It would be super helpful if I could include hyperlinks in my messages, so I can link to the course and to the Jitsi Meet location!
Also, I just realized that I can’t include attached documents. Duh. And wasn’t thinking and the message that just went out said to see the attached documents for more info on using Jitsi. facepalm
Don’t know if you can include hyperlinks and document attachments to messages, but it might be useful.
Hiya Jordan,
You actually can include links, they just don’t render as such in your preview. (If you just write the URL in the message it will show up as a link when people see it).
We’ve talked about implementing some sort of rich text editing (so that you can, among other things, confirm that the links are styled correctly)…maybe we should prioritize that given the moment. (@Nico_Koenig this is your experience, right?)
For attachments, I think those will always be better:
a) sent via email, or
b) uploaded somewhere (like this community forum or Dropbox or Flickr) and linked to in the message.
It’s a fair amount of work to implement and maintain an attachment sharing tool, and there are already lots of good alternatives.
Good note @Jordan_Draves! When you send messages through Dashboard, there’s no indication that the links will turn up as you wish, which they do in fact (see my reminder messages for the working group as an example of all the links I provide).
I think we’re trying to balance the dashboard being a simple reminder/ FYI/ summary email system vs. a full email package that we’ve come to expect through normal email/Gmail. Especially online learning circles now, there’s a lot more information to share (meeting links, meeting docs, course info), that I assume people want in their reminder messages, so rich text editing would be very useful - or at least for the time being a note to say “links will appear as links once messages are sent”.
My links are in the email, but they aren’t clickable once the email is received though. I can forward it to you so you can see what I got in my inbox once it was sent.
Or, a button to copy everyone’s email at once so I can paste them into my own email system, lol. But it seems rather silly to use my own email, when there is the messaging system with P2PU.
I can understand not wanting it to be a full email system. That makes sense. Though I do think links and maybe even minor bold/italics type stuff might be useful.
I should find an attachment sharing system. That makes a lot of sense!
Hmm! Let’s figure this out! I just sent you an example of what my messages look like from my end. Can you send me what goes to you? I wonder also it it is simply an issue of how your browser or email took reads the emails.
I’ll pass this question onto Dirk once I see what it looks like from your end.
That’s true too, it could just be my email system, though it’s usually pretty good with links as far as I recall. Well, I forwarded my email to you so you can see what it looks like. Maybe you’ll get blue links when you open it. Let’s see!
Any chance of adding a WYSIWYG editor to the Message functionality? This would be extremely helpful in improving communication with learners - thanks for considering!
That’s a great request, thanks Steph!
We’re currently planning out upgrades to the messaging system and looking into adding more formatting options as well as live previews of final messages. We’ll share an update soon!