Replacement for Slim Announcements
Is there a replacement or something similar to the slim announcement widget? We are looking for an announcement widget that doesn't take up the whole course home page when an instructor posts a long announcement, but rather prompts the student to "read more" so the learner see the rest of the widget on the homepage without needing to scroll too much.
I submitted a ticket about this issue to D2L and they had the following suggestions. Has anyone created a custom widget to meet this need? Or aware of another 3rd party widget or another in the expansion pack? I have not been able to locate any alternatives in my digging.
1. Custom HTML Widget:
You can create a custom HTML widget that displays the first few lines of each announcement, along with a “Read More” link. This link can either expand the announcement within the widget or redirect students to the full message in the Announcements tool.
2. Third-Party Widgets:
Consider exploring third-party widgets or plugins that offer similar functionality. Some external tools can integrate with Brightspace to provide enhanced announcement features, which might help achieve the desired effect.
3. Homepage Widget Expansion Pack:
While the Slim Announcements widget is being retired, there could be new or updated widgets in the Homepage Widget Expansion Pack that provide similar capabilities. I’d be happy to help you explore those options if needed.
Thanks for any help!
Answers
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Hi @Erin.T.35 ,
Thanks for reaching out to the Brightspace Community.
Slim Announcements Widget in the custom widget format was retired, but the widget itself was transitioned to a system widget for better support. There are even new improvements that have recently been made to the Slim Announcements widget. For information regarding the transition of the custom widget to a system widget, please refer to the documentation: and if you require information about what widgets are available, I recommend contacting your account team.
We hope this helps and please reach out if you have further questions.
Regards,
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It should be noted, after a back and forth with our CSA, widgets in the Expansion pack are $2,000 each. This doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. Is there something that must occur - development, support, etc - to add them to an existing environment? Was this not an included announcement widget type previously?
