The Homepage Widget Expansion Pack offers an array of homepage system widgets to provide a more customized learning experience for your homepages.
Important: The Custom Hosted Homepage Widget Expansion Pack will be retired in September 2024/20.24.9. Clients can continue to use the hosted versions of the widget until that date; however, they are no longer supported by D2L. Clients using the custom hosted versions of widgets should upgrade to the new Brightspace System widgets.
Custom hosted widgets that will be replaced with system widgets include:
- Visual Table of Contents Widget
- Welcome Window Widget
- Photo Banner Widget
- Learner Awards Widget
- Slim Announcements Widget
- Single Profile Card Widget
- Content Navigator Widget
Custom hosted widgets that will no longer be supported include:
- K12 Calendar
- K12 Footer
Note: The Multi-Profile Widget is part of the Homepage Widget Expansion Pack and will continue to function normally as a system widget.
If you currently have a Custom Hosted widget available in your Brightspace instance, a new System Widget version of the same widget is added to your instance.
Check if your widgets need to be replaced
If you have the Create/Edit Homepage permission, a warning message is displayed on all Custom Hosted widgets active on the homepage in the following format: “Action Required: Widget Update: Support for this widget is ending. For automated support to replace this widget visit HWEP EOL Support Service.”
Figure: Use the in-widget message service (for example, in the Visual Table of Contents Widget) to navigate to the HWEP EOL Support Service.
Note: A similar warning also appears on the Homepage Management tool page if there are Custom Hosted versions of widgets active in the environment. Click on this warning to navigate to the Custom Widget Automated Replacement Service page.
From the Custom Widget Automated Replacement Service page, you can do the following:
- Check a list of all Custom Hosted widgets and the number of homepages the widget is active on.
- Find the exact locations where each widget is active by clicking on a number in the corresponding row of the Homepages Using Legacy Widgets column.
Figure: Use the Custom Widget Automated Replacement Service page to locate, replace, or remove Custom Hosted widgets.
For more information about how to identify which legacy widgets you are using and plan for the retirement of the Homepage Widget Expansion Pack in your environment, refer to Upgrading from the Hosted Widgets.
Note: Automated replacement functionality will be added at a later date.