We hope you’ve been having a terrific fall semester! Here at the Commons, we’re pleased to announce that our 2.6 release is live today, anchored by revamped email designs and re-engineered site creation (more on those below). Though it’s been nearly a year since our 2.5 release, we’ve also been hard at work settling in to our new home at Reclaim Hosting and getting a head start on many 2.7 features to debut in the spring.

Till then, enjoy the holiday season, and hope to see some of you at our December public meeting – scroll down for details!

Email Never Looked Better

As they say, a picture (or two pictures side by side) tells the story, so without further ado:

This release rolls out new designs across nearly 20 of the most frequent emails sent by the Commons for core functions – from registration to account settings to messages to site/group/friend activity.

Not only do these emails now look much better, they are consistent with the updated aesthetic we’ve rolled out across the Commons over the past couple of years. We’ve also made small improvements and simplifications on each one to better present information, emphasize calls to action, and make your overall inbox life easier. Here’s one more example:

Has resetting a password ever been easier on the eyes? We don’t think so!

New Infrastructure for New Sites

Starting today, you’ll notice some subtle interface enhancements when creating a new site (or cloning an existing one).

Under the hood, the progress messaging that appears when you hit the “Create Site” button is tied to a fully rebuilt process for populating site content. These improvements provide greater stability, reliability, and efficiency during the essential Commons function of creating new sites for your projects and communities – all while making sure you can clearly follow along while the process is completed!

See You in December?

After our first Open Community Meeting last December, we’ll be back next month to present our latest updates on the Commons to our users and hear their feedback. Please feel free to register below and join us – while you’re at it, you can also register for May 2026, as we plan to continue holding one public meeting each semester:

• Friday, December 12th, 1-2pm: Register here for Zoom info. 
• Friday, May 8th, 1-2pm: Register here for Zoom info.

Till next time, please don’t hesitate to write our support team if you have any questions or feedback, and thanks for being a part of the Commons!

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