At the conference, we will also be teasing our exciting upcoming product: Quick Creator AI. Make sure to visit the Mono Booth to learn more. And don’t miss CEO Jeppe Rosfeldt’s presentation on Monday 13th at 2.30pm.  

Plus there is a surprise. We are working hard behind the scenes on another AI feature. Curious about what it is? Visit the Mono Booth to get a sneak peak 😉 

 

Update to the EULA

We have made an update to the Mono End User License Agreement (EULA) on 1st May 2024. In the section, exhibit A: third-party services & applicable terms, the domain provider Internetstiftelsen has been added. Read the full EULA here.

 

Ecwid update for US based businesses

Effective April 24, 2024, Meta updated its shop checkout rules for US-based businesses. Now, businesses can only sell directly on Facebook and Instagram by enabling the checkout feature on these platforms, rather than through a website checkout, for instance. This also means that orders placed on Facebook or Instagram will not sync back to your online store and must be managed from Facebook Commerce Manager. Click here to find the detailed instructions provided by Facebook on how you can enable checkout directly on their platforms.

 

Master template creation for performance and efficiency

Our latest blog series focuses on setting up templates in RAI. It's packed with practical and creative best practices to ensure your templates are high-performing and efficient for quick fulfillment. Check it out!

• 6 practical reasons why well-designed templates are essential for building websites at scale. This blog is the first in a series delving into how to proactively address problems that can arise when fulfilling websites at scale. Read more.
• Global Design: Quickly create well-designed website templates. This post covers template creation best practices: Determine the audience, create mock-ups and design effectively with your website builder. Read more.
• Global data: Quickly create content-rich templates. This post covers: The importance and set up of Global Data, and how to apply personalization tags and add short codes to templates. Read more.
• Global Editing: Quickly fulfill websites with sitewide edits. This post covers: Applying Global Data and Design to content elements when designing website templates. Read more.
• Navigating Success: Crafting a well-designed template to guide and convert website visitors. This post covers: The importance of navigation and conversion elements when designing website templates and how to style these. Read more.
• Visual appeal: Quickly create branded web designs and experiences. This post covers: The five essentials of visual branding and how to add them to your SMB clients web designs. Read more.

 

Bug fixes and minor improvements

• Cookies and background videos:
  Background videos previously had issues with cookies, either playing when cookies were not accepted or not playing after accepting all cookies. These issues have been resolved.
• Placeholder for SoMe modules: When cookies are not accepted, there is now a placeholder for Instagram and Facebook modules.
• Auto-hyphenation available upon request: We have made auto-hyphenation in the Editor available upon request. If you would like to activate this functionality, please submit a support ticket with the request.

 

Quick Tip: How to build a basic row slider in five minutes

You can use the preset designs in Mono Editor to incorporate row sliders, but understanding how to construct one from scratch is very valuable. It provides a foundational understanding of how row sliders work and gives you the flexibility to tailor them to your preferences or modify existing presets as needed. Here is how you can set up a simple row slider in less than 5 minutes. Read more.

 

March 2024

Hope you are all doing well as we move closer to warmer days. We are taking a deep breath before Q2 where you can expect a lot of exciting updates from us. This month, we are pleased to give you a bit more information about the next edition of Quick Creator AI, as well as a quick update on sitemap submissions. Let's dive in!

 

Upcoming release: Quick Creator AI

We know - it's not the first time we mention Quick Creator AI and it won't be the last. We are so thrilled about this product and excited to be able to tell you a little more about it.

Quick Creator AI will use Artificial Intelligence (AI) for an even more automated flow, featuring automated AI prompts to help you build a website following best practices. These prompts seamlessly integrate into the workflow, removing the need for salespersons and editors to make up prompts themselves. This not only saves time and effort but also ensures they adhere to best practices for proposal websites.

Quick Creator AI will also feature new AI optimized templates that are smartly designed to work for any vertical. This means you won't have to worry about whether the template 'fits' or not. The content from the flow will tailor the template to your vertical.

We are excited to share more once we put the finishing touches and finalize the extensive user testing of this product. Stay tuned!

 

 

Follow-up: Google sitemap submission

As we announced last month, Google has discontinued the automatic submission feature for sitemaps. As a result, the sitemap submission feature under Products > Integrations in the editor has been changed to sitemap verification, where you have to add a Google Search Console verification tag. You can get the verification tag by completing the set-up process on Google Search Console. Simply copy and paste your verification HTML Meta tag into the designated area in the editor.

For more detailed step-by-step guide, please find this Help Center article.

 

Bug fixes and minor improvements

• New Twitter X Icon Implemented: Going forward, old Twitter icons (normal and square) will be replaced by the new Twitter X icons, even if you have the old icons selected. The old icons will still show in the icon list but if you pick them, they will display as the new icon. We have made this change to help render the icons as new without needing a publish of your site.
• Instagram Module Connection: An issue with the Instagram module connection has been resolved.
• Meta Content Cookie Issues: Previously, Facebook and Instagram content would display before accepting cookies. This issue has been fixed.
• Google Map Rendering with Cookies: Previously, when a page was loaded with cookies not accepted and the user accepted them after the page loaded, the map would render with the incorrect size. This issue has been fixed, and the map now renders correctly after the page is reloaded.

 

Quick Tip: How to add a customer logo via Global Data

In this article we will show you how you can add a logo to a customer website through Global Data. The benefit of using Global Data is that, if your logo is used in multiple places on the website, you still only need to update it in one place. Read more.

 

February 2024

As we settle into the rhythm of the year, we're pleased to share the latest updates from our team. In this edition, we will announce some post-release enhancements to the On-site Engagements UX improvements. We're also excited to offer a sneak peek into what lies ahead!

 

Upcoming release: Quick Creator with AI

We are developing a new version of Mono Quick Creator behind the scenes, integrating AI for an even more automated flow. Quick Creator AI will feature automated AI prompts to help you build a website following best practices, with 32 languages supported on the generated site and 13 languages supported in the flow itself. We are excited to share more once we put the finishing touches and finalize the extensive user testing of this product. Stay tuned!

 

Google sitemap submission has changed

Google has discontinued the automatic submission feature for sitemaps. As a result, the sitemap submission under Products > Integrations in the editor is no longer functional. For Google to continue crawling your website, it's recommended to manually submit your sitemap through Google Search Console. Please follow the step-by-step guide in this Help Center article.

 

On-site engagement post-release improvements

We are glad to hear your very positive feedback on our last month’s release of on-site engagement UX improvements. We have refined the product with the following updates:

• Consistent naming: Under Global Design > On-Site Engagements, ‘Modal’ has now been renamed ‘Central box’ to make sure the naming is consistent across the board.
• Default sticky engagement: When creating a new engagement under the Sticky tab, it is now automatically set as a sticky engagement instead of a pop-up.
• Improved naming logic: The title of a new engagement is automatically given a number depending on how many engagements there are already. If you have 5 on-site engagements, for example, the next engagement you create will automatically be assigned the number 6.
• Sticky engagement display fix: Sticky engagements did not display correctly on the top right. This issue has been resolved.
• Email submission fix: Emails are now sent when submitting a contact form through the engagement.

 

Bug fixes and minor improvements

• Global Design Menu Update: The 'Skip navigation' option in the global design (Accessibility) menu has been renamed to 'Skip to content' for consistency.
• WebP Image Editing Fix: Resolved an issue where webP images encountered problems during editing.
• Cookie Consent Enhancement: Fixed an issue where the cookie consent did not block Google Maps in the map module. A placeholder has been added to facilitate user acceptance of marketing cookies to view the content.

 

Made with Mono: Last Chance: Best Website Competition 2024

It’s your last chance to submit your website for the 2024 Best Website Competition! Submit up to three websites before the deadline by the end of today February 29th for a chance to win an Amazon gift card (€200 Euro) and be named best designer on the Mono platform 2024. Submit your entry.

 

Quick Tip: Reordering sticky engagements

If you have more than one sticky banner that are all placed on the same area of the screen, it's nice to be able to decide which order they appear in. Let's go through how you can easily decide the order of your sticky banners - or sticky engagements as they are called on the Mono Platform. Read more.

 

 

January 2024

Happy New Year! We trust this message finds you well and that you have had a great start to 2024.

We're excited to be back in action and ready to continue this journey with all of you. We have some exciting news to share regarding Font Awesome, along with improvements to the On-site Engagements UX. Let's dive in!

 

Upgrade to the Mono icon library

The icon library has been upgraded to the newest version of Font Awesome. +2,000 new icons have been added, including different styles of arrows, face emojis, and brand icons. New social icons such as TikTok, Twitter X and Meta are also added. The updated icons have a more modern look and feel with state-of-the-art design. 

 

The new icons have a more modern look & feel: Navigation arrows, accordion module arrows, breadcrumb icons, hamburger menu icons, language selector icons, and the scroll icon (go to top) have a slightly new look.

 

The old versions of branded icons have been replaced by the newest version, for example YouTube, Android, Snapchat, and Yahoo.

New versions of Global social media icons:

• Snapchat, TikTok, X Twitter, steam, Tumblr, Facebook messenger, Behance, Medium, Yelp, Discord, and Telegram have been added.
• Android, Apple, Safari, Opera, Firefox, Explorer, Windows, Linux, HTML5, RSS, Chrome, Dropbox, Homepage, and TripAdvisor have been removed as social media icons, but will still be available as regular icons (except TripAdvisor)
• This change have been made to the following areas: Social media links module, Social links in Global Data, and Social links under ‘Persons’ in Global data.

Discontinued icons: Two icons will no longer be supported: TripAdvisor, as their logo is no longer supported by them, and Meanpath, which is no longer in business. 

 

On-site Engagements UX improvements

We have released an exciting update to On-site Engagements, which improves the user experience and makes it even easier to create pop-up banners and sticky engagements for your customers.

The following UX improvements have been implemented: 

New engagement type: Image box: You will have the option to choose the new engagement type Image Box with image and text side by side. (Before, you were only able to choose an image as the background). You will have four different layouts you can choose from. 

• Enhanced preview: You will be able to preview engagements, so you can see how they look when they are published without needing to wait for triggers.
• Separate sticky and pop-up engagements: Sticky and pop-up engagements now appear on separate lists. 
• Re-order sticky engagements by using drag-and-drop: When you rearrange sticky engagements in the table, they will appear in the same order in both the preview and the published site.

 

 

General UX improvements:
We have implemented general UI improvements with better menu spacing and enhanced visibility of editing options.

 

 

Update to our EULA

We have made an update to the Mono End User License Agreement (EULA) on 10th January 2024. In the section, exhibit A: third-party services & applicable terms, the list of cloud providers has been updated. Read the full EULA here.

 

Update to Ecwid’s PayPal Integration

Ecwid recently made a new update available to their PayPal integration. The update allows you to access new payment features and provide an improved checkout experience for your customers. It's free and easy to add.

If you wish to update PayPal, you simply need to navigate to The Editor > Ecommerce+ > Payment > PayPal.

 

Bug fixes and minor improvements

• Dashboard statistics: There was a problem with the dashboard statistics where certain numbers were not displayed in the Visitors column. This has been fixed.
• VCard download: Previously, when downloading a VCard through the Digital Business Card module, the address and fax number did not show. This issue has been resolved.
• Form module response time: In the Form module, if there were more than 70 fields, the response would slow down and the settings became unresponsive. This issue is now corrected.
• Google maps on Map Module: When adding a Google map through the Map module, Cookie consent did not block the map. This has been fixed. Now, there will be a placeholder button that allows users to easily accept marketing cookies to view the map.
• Duplicate section removed: We have removed the Customer Engagement section from Global Design because it was duplicated in the Modules.

 

Made with Mono: Best Website Competition 2024

The Best Website Competition 2024 has launched! Deadline's February 29th. Make sure your 2023 creations are in before then! The rules are simple - all you have to do is submit a website you created on the Mono platform in 2023 using the link below. Our Mono Team will evaluate based on design finesse, conversion rates, the 'wow' factor, and site structure. Remember, it should be from last year, and you can submit up to three sites! We'll shout out the top contenders and the ultimate winner on LinkedIn, plus, there's a prize waiting.

Click here to read more about the competition and submit your entries.

 

Quick Tip: How to add a chatbot to your website with HTML

You can easily add a chatbot to your Mono website using Global HTML. In this quick tip, we test out how to do so with Zoho's chatbot "Zobot". Read more. 

 

December 2023

Welcome to the final product newsletter of 2023. We would first like to extend our warmest wishes for a safe and joyous holiday season. We are eagerly anticipating the year ahead. 🎊 🎆 🎉

While looking forward to 2024, it is important to not overlook the strides we have made in the closing days of 2023. We have been working on some exciting new product developments set to be released in the new year. And today, we are pleased to give you a sneak peek into one of them.

Let’s dive in and take a look at the improvements already made and those on the way!

 

Season's Greetings

From everyone at Mono, we send our heartfelt wishes for a safe and happy holiday season. ❄️

As the Mono Team will take a few days to rest, recharge, and enjoy the season’s festivities; the office will be closed from December 24th-27th. ✨

We are excited for the year ahead, and look forward to fruitful collaborations and exciting developments in 2024. 🎊 🎆 🎉 

Upcoming release
On-site Engagements UX improvements

We will soon release an exciting update to On-site Engagements, which will improve the user experience and make it even easier to create pop-up banners and sticky engagements for your customers. Once the update is released, you will be able to see the following UX improvements:

• You will have the option to choose a layout with an image and text side by side. (Currently, you are only able to choose an image as the background). You will have four different layouts you can choose from.
• You will be able to preview engagements, so you can see how they look when they are published without needing to wait for triggers.
• You will be able to re-order sticky engagements by drag-and-drop, so they stack in the same order as you defined - both in the preview and the published site.
• There will be general UI improvements with better spacing between menus and better visibility of the editing options.

 

Security Headers Reminder

A quick reminder that we will implement security-related HTTP response headers (security headers) in January 2024. Security headers are designed to protect sites against common hacking attempts, such as XSS, code injection and clickjacking, hence increasing site security. Hypothetically, if you ever decide to remove an SSL subscription for some reason after the implementation of security headers, site visitors will not be able to visit the domain again. This is an extremely unlikely situation, however.

 

Update to the Ecwid Integration

Ecwid no longer offers the starter package, so we have removed it from our integration. Read the full Description of the Ecwid Integration here.

 

Bug fixes and minor improvements

• Blocked keyboard navigation: We released the improved keyboard accessibility for the navigation bar last month, however there was an issue with keyboard navigation getting blocked where there are hidden pages. This issue has been fixed.
• Overlapping catalog posts: When a blog catalog module had blog post slides, it showed part of the post that should come after. This issue has been fixed.
• Instagram connection: The issue with the Instagram accounts connection has been fixed.

 

Webinar recording: How to sell websites at scale - Mono Quick Creator

Did you miss our webcast hosted on how to sell websites at scale? During the webinar, we delved into what sales teams need to succeed, how sales teams can improve their processes to sell more websites, and how our new product the Quick Creator can help shorten the sales cycle. 
 
Get access to the recording here: Siinda Webinar: Selling websites at scale: Mono Quick Creator 

Quick Tip: Using different fonts via HTML
Want to use a font that is not currently available in the Editor? You can pull fonts from Google’s font library using Global HTML. Here is a quick guide on how to do so. Read more.

 

November 2023

We are approaching the end of 2023, but this does not mean we are slowing down at Mono. We have a lot of news to share with you this month.

With the release of Quick Creator, it has been fantastic to see such a positive reception - and receive valued feedback from our partners. We recently ran a training on how to configure templates for the Quick Creator, and we are excited to share the recording with you. You can see it under our Quick Tip section at the end of the newsletter!

We also have some updates on Web Vitals, Accessibility and Icons. 

Let's dive into it! 

 

Release: Improved accessibility  
In our continuous efforts to improve accessibility to comply with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1, Mono Solutions has implemented the following updates in the Editor this month: 

• Keyboard accessibility for the navigation bar (SC 2.1.1) 
  Navigating the menu with the keyboard has been significantly improved. Please note that you need to enable aria under Settings > Editor Settings > Accessibility in order to activate the complete functionalities of keyboard navigation.  
• Error message for form fields (SC 4.1.3) 
  When there is invalid information after submitting forms, Mono already provides focus indication and audio indication of the errors. However, if more than one field has an error, the screen reader says: “Field 1 is required and 3 more in a group”, which doesn’t indicate which fields need to be fixed. Therefore, we are now providing role=”alert” that forces the screen reader to read out every error. 
• Improved keyboard focus on image links (SC 2.4.7) 
  All images with a link can now be navigated through the keyboard. The only exceptions are images in the ‘Image list Module’ as these links are not clickable anyway. Image links have a transparent border by default. Therefore, if you wish to have a visible border, you need to enable ‘focus indication’ under “Settings > Accessibility Settings”. After that, navigate to “Global Design > Accessibility design > Focus indication. Define the border style in the overlay. 

Update to our EULA
We have made an update to the Mono End User License Agreement (EULA) on November 2nd, 2023. The American third-party providers (exhibit A) have been updated with ownership details, and DPF state. Additionally, OpenAI have been included in the list. Read the full EULA here. 

 

Important notice about upcoming releases

Upcoming release: Security headers (Web Vitals Improvement) 

We will implement security-related HTTP response headers (security headers) in January 2024. Security headers are designed to protect sites against common hacking attempts, such as XSS, code injection and clickjacking, hence increasing site security. 

Why do security headers matter?

Security headers modify the behaviour of web browsers and make it harder to exploit vulnerabilities. They are directives, meaning that they decide how input should be processed in the browser.

Security headers are currently a legal requirement for governmental entities’ domains, for example, in Denmark, which will be applied to more EU nations in the future. They also help improve SEO scores. 

What are the implications that I should be aware of?

Hypothetically, if you ever decide to remove an SSL subscription for some reason after the implementation of security headers, site visitors will not be able to visit the domain again. This is an extremely unlikely situation, however.

 

Upcoming release: New & updated icons
In January 2024, there will be +2,000 new icons available, and the existing icons will have a more modern look and feel with state-of-the-art design.  

New icons will be added

+2,000 new icons will be added, including different styles of arrows, face emojis, and brand icons. There will also be new social icons such as TikTok, X (formerly Twitter) and Meta.

 

The new icons will have a more modern look & feel  

Navigation arrows, accordion module arrows, breadcrumb icons, hamburger menu icons, language selector icons, and the scroll icon (go to top) will have a slightly new look.

 

The old version of branded icons will be replaced by the newest version, for example YouTube, Android, Snapchat, and Yahoo.

The social media icons will be updated

• Snapchat, TikTok, X Twitter, steam, Tumblr, Facebook messenger, Behance, Medium, Yelp, Discord, and Telegram will be added. 
• Android, Apple, Safari, Opera, Firefox, Explorer, Windows, Linux, HTML5, RSS, Chrome, Dropbox, Homepage, and TripAdvisor will be removed as social media icons, but will still be available as regular icons (except TripAdvisor) 
• This change will be made to the following areas: Social media links module, Social links in Global Data, and Social links under ‘Persons’ in Global data.

Discontinued icons 

Two icons will no longer be supported: TripAdvisor, as their logo is no longer supported by them, and Meanpath, which is no longer in business. 

 

Bug fixes and minor improvements

• Publishing issues have been fixed: Some partners have periodically experienced the following issues related to publishing sites. We have fixed the following issues: 

• • Cookie banners were not showing on some pages 
  • HTML modules were not showing when the site was first published
  • Image size changed when published
  • Images became blurry on published sites 

• Line breaks on bullet points in the preamble text of the Blog Catalog module: Bullet points would have line breaks before reaching the margins. This has been fixed.
• hCatpcha overlapping the blog comments: On blog post pages, hCatpcha would be displayed over the blog comments, interfering with the content. This has been fixed.
• Misaligned buttons: The drag-and-drop and delete buttons under the List and Form modules were misaligned with the text. This has been fixed. 
• Line breaks on mobile viewport: Some fonts in the Text module had an issue with line breaks in the mobile viewport. This has been fixed.
• Top-margin in fixed header: When placing an Image List or Gallery Module in the fixed header, a top-margin of 1080px would be added on top and the content would be pushed down. This has been fixed.
• Statistics not showing on the dashboard: Some sites had an issue with the statistics not showing in the dashboard. This has been fixed.
• Ecwid sitemaps only created in one language: With Ecwid, the products sitemap was only created for one language, which was not necessarily the main language. Now, the sitemap is created for all languages of a site.

 

Quick Tip: How to set up a template for Quick Creator in 5 steps

This month, we are doing something slightly different for the Quick Tip. On Tuesday 21 November, we ran a webinar on configuring templates for Quick Creator. We recorded the session and turned it into a Quick Tip article for you. Learn how you can set up a template from choosing the template, to personalizing it, to enabling it in RAI.

We have also included an extra tip on how you can format global content tags. Read more here. 

 

 

October 2023

With November already here, we are excited to share what the Mono team has been working on this past month.

With the release of Quick Creator, it has been fantastic to see such a positive reception - and receive valued feedback from our partners. The team is already hard at work on incorporating feedback and AI features to make this an even more valuable, productivity-boosting tool for our partners. Stay tuned!

Although the end of the year is fast approaching, we still have some exciting events on the way; including a Quick Creator training webinar in November.

 

Have you heard Quick Creator is available now?

If you have missed hearing about the news of our latest release, Mono Quick Creator, from previous release notes, social media posts, or talking with us at Siinda, we’ll get you up to speed now.

Mono Quick Creator enables you to build proposal websites in minutes. The flow is simple to use, allowing your sales team to create proposal websites for sales pitches with minimal time and effort.

How to get started with Quick Creator:

To enable Quick Creator, simply request access via a support ticket. Remember to provide your Google My Business (GMB) access key in the ticket. Learn how to create the GMB key here. 

More Quick Creator resources:

• How to enable the Quick Creator
• Create GMB access key for Quick Creator
• How to build websites with the Quick Creator
• Creating, editing and tagging templates for the Quick Creator

 

Bug fixes and minor improvements

• Improved UI with tooltip icons: Previously, the positioning of tooltip icons around the editor was misaligned. This has been fixed, so that they are now aligned with the rest of the interface.
• New Accessibility improvement: The main content area between header and footer is now assigned the role=”main”, which will provide programmatic access to the main section of a web page. This is part of our work to improve Accessibility. 'Skip to Content', for example, functions better with this implementation.  

 

Quick Tip: How to create round frames on images in the Editor

If you have seen our pre-designed "Meet Our Team" row, you may have noticed all the profile images are automatically round. Did you know you can make any image round in the Mono Editor? You only need to set the Border Radius to 120 on all sides. Read how here. 

 

Thank you for an incredible conference at Siinda Live Porto!

The Mono Team is back in Copenhagen after an inspiring time at SIINDA Live in Porto. It was fantastic meeting both familiar faces and make new connections. If we didn't get a chance to chat, don't hesitate to reach out. We'd love to connect with you! You can drop us a line at info@monosolutions.com, or click reply to this email. 

September 2023

September brings a fresh batch of updates to make your - and the website end-user’s - experience even better. This month, we are introducing a very exciting new feature that we know many of you have been waiting for.

The Mono Team is also gearing up for the much-anticipated Siinda event in Porto! We're eager to reconnect face-to-face with many of you.

New product: The Quick Creator 

The Mono Team is thrilled to announce the launch of the Quick Creator: an ultra-quick website creation flow (four steps or less!) that your sales team can follow to create a proposal website for prospective clients.  

The Quick Creator is designed to shorten the sales cycle by giving prospects a great first impression without investing a lot of time. By using their business information and a relevant industry template, prospects can quickly see how a provider can help build their digital presence.  

 

The Quick Creator at a glance:

• Quick four-step website creation tool
• Designed for your sales team to create proposal sites within minutes
• Leverages tailored industry-specific templates for a fast and customised result.
• Fetches business information from Google My Business to save you time
• Accessible outside of RAI via a simple login page
• User-friendly for all skill levels.
• Free to use for all Mono Partners 

How to enable the Quick Creator 

To enable the Quick Creator, please create a support ticket here. You will need to provide your Google My Business (GMB) access key to use all the functionalities of the Quick Creator. Learn here how to generate an access key from your Google My Business account.

 

Quick Creator User Guides

For more information about the Quick Creator and how to use it, please refer to the following help articles. 

1. How to build a website using the Quick Creator (includes a video demo) 
2. How to set up templates for the Quick Creator (includes a video demo)

We are so excited about the Quick Creator and hope you are too. We are confident that this will be a great improvement to the way your sales team works, and help you sell more websites. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to your sales representative. Learn more about the Quick Creator here.

 

 

New feature: Placeholder added for video modules when cookies are not accepted  

If a visitor has not consented to marketing cookies, videos added via the Video Module are blocked and will not be displayed. As a result, the layout of the page can be negatively impacted, and visitors may not even realize that they are missing any content. 

To solve this problem, we have implemented a placeholder to preserve the layout of the page and a button for visitors to update their consent settings.

For those of you who add videos through the HTML module, you might encounter the same issue of videos getting blocked and not being displayed. In this case, you can add a placeholder in the same HTML module as your embedded content. Please refer to this article on how to do so.  

 

Improved accessibility

In our continuous efforts to improve accessibility and comply with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1., Mono Solutions has implemented the following updates in the Editor:

• Labels are added to opt-in options in all Form modules (SC 3.3.2) 
• Added the attribute aria-required ="true" to the input fields that are mandatory in all Form modules (SC 3.3.2) 
• Image attachments in blog posts now inherit the alt text that has been defined in the file manager. 
• We have eliminated the CSS: Parse Error for W3C validator  
• The Language selector module now has a role=listitem. Elements with role=list must contain or own an element with role=listitem and must not contain elements with other roles.

We will continuously release further improvements in October as well, so stay tuned!

 

Extended user limitations 

We have improved our user limitations. When a module is disabled for a specific user role, its respective Global design menu will be hidden for the user role in question.

The following menus can now be hidden through user limitations:  

• Product catalog in the Global Design menu.
  Find this menu under Global design -> Modules -> Products and services -> Product catalog 
• Customer engagement in the Global design menu.
  You can find this menu point under Global design -> Customer engagement 
• Customer engagement under Modules in the Global design menu 
  Find this menu under Global design -> Modules -> Customer engagement. 

If you wish to know more about the user limitation, check out this article. 

To define limitations for an Editor user role, navigate to RAI -> Admin -> Defaults & Settings -> then click II Specific Limitations.

If you want to learn more about how you can change user limitations, or create your own, check out this article. 

 

Bug fixes and minor improvements

• The Editor works on Chrome again: There was a brief period where the Editor did not load in the latest released version of Chrome. This has been fixed.
• Image errors on live sites have been fixed: After publishing from the Mono Editor, some partners have experienced their images loading in the wrong size, or becoming blurry, on the live site. Additionally, background images of a row sometimes did not show. These have been fixed.
• Instagram integration issue has been fixed: Some partners have experienced issues connecting with their Instagram accounts in the Instagram Module. This has now been fixed. 
• Non-functional icons removed from the Product Catalog: In the Product Catalog module, the 'Add to Cart' button and 'quantity adjustment' were visible even if they were not functional. They don’t show anymore unless a site has an e-commerce subscription. 
• Mobile viewport navigation bar fixed: The navigation bar did not close in mobile viewport when a page was redirected to another internal page with a row anchor. This has now been fixed.  

 

Quick Tip: A different way to layer content in the editor

While you may be familiar with placing text modules on top of columns with image backgrounds, what if you want your text to extend the text beyond the image's boundaries? In this article, we introduce a solution using the 'container' functionality within the row. This method empowers you to layer a background color, an image, and a text module. Learn how here.

 

August 2023

As we get closer to the final quarter of the year, the Mono Team is busy working on some exciting new improvements - and of course preparing for Siinda, Porto! As always, we can't wait for the chance to see many of you face-to-face.

This month, we released an exciting new web vitals improvement and got some bug fixing done. We have also included a little teaser for a future product that we know many of you are waiting for!

 

Web Vitals: Converting images to WebP on publish

As part of our ongoing effort to provide better web vitals, we have made a major page speed improvement. Images now convert to WebP format automatically on publish.

WebP is an image format which supports lossless compression for images on the web. WebP images are 26% smaller in size compared to PNGs, and 25-34% smaller than comparable JPEG images. Read more about WebP here.

Please note that this will only apply to newly added images. We are working on converting the existing images to WebP, so stay tuned! 

 

More information about the recent Mono Cookie Consent Improvements 

As we announced in last month's release notes, all sites with Mono Cookie Consent have a new banner design and a consent widget.

The widget allows site visitors to see and change their cookie consent preferences with only a few clicks. It is deactivated by default, but can be activated under Website settings > Cookie notification. 

Read more about the consent widget here: Cookie Consent Widget.

 

Coming soon: The Quick Creator

We are working on something very exciting behind the scenes that we cannot wait to show you later this year: The Quick Creator.

With the Quick Creator, your sales team will be able to create a proposal website within minutes for prospective clients – without having to sign into the Reseller Admin Interface (RAI).

If you would like to know more about the Quick Creator once it is released, please get in touch with your sales representative. You can also keep an eye on this Product Newsletter where we will be sure to announce it once it is released. 

 

Bug fixes and minor improvements

• Issue with displaying Vimeo videos has been fixed: Vimeo videos now work both as a video module and as a background video. 
• You can now add cookie consent for multiple sites in RAI: Some partners experienced issues adding Cookie Consent to more than one site in RAI. This has now been fixed.
• Global Data for product page works again: The product page can again be customized on a Global Design level, including its background colour. You can find these settings under Global design --> Modules --> Products and Services --> Product page.
• Misaligned product images: Product images were sometimes misaligned in the product catalogue menu. This has been fixed.
• Issue with arrow navigation and circle pagination fixed: Arrow navigation and circle pagination navigation work again in the Product Catalogue module.
• Custom tracking in MailChimp Module: The custom tracking name can now be added to the MailChimp module again. 

 

Quick Tip: Two ways to add icon hover effect to linked images

In today's quick tip article we take a look at two ways you can add an icon with hover effect on your pictures. Learn how here.

 

 

July 2023

Welcome to our July Product Newsletter.

We hope you are enjoying your summer and staying chilled in the heat. At Mono, this month has been a time of rest and recalibrating, and we are really excited to share the improvements we have been working hard on behind the scenes. Let's get into it!

 

Cookiebot Improvements: New banner design and widget  

As of the 16th of August, all sites with a Cookiebot integration will have a new banner design and access to a consent widget.

• New cookie banner
  The new banner has a more modern design, matching the style of the widget. 

• Consent widget 
  The widget will allow site visitors to see and change their cookie consent preferences on the fly. With the widget, site visitors can retract or change their consent preferences with only a few clicks. The consent widget will be deactivated by default. This can be activated under Website settings > Cookie notification.
• Upcoming Cookie Consent improvements: Partner-specific banner text
  As we are improving our Cookiebot by Usercentrics integration, every partner will soon have the opportunity to have their own banner text, as well as customize the banner design. Partners will also have their own Cookiebot ID that can be used for Google Consent Mode.
  We will share more as soon as it’s ready. Stay tuned!

 

A quick announcement about GA4 

On July 1st, Google Analytics (UA) transitioned to Google Analytics 4 (GA4), which means the data you see on the Mono Editor Dashboard will be fetched from GA4 instead of UA. This should not impact you, and the dashboard will look the same.

In our commitment to provide compliant analytics data, we are actively developing and testing a new analytics solution for the Editor dashboard. We will keep you updated when we have more information about it.

 

Access the Release Notes any time on the help center 

A quick reminder that you can always read or reread the Product Newsletter on the help center. You can find a link called Release Notes in the top right corner.

To the right of the Release notes link, you can also find a link to the System Status page for a status update of the Mono platform. 

You can also simply bookmark the direct links:

• Release notes
• System status

 

Bug fixes and minor improvements

• Special opening hours work again on Open now module: The Open now module works again with special opening hours.
• Cropped content in HTML & Custom CSS input fields: When the content was longer than a certain number of lines in the HTML module and Custom CSS, the content used to appear cropped and only populated when you clicked the input field. This has been fixed. 

 

Quick Tip: How to use shortcodes to display Global Content

You can use Global Content to update information such as Logo and Banner Images. But have you tried adding Global Content such as company mission, company description and other custom text to text modules with short-codes? Learn how here.

 

 

June 2023

New Functionality: External File Library

The External File Library is an exciting new feature that allows partners to use images from external data sources in the Editor. An external data source could be the customer’s own file library, potentially from Google Drive. 

With the External File Library, you will have increased control over your data outside of the Editor and give more freedom on what images are potentially available to fulfilment agents or clients. It will also be an option to use an Author Tag to provide copyright information on the images.  

This functionality requires an API integration. To learn more about how it can be implemented, read the documentation on the External File Library here. 

 

UX Improvements

Improved HTML and CSS workspaces

Our HTML module and Custom CSS now boast a line break feature, giving you a better overview of your code. We have also enhanced your working space with the option to expand the text field into a pop-up, which can be extended vertically.

Additionally, you now have option to create line breaks in the Global HTML Tags under Settings.

 

Improved interface for the Accordion Module 

The title input field for our Accordion module can now be extended vertically, by simply pulling on the corners of the title field. You also have the option to click to open the text field into a pop-up window, making the text field larger and easier to view.  

 

More sorting options added for the Gallery Module

Our Gallery module has received an upgrade and now includes more sorting options. You can now sort the images in your gallery manually, by newest to oldest, oldest to newest, or alphabetically.

The upload date is defined by when images are added to the gallery module itself, not to the file manager.

NOTE: This implementation will not affect the existing images in the gallery module but only the ones that are newly uploaded or added. This option is also not available when the module is using images from global data.  

 

Bug fixes and minor improvements

• Font Railway is available in the font list again.

 

Quick Tip: Create different menu backgrounds for each page

The ‘quick tips category’ is a place for ultra short tutorials. You can change the background of the menu in the row settings, but then the chosen design will apply to all pages. What if you want a different menu background for each page? Learn how here.

 

 

May 2023

New Module: The Dynamic Content Module

While most of our partners create websites for clients without any affiliation, some make websites that co-exist in a larger group. For example, a national football tournament could have a connection to each of the different football clubs participating in the tournament.

The Dynamic Content Module (DCM) allows shared dynamic information across different websites created by the same partner. It will require API work.  

The new module can be used to build your own widgets or branded footers. Partners frequently seek help in updating their logo on thousands of sites – this custom work could be completely abolished. By implementing the Dynamic Content Module, the logo could be changed with one click on all these sites in the future.

Learn more about the Dynamic Content Module and how you can implement it here.

 

Update made to give partners increased user control

You can now define each user's permissions and access on a row, column and module level. This means that you can now define each end user's level of access to specific content elements in the editor.

 

Updated Global Design for the List Module 

The earlier UX improvement of the List Module was only made to Local Design so we reflected the change to Global Design as well. The alignment and margin of the title, text and subtext fields can now be defined in Global Design. 

 

Bug fixes and minor improvements

• The background image of age restriction banners renders optimally: The background image of age restriction banners now covers the entire page, which brings a better look to sites.  

Quick Tip: How to place columns on top of each other

The ‘quick tips category’ is a place for ultra short tutorials. Columns sit next to each other inside a row. But what if you want them to stack on top of each other within the same row? Learn how you can stack columns here.

 

Reflecting on an Incredible SIINDA Experience!

The Mono Team had the privilege of attending SIINDA Live, and we are overflowing with gratitude for the amazing experience and invaluable networking opportunities it provided.

It was wonderful to connect with partners face-to-face again and discuss how we can best help your businesses move forward. For those of you we met there - it was great seeing you again. We trust you enjoyed the event and hope to see you at the next Siinda Live in Porto!

 

 

April 2023

UX improvements: Gallery Masonry Layout 
As an addition to the standard layout in the Gallery Module, we have added the masonry layout as a display option. You can choose the layout style in the edit overlay of the Gallery Module. Navigate to Settings and then Gallery Overview. There, you can choose from the Gallery Style Dropdown menu. Selecting 'Standard' from the gallery dropdown will crop the photos so that all photos have a standard size, whereas the 'Masonry' keeps the original format of the photo.

 

Improved publish flow and engine  
We have made improvements to our publish flow and engine. This means that our publish speed and stability have now significantly improved: the speed of publishing sites has gone up by 30% and the issue of large websites not getting published has been fixed. 

 

YEXT synchronization
A quick reminder that we have refactored our YEXT integration, meaning that we have restructured the code without changing the core functionality of it. YEXT provides a centralized place to keep all of your business info such as name, CVR and number of employees.

The refactoring has been done to avoid issues and bugs in the future and make sure that websites with the integration are always up-to-date with the latest business information from YEXT. For more information, read our article on YEXT synchronization.

 

Bug fixes and minor improvements

• Translation error on file upload button: The file upload button was not showing in the chosen language of the editor. This has now been fixed. 

 

And the winner of the Best Website Competition is...
The year's winner is Tobias Ritter from Heise who designed a beautiful website for their customer Ramme Drehteile GmbH. The site scored highly on all of the competition's metrics, including trust and conversion optimization. 

Visit our Best Website Competition 2023 Showcase to see the winning website, the top contenders, and more great website examples.

 

Quick Tip: View a menu over Module Settings
The ‘quick tips category’ is a place for ultra short tutorials. In this edition we answer the question: How can I view a table of contents over the many settings and options within module overlays? Click here to read the answer. 

 

Mono Release Notes Webinar
Thank you to everyone who joined the New Features Webinar! 🎥 We talked about the recent releases and our 2023 Roadmap and received many interesting questions from you. You can view the webinar recording and Q&A here. What webinar would you like to see next time? We would love to hear your ideas. Feel free to write to info@monosolutions.com and request a topic.

 

See you at Siinda?
Are you attending Siinda in Berlin? Come say hi! We will be hosting the Nightcap Casino Night on May 22^nd at 11pm and look forward to seeing everyone - and of course, feel free to stop by our booth. If you would like to meet up with us, that is also an option - simply click reply to this email and let us know when you would be available.

 

 

March 2023

March seems to have flown by, the days are getting longer and the Mono Team is more productive than ever. Last month, we released our 2023 Roadmap and it is very exciting to be working on projects we know are important to you, our partners. This month we are pleased to be able to give you an update on our new refactored Yext Integration and news about our next webinar!

 

Refactored Yext Integration

Yext provides a centralized place to keep all of your business info (name, CVR, number of employees etc).

We have refactored our Yext integration, meaning that we have restructured the code without changing the core functionality of it. This has been done to avoid issues and bugs in the future and make sure that websites with the integration are always up-to-date with the latest business information from Yext. Read more about Yext here.

 

Next webinar announced

The next Mono Webinar will take place on the 27th of April at 10am CEST and will cover the latest Mono releases. We will also talk to the 2023 Roadmap, and you will of course get the chance to ask questions to us directly.

We will soon be sending out invitations with more information. Sign up here if you would like to be invited.

 

Get status updates from Mono

Get email notifications whenever Mono Solutions creates, updates or resolves an incident. Click here to view the status page or to sign up for notifications. 

 

Best Website Competition 2023 Shortlist

The Best Website Competition Shortlist has dropped! Thank you to everyone for the many awesome submissions we have received. A big shout out to all the amazing contestants this year: it was very difficult to create a shortlist.

In no particular order, the Top Six Best Websites are as follows:

🔹 boliginnrederne.no by Silje Johansen from Gule Sider
🔹 malerei-goetzenberger.at by Sebastian Horatschek from Herold
🔹 selbuspinneri.no by Ragnhild Lysø from Idium 1881 AS
🔹 heilraum-steffi.de by Laura Genheimer from krick.com
🔹 kalter-rae.de by Nadine Burkard from krick.com
🔹 ramme-drehteile.de by Tobias Ritter from Heise

We are so excited to be announcing the winner after Easter. Stay tuned 🙌

 

Quick tip of the month

The ‘quick tips category’ is a place for short and specific tutorials designed to answer your questions step-by-step. In this edition we answer the question: How can I edit fonts for different viewports? Click here to read the answer. 

 

Did you see?

We recently wrote a blog post about ChatGPT and whether you can use AI to generate content for your websites. We thought it might be of interest to you. Read it here.

 

 

February 2023

As February rolls around, the Mono Team continues full steam ahead on our journey to realise our 2023 Roadmap. In this edition of the Product newsletter, we will talk more about said Roadmap, update you on our plans for the coming months, and show you a selection of new templates we have released.

 

Mono's 2023 Roadmap

We are excited to announce the new Mono Roadmap for 2023. Our new direction is partner-centric with the following priorities front and center: 

• Protect the value created by and alongside our partners 
• Grow our partner base 
• Listen to our partners to provide them with more value 

The main priorities in our 2023 Roadmap are GDPR, the ability to generate faster automated websites, and web vitals to ensure we continue to give partners the best website builder. View the roadmap below and view details on improvements here. 

 

New Templates

We have added a few more templates to our pool of templates, which are primarily focused on freelancing verticals (but are adjustable):

• 1336045, Kindergarten
• 1336044, Copywriter
• 1335754, Clairvoyant & healer
• 1288903, Illustrator
• 1288886, Coming Soon - Product
• 1288874, Coming Soon - Service 
• 1288863, Coming Soon - Agency
• 1286970, Project Manager
• 1286356, Digital Marketing
• 1281491, Digital Agency
• 1286663, Consultant

 

Minor improvements and bug fixes

• Image upload issues: We’ve experienced image upload issues connected to the file manager. This has been fixed. 

 

Best Website Competition 2023 closed for entries

The 2023 Best Website Competition is now closed for entries. Thank you to everyone for the many awesome submissions we have received. The Mono judges will be looking at each one to shortlist the top contenders, as well as find a winner. Stay tuned to see who will win the title as Best Designer using the Mono Platform in 2023.

 

Sign up for upcoming webinars

We hosted a live webinar training this January where we talked about the fundamentals of the editor. Watch or re-watch the recording here. Sign up here to be notified about future webinars.

 

Quick tip of the month

The ‘quick tips category’ is a place for short and specific tutorials designed to answer your questions step-by-step. In this edition we answer the question: How can I download a report of all my active subscriptions in RAI? Click here to read the answer. 

 

 

January 2023

One month into 2023, we hope you have started out the year on a good note. At Mono, we have found that the year so far has been productive. We recently said hello to a few new colleagues – more about that later – and have exciting updates to share with you on Cookiebot and UX improvements.

 

Compliance: More customisation possibilities with Cookiebot banners

We have recently made an agreement with Cookiebot that will allow for a new set-up, where more customisation will be possible on a per-partner basis. Our engineering team will shortly start working on the development required for this solution, and we will share detailed updates and communication very soon. 

If you would like to be kept up to date with Cookiebot's own news, check our the Cookiebot newsletter here.

 

UX improvements: Publish notification

When publishing a site, a banner appears notifying users that publishing is done. This banner has been replaced with a toast (a small banner) which is less intrusive. 

 

UX improvements: List module

The List Module has gone through some usability improvements. The input fields can now be extended to visualise longer texts, and it is now possible to insert a line jump inside a list. In addition, the title, text and subtext fields can now be aligned on the left, right, and center. 

 

Minor improvements and bug fixes

• Shopping bag module had issues loading: The Ecommerce+ shopping bag module would change size on loading. This has been fixed. 

• The labels on the Download module and Link module didn’t show: The labels of these two modules didn’t appear, but this has now been fixed. 

• Bosnian language and region added: You can now choose Bosnian language and region in the Editor’s settings. 

• Unable to change between views when publishing: During the publishing process, users were not able to change between desktop, mobile and table view of their pages in the Editor. This has now been fixed.  

• Anchor link would jump to the wrong row: The anchor link was linking to a different row than the one it was supposed to. This has been fixed.  

• Ecwid search bar was not displayed correctly in the Editor: While there were no issues on the live sites, the Ecwid search bar and cart were not displayed in the Editor (Ecwid is the provider that powersMono Ecommerce+). This has now been fixed. 

• Page settings didn’t show the correct URL for pages: On subpages, the URL displayed under page settings was not correct, as the subpage was missing in the path. This has now been fixed.

 

The Best Website Competition has launched

The 2023 Best Website Competition has launched. Sign up for a chance to be named the best designer using the Mono platform, and a chance to win an Amazon gift card worth 200 Euro. The submission deadline for entries to the 2023 competition is February 28th. Enter the competition.

 

Our first ever Partner Training!

We are also thrilled to announce that we hosted our first ever Partner Training this January!

The theme was ‘Editor Basics’ and the program comprised of all the fundamentals needed to work on the Mono Editor, with a special focus on shortcuts and hacks.

We touched on how you can use Global Design in the most efficient way, as well as how rows, columns and modules work. To watch or re-watch the session, find the recording here. 

Another Mono Training is also in the cards. If you would like to be kept in the loop, sign up here to be notified about future trainings. We will make sure to send you the details when we know more.

 

Quick tip of the month

The ‘quick tips category’– a place for short and highly specific tutorials which will answer your questions step-by-step - has been revived on the Mono Academy.

Make sure to check out the Product Newsletter going forward, as we will share each month’s new mini tutorial with you. In the first article, we answer the question: Can you equalise columns on mobile viewport? Click here to read the answer.

 

 

November 2022

As the days become shorter and darker (at least up here in Northern Europe) more people find themselves staying inside, spending more time on their devices, and perhaps causing more traffic online. Site performance is always important but maybe now more than ever. We are excited to share with you the last big releases on our Web Vitals project.

 

Web vitals: Under the hood

We’ve been working on a few improvements that take place under the hood, invisible to users but nonetheless essential. One in particular brings quite a lot of excitement to the Mono team as it is the early steps of a complete overhaul of our image compression system.

In our efforts to improve page load speed, we’ve revisited and completely rewritten one of Mono Solutions' oldest technologies: the service that prepares configuration files ahead of image compression when publishing a website.

The new rewritten technology is more stable meaning you can expect a smoother website creation experience. With this change, the publishing experience in the editor has been updated to not block you from further work while the publishing is going on. Even more importantly, it brings us very close to fully supporting WebP conversion of files uploaded through the File Manager. 

 

SEO improvements

This month, we have released several new updates to improve search engine optimization:

Firstly, we have added additional business categories according to schema markup. These include the generic category “Local Business” as a fallback option if nothing else has been specified, and the category “Archive Organization”. 

We have also added “Price Range” within the schema markup. This is used by businesses to show how much their services cost in search results.

Ecwid Updates

Mono Ecommerce+ is powered by Ecwid, one of the leading e-commerce providers worldwide. They regularly provide updates on their solution. If you would like to be kept up to date, please read Ecwid's 2022 updates here.

Cookiebot updates

Mono Cookie Consent is powered by Cookiebot, the industry leading cookie consent management platform on the market. They regularly write about news on GDPR and data privacy. If you would like to be kept up to date, please consider reading their latest blog posts here.

 

Minor improvements and bug fixes

• Site would scroll to the form if spam protection was enabled: In some instances, when hCaptcha was enabled on a form, it would cause a site to scroll down to the form on page load. This has been fixed.
• Improvements to the scroll bar: The scrollbar no longer appears if the website is short enough for scrolling to be unnecessary. Additionally, the scroll bar in text modules sometimes stopped working. This has been fixed.
• Issues on customer pages: A bug in Mono Customers caused difficulties with viewing the whole list of customers. This happened because it wasn't possible to navigate between pages in the customer list. This has now been fixed.
• Top row settings not accessible when header is hidden: When hiding the header, the settings button of the top row also became partially hidden. This has now been fixed, so that the settings button is fully accessible.
• Ecwid catalog not always visible on homepage: In some cases, when visiting a page with an Ecwid Catalog, the catalog was not displayed or fully loaded. This has been fixed.
• False email link on site preview: There was a false email link in the link and download module on the site preview. This has now been fixed.

 

Quick Creator Beta

We are looking for Beta Testers for a feature that we are currently working on: the Quick Creator. When used to create a website, the Quick Creator takes you through a series of easy steps that make the process simpler and quicker. This means that you can set up the websites entering only the most basic information (such as information on your business, choosing a font and basis colour, etc), while leaving the bulk of the content to later stages. This is useful if you prefer to divide your workflows between design and content, for example. If you wish to become a Beta Tester for this feature, please write info@monosolutions.com and we will be happy to set it up for you.

 

2023 pipeline: Replacing Google Analytics with a GDPR-compliant data system

Google Analytics is currently used by Mono to collect and show data about site visitors on the Editor. However, in July 2023, Google will sunset the current version of Google Analytics (Universal Analytics) and replace it with G4 Analytics. 

Due to GDPR issues related with Google Analytics, Mono has decided not to implement the new version as it is not our belief that G4 Analytics would be complying with GDPR. Instead, we will be creating our own self-hosted analytics structure to collect and display the same data. 

The new system won't in any way collect PII information, and won't use unique IPs. Mono will be self-hosting, governing, and controlling the system and the data in it.Read more about our thoughts on replacing Google Analytics here.

 

 

October 2022

October has flown by, and we are excited to share with you what we have been working on this past month. Web vitals is still an area of focus for us, and we are currently working on an important step to improve site load speed by changing image formats to WebP. We also attended Siinda Live in Florence where we got the chance to see many of you face-to-face.

 

Web vitals: Changing the image format to WebP on publish (in progress)

We are currently working on converting images to WebP format automatically on publish, which on average would result in a 90% reduction in file size. WebP is a modern image format to support lossless compression for images on the web to make your sites faster without losing out on quality. WebP images are 26% smaller in size compared to PNGs, and 25-34% smaller than comparable JPEG images. Read more about WebP here.

This is the last big topic on our page speed improvements initiatives. However, we will be looking into other areas of web vitals in the future, such as SEO-related measures and improving security headers for increased website security.

 

Ecwid Updates

Mono Ecommerce+ is powered by Ecwid, one of the leading e-commerce providers worldwide. They regularly provide updates on their solution. If you would like to be kept up to date, please read Ecwid's 2022 updates here.

 

Minor improvements and bug fixes

• PDF not opening in new tab: It was not possible to open a PDF in the image list module in a new tab. This has been fixed.

• Navigation submenu not fully visible on smaller screens: The navigation submenu was not fully visible on smaller screen sizes. This has now been fixed by expanding submenus into the visible area.

• Dark font applied to the hCaptcha badge: From now on, “Dark body text” styling will be applied to the hCaptcha badge, to make sure it’s visible against the badge’s white background.
• Issue with registering .dk domains: The issues with registering .dk domains have been fixed.
• Alt-text changing when picture is edited: When editing a picture with alt-text added, for example by cropping it, you previously lost that alt-text on the new picture variant. This has now been adjusted so that the alt-text remains consistent.
• Row anchor not working: Issues with row anchors not working have been fixed.
• Alignment issues for text in the link and download modules: We have adjusted the alignment for text in the link and download modules, which reach the second line.
• Edit option for PDF files removed: The option to open PDF files in the image editor has been removed as it’s not possible to edit PDFs anyway and leads to the Editor freezing.
• Column settings are hidden behind content on tablet: The menu options would be cut off when opening a column's Edit settings on tablet view. This has been fixed.
• Global colour on shadows: Global colour did not apply to shadows. This has now been fixed.

Company news: Siinda Live Florence

Mono attended the Siinda conference in Florence this October. It was wonderful to connect with partners face-to-face again and discuss how we can best help your businesses move forward. For those of you we met there - it was great seeing you again. We trust you enjoyed the event and hope to see you at the next Siinda Live in Berlin!

 

September 2022

Web vitals: Reducing legacy JS on modern browsers

We have reduced the amount of JavaScript that we serve to site visitors, supplying polyfills only to older browsers. A polyfill is a piece of code (usually JavaScript on the Web) used to provide modern functionality on older browsers that do not natively support it. We also removed some Internet Explorer specific JavaScript that will not have to be loaded by browsers, as IE has been discontinued by Microsoft. These changes should improve lighthouse scores as well as page load times slightly and are steps towards improved web vitals.

Web vitals will continue to be an ongoing focus of ours. We will keep you up to date with improvements as we go along. We already have the next improvements in the pipeline which we are excited to share with you next time.

 

Ecwid Updates

Mono Ecommerce+ is powered by Ecwid, one of the leading e-commerce providers worldwide. They regularly provide updates on their solution. If you would like to be kept up to date, please read Ecwid's 2022 updates here.

 

Minor improvements and bug fixes

• Editor freezing: When custom font names included special characters, such as quotation marks, it led to an Editor freeze. This has been fixed.

• Row button not selectable for overlapping elements: In certain cases, the row button was not selectable due to columns being the same size. This has been fixed.

• Product filter did not work with Product Catalog: With the transition of Mono Ecommerce to the Product Catalog, the product filter in the Product Catalog didn’t work. This has now been fixed.

• Shrinking headers for individual viewports: Shrinking headers could not be set for individual viewports. This issue has been fixed.

• Blog RSS issue for multi-language sites: The RSS feed for multi-language posts was not working properly. This has now been fixed.

• Unwanted modules being added to page: In some cases, the 'duplication of language' functionality under pages lead to random modules being added to the page. This issue has been fixed.

• Vimeo embed issue: Video embed wasn’t working because of an update Vimeo made to their embedding requirements. This has been fixed.

 

 

 

July and August 2022

 

Website load speed - deferring JS

We are excited to share that we have added deferred JS along with deferred CSS for improved website performance. Now we don’t only defer CSS but also Javascript files to improve page speed. You can enable this option under Settings - Website settings - Website load speed.

You can delay the loading of styles (CSS) and Javascript files for certain elements on your website in order to speed up the initial load. This applies to the style sheets and Javascript files for the Gallery module, Instagram feed module, the Product Catalog module, and the Shop filter module.

With deferred loading enabled, these elements’ styles and Javascript files won’t load until the visitor is scrolling down and about to view them. The deferred loading technique may sometimes result in elements performing a small “jump” if the style sheets and Javascript files don’t finish loading before the visitor views them.

 

Lazy load & prefetching now on per default

Lazy loading images and prefetching of internal pages will be enabled per default for all new sites. This will be beneficial for web performance while not disrupting user experience while loading. We recommend enabling the other web performance improvement options as well: enabling minimisation of render blocking requests and, as stated above, deferring unused CSS and JS.

We have chosen not to enable those per default as they can lead to jumping content, which might not be wanted over increased website performance.

You can read more about page load speed settings here.

 

Enabling load speed options makes a difference

Below you can see how the new page load speed options impact a site. We ran Chrome’s built in Lighthouse report with the default settings, both with and without the load speed optimisation options enabled.

 

No options enabled

All options enabled

Web vitals will continue to be an ongoing focus of ours. We will keep you up to date with improvements as we go along. We already have the next improvements in the pipeline which we are excited to share with you next time.

 

Google Fonts proxy reminder

This April, we released a Google Fonts proxy to enhance GDPR compliance for European sites. The proxy prevents the visitor’s IP address from being transmitted to the US.

To activate the Google Fonts proxy on your site, please make sure you have re-published your site since April 2022. If you haven't, simply do so now. Once you re-publish your site, it will automatically start using the Google Fonts proxy.

 

Ecwid Updates

Mono Ecommerce+ is powered by Ecwid, one of the leading e-commerce providers worldwide. They regularly provide updates on their solution. If you would like to be kept up to date, please read Ecwid's 2022 updates here.

 

Minor improvements and bug fixes

• Row slider issue: We fixed an issue where the row slider settings would not be applied when accessed through the menu.
• New Google Fonts added: We have added the following Google Fonts to the editor: Manrope, Sora, Inter, Barlow, Heebo, Red Hat Display, Space Grotesk, Literata, Urbanist, Faustina, Sarabun, Yantramanav and Gemunu Libre.
• Formatting of special characters: Fonts in editor were not formatting special characters correctly. This has been fixed.
• Column resizer: We have made the column resizer accessible. It was not possible to drag the column resizer when there was very little spacing. This has been fixed.
• Open PDF in new tab: The option to open a PDF file in a new tab did not work properly in some cases. This has been fixed.
• Site API: The site API is seeing some performance gains being added as we work towards a more durable solution.
• Shrinking header options for different viewports: Shrinking header can now be set individually for viewports.
• hCaptcha not found: hCaptcha function was not found in some cases. This has been fixed.
• Option to close Gallery with 'ESC': It is now possible to close the Gallery with the 'ESC' button.
• Arranging products in the Catalog module: In some cases, it was not possible to arrange products in the Catalog module as desired. This has been fixed.
• Misalignment of the cursor: An issue with misaligned cursors when dragging elements has been fixed.
• Console throwing errors: We fixed cluttering of the console throwing benign errors.
• Overlapping of settings overlay: Columns and modules of the same size would make the settings overlay overlap. This has been fixed. We are currently also working on the row button which will be released these days.
• Importing customers via Excel: There has been some issues with importing customers via Excel. This has been fixed.
• Scrolling issue when editing a text module: It was sometimes not possible to scroll in the editor when editing a text module. This has been fixed.
• Editing select options: We fixed an issue with editing select options.

 

June 2022

Launching the Product Catalog

We rolled out the Product Catalog on the 28th of June. It is now available to everyone and will be replacing our native Mono Ecommerce. Learn more about how the transition is taking place here.

The purpose of the Product Catalog is solely to offer a freely available tool to display your products. If you need a full e-commerce solution with cart, payment and shipping, you will need to switch to Mono E-commerce+ (powered by Ecwid). Mono E-commerce+ is the only ecommerce solution we will offer going forward.

Ecwid is one of the leading ecommerce providers with a focus on SMBs and advanced features to meet all your web shop needs. Reach out to us if you would like to make the switch.

 

Answering your questions about GDPR

GDPR continues to be one of our most important focus points and a topic we get many questions on. We are excited to share with you the answers to some of the most frequently asked questions that we receive. Read them here.

 

Continual improvements to web vitals

Web vitals is one of Mono's core areas of focus. Our built-in features in the Mono Editor and Mono templates ensure a great starting off point, however we are committed to continual improvements. We look forward to sharing what we have worked on in future updates - stay tuned.

 

Minor improvements and bug fixes

• hCaptcha release fixes: In some cases, the submit button had to be clicked after completing the challenge - this is now adjusted so that the input is submitted once the CAPTCHA challenge is completed. Some display issues related to the positioning and styling of the hCaptcha widget have also been fixed.
• Name server infrastructure update: We have made improvements to our name server infrastructure by configuring our NS3 on a new host, which will greatly improve the domain registration process.
• Resizing columns: Forms were previously collecting data without having data collection enabled. This has been fixed.
• Additional information for CSV exports in RAI: We have added more information when exporting CSV in RAI for you to use: publish date, total page count, and subpages.
• Cookie bot banner fix: We have fixed an issue that caused age restriction to block Cookiebot banners from rendering.
• Image wrapping for text or button modules: We have fixed an issue with the image wrapping in the editor for multiple text or button modules.
• Required fields in forms: Some form fields were labelled as 'required' even though they hadn't been set as such in the editor. This issue has been fixed.
• Improvements to the scroll bar: We completed some follow-up fixes and improvements to the newly introduced scroll bar.

 

Company news

We have reached that time of year where many of our partners and members of the Mono team are enjoying a well-deserved holiday during these summer months.

Our colleagues from Portugal joined us at the beginning of the month for our annual summer party which was a wonderful opportunity to catch up and celebrate everything we have achieved.

 

May 2022

Launching of new Product Catalog

As we mentioned in an update from mid-May, we previously offered two e-commerce solutions - our own native e-commerce solution and the integration with Ecwid known as Mono Ecommerce+; and that going forward, we are solely offering Mono Ecommerce+ for new e-commerce subscriptions.

To coincide with this change, we are also launching the Product Catalog, which will serve as a free and easy way for SMEs to display their products - without the possibility of purchasing items. The Product Catalog will be available in the Mono Editor from June 21st. Additional information will be provided closer to the release.

 

Ongoing improvements to web vitals

We know that web vitals, especially page speed performance, is of great importance to our partners (as it is to us!) - that is why we have built-in features in the Mono Editor and Mono templates to help SMEs with a great starting off point. However, we know continual improvements can always be made - and this month marks the start of our renewed focus on web vitals. Stay tuned for updates about web vital improvements in the coming weeks.

 

Switching to hCaptcha

We would like to remind you that we will switch from Google’s reCAPTCHA to hCaptcha on 31 May. As opposed to Google’s reCAPTCHA, hCaptcha complies with GDPR and data is typically processed locally within your country.
Keep in mind that it may take a few days for the cache to clear to reflect the change.

Besides the addition of hCaptcha, we would also like to inform you that we have made further updates to our third-party-services to reflect an up-to-date overview of services we use (removal of AppCues and Heap). You can find this on our third-party services & applicable terms.

 

Minor improvements and bug fixes

• Contact form issues fixed: We fixed the issue of the first dropdown option, which was not always selectable.
• Resizing columns: Resizing columns is now possible for when columns and modules have the same or nearly the same size.
• Scheduling button for mobile fixed: We have fixed a bug in Mono Scheduling. The “Create new appointment” button for mobile now works as intended.
• Gallery module fix: The gallery module was not using the proper module styles when the Instagram feed module was on the page - this has been fixed.
• Video & row module cookiebot fix: We added Cookiebot to video loading which initially caused a bug of not displaying the video frame in the proper style.

 

Company news

The Siinda Conference, Mallorca, 2022: Siinda was the premiere event the Mono team attended in May. It was wonderful to talk with our partners, listen to interesting speakers, attend great events, meet new friends, and discuss new ways to help move small businesses forward.

The event also provided a great venue to hear the needs of our partners and to get valuable feedback on how Mono can serve them. Want to share your feedback with us as well? This will be the last chance to participate and it only takes a couple of minutes. Fill out the partner survey here.

The Mono Team: In the beginning of June, the Danish team was met with new faces in the office, as our colleagues from Portugal joined us in Copenhagen for the week. They also joined our company summer party.

We have also been busy these last few months finding new, great additions to the Mono team, two of which will be starting June 1st - Lisbet Laursen as Sales Manager and Ankido Borissov as Financial Controller. This follows the additions of Ravi Desai as Senior Developer in May and Mette Nielsen as Marketing Coordinator in late April. Another marketing staff update includes Julianna Carlson-van Kleef, Content Creator & Master Trainer, who will be on maternity leave from June 1st.

 

April 2022

Switch from Google reCAPTCHA to hCaptcha

As we mentioned in our roadmap for 2022, we have been working towards switching out Google ReCAPTCHA as part of our continued focus on GDPR compliance. We are happy to inform you that we are replacing the Google reCAPTCHA feature with a new provider called hCaptcha. hCaptcha is widely used across the world and will help our compliance efforts by protecting user privacy, while at the same time serving as powerful bot protection. Learn more about hCaptcha here.
We will make the switch Tuesday, May 31st. We will send out a reminder email with additional information about this upcoming change closer to this date.

 

Migration of V3 sites to II planned throughout this year

Mono wants to provide you and your customers with the most up-to-date Mono Editor available for quick fulfillment, easy updates, and a better user experience. Our current version (II) of the Mono Editor is not only the most robust version, it also provides much more functionality - such as increased editing options, increased GDPR-compliance and optimized page speed, and the addition of other Mono Products.

We want to direct all our development efforts towards maintaining and improving version II going forward and have therefore decided to say goodbye to all V3 sites throughout this year.

If you haven’t already been contacted about the migration of any existing V3 sites, you will be soon. In the meantime, we have compiled a variety of resources to assist you, including a case study with Schlütersche detailing how the company went about upgrading customer sites from V3 to II,  an introductory video to Mono Editor (II), an article explaining the main differences between V3 and II, a feature comparison of the V3 and II editors, and more.

Find more information here.

 

Improved monitoring for increased stability

As part of our 2022 roadmap, we mentioned that we also planned to focus on the internal infrastructure of our platform. We have taken measures to further increase the robustness of our platform and be more proactive in fixing issues before customers are affected by investing in an improved monitoring system of our platform. This has now been fully implemented, and we will continuously adapt and improve the new monitoring over the next couple of months as we keep a close eye on the stability of the Mono platform.

 

Bug fixes & minor improvements

• Scroll bar for the Editor: We have added a scroll bar to our Editor which will enable users who don’t have the scroll functionality on their mouse to scroll, as well as facilitating the Editor use on tablet devices.
• Weekly RAI notifications are sent again: Notifications about Mono subscriptions that will expire are being sent again automatically every Monday at 3:00 am.

 

 

March 2022

New grid and hover interactions

On March 7th, we released an update to the Mono Editor, where users can now experience a cleaner grid, a quick menu, improvements to the drag and drop experience, and simpler hover interactions. This new interface allows for more intuitive interactions with modules, columns, and rows
Read more about the changes here.

Although we tested the updates thoroughly prior to release, there were still some initial bugs. In the time since the release, we have worked to fix those; including: 

• Supporting overlapping elements: when modules, columns and/or rows have the same, or close to the same size, it was previously not possible to view the menus of their parent elements. This has now been fixed by making them all available when they overlap.

• Minor display issues (menu and button visibility and alignment, border issues)
• Making the header button and second slider menu reachable

 

Google Fonts proxy

• Last month, one of our main focuses for the month was creating a Google Fonts proxy to prevent the visitor’s IP address from being transmitted to the US. From the 1st of April, 2022, Mono Solutions will release the Google Fonts proxy to all partners to enhance GDPR compliance for European sites. To use this new proxy, simply re-publish your site. Your site will automatically start using the new Google Fonts proxy.
  More information including FAQ can be found here.

 

New e-commerce solution

• We are discontinuing our native and homegrown e-commerce solution and replacing it with Mono Ecommerce+. This solution is powered by Ecwid - one of the leading ecommerce providers worldwide - and integrates shop management into the Mono Editor.
  

  To ensure a seamless transition for you and your customers, Mono Solutions is offering to migrate all e-commerce products to the new solution, free of charge. If you haven’t already received information about this migration, please reach out and we will find a way forward.

 

Bug fixes and minor improvements

• Improvements in the indexing of store pages: We have made additional improvements to the Ecwid integration to further improve proper indexing, which are encoding of URLs to index pages properly even if URL parameter get added that would otherwise be invalid, as well as not indexing of non-store pages (such as Ecwid sign in page).

• Form modules: We have worked on improvements to form options to make sure form information is being saved: if users have not selected one way to store form data (email inserted locally or via global data or saving through customers), they will see a warning message. This way, we can avoid form data being lost.

 

 

February 2022

Google Fonts proxy

• As GDPR compliance is one of our main focuses this year, we have started off the year with creating a Google Fonts proxy, preventing the visitor’s IP address from being transmitted to the US. While Google Fonts do not set cookies, they do record a visitor's IP address for analytical purposes and this data is sent to the US, which is considered a third country. This makes our use of Google Fonts fully GDPR compliant.

  The solution will be released gradually to ensure a safe and seamless transition.

 

Ecommerce migration 

• The migration from our homegrown e-commerce solution to a new product called Mono Ecommerce+ which is powered by Ecwid - one of the leading e-commerce providers worldwide - is well underway. If you haven’t already received information about this, you will, in the coming few weeks.

 

Bug fixes and minor improvements

• Included option to open external link in new tab for on-site engagements.

• Make the domain registry process in Sweden GDPR compliant. Since the 12th of January ".se" and ".nu" domains are only allowed to have one contact associated. The code had to be adapted to make this feature detached from other registry processes. This prevents sending admin, billing and tech contacts during a domain update or registering.

• Fix for anchor links ensuring that the page scrolls to the correct destination.

• In the “Link and download” module in the editor, a site owner can add elements on top and below the list. This fix made sure that elements are in fact added to the top when that option is selected.

• The sender address for the weekly RAI notification has been changed to avoid being flagged as phishing in the recipients’ inbox.

 

 

January 2022

• Ecwid integration improvements: To avoid indexing issues due to duplicate content and to improve SEO, we have made an improvement to our Mono Ecommerce+ integration. Each store page (both category and product pages) across all existing live sites using Ecwid are now indexed as individual pages through canonical links. Additionally, we've made some fixes to the sitemap to properly display Ecwid pages.

 

 

 

 

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2021

August, 2021

 

 

 

July, 2021

 

 

 

June, 2021

 

 

April, 2021

 

February, 2021

 

 

January, 2021

 

 

 

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2020

 

December, 2020

• New user limitation: Option to lock down editing of header and footer for logged-in customers
  
  

• Editor/Blog: Scroll to top icon added to blog post pages
• Editor: Instagram feed module now shows first image from multi-image posts
• Editor: German translations updated
• Editor: Dashboard quick access section doesn't show on mobile
• Editor: Fixed header issues resolved
• E-commerce: Filter module issue resolved
• E-commerce: Paytrail issue resolved
• Scheduling: Time zone display issues on appointments list resolved

November, 2020

• Support for .pt domains (requires addendum to contract)

• Editor: UTF-8 character bug in HTML module resolved
• Editor: All translations updated
• Editor: Fixed translations on One-Click Sites
• Editor: 301 redirects interface improvements
• Editor: Font search feature strengthened
• Email Marketing: Implemented warning field when no recipients with marketing permission are in the selected audience
• Customers: Updates to "Create new customer" overlay

 

October, 2020

 

September, 2020

 

August, 2020

Important update to default user roles

Please note that Mono has renamed the generic diy user role to simple_editing_mode as we’re reserving the diy user role for our white-label Mono DIY offering that you’ll hear much more about in the near future.

The simple_editing_mode role configuration is exactly the same as for the role now formerly known as diy. Nothing has changed.

If you don’t specify a user role when creating a new website, the simple_editing_mode role is automatically applied to it.

Do I need to take any action?
You only need to act if you have already been contacted by Mono. If you haven’t heard from us, you don’t need to lift a finger.

More information
All the Mono generic user roles are listed here.

 

July, 2020

May, 2020

Weeks 15 & 16, 2020

March, 2020

Week 14, 2020

Week 13, 2020

Weeks 11 & 12, 2020

Week 10, 2020

 

 

February, 2020 

Weeks 8 and 9, 2020

 

 

Week 7, 2020

 

Week 6, 2020

 

January, 2020

Week 5, 2020

 

Week 4, 2020

 

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2019 

 

December, 2019

Week 51, 2019

 

Weeks 49 & 50, 2019

 

 

November, 2019

Week 48, 2019

Editor, Sites & E-commerce

 

Weeks 46-47, 2019

Editor, Sites & E-commerce

 

Week 45, 2019

Editor, Sites & E-commerce

 

 

October, 2019

Week 44, 2019

Weeks 42 & 43, 2019

Week 41, 2019

Week 40, 2019

Week 39, 2019

Weeks 37 & 38, 2019

Week 36, 2019

Week 27, 2019

June, 2019

Week 26, 2019

Week 25, 2019

Week 22, 23, 24 2019

Week 21, 2019

Editor, Sites & E-commerce

Week 20, 2019

Week 19, 2019

April, 2019

Week 16, 17, 18 2019

 

Week 15, 2019

 

Week 14, 2019

March, 2019

Week 13, 2019

Week 12, 2019

Week 11, 2019

Week 10, 2019

Week 7, 8, 9, 2019

 

 

January, 2019

 Week 4, 2019

Week 3, 2019

Week 2, 2019