The Govintra theme is a complete rewrite of the Govintranet theme. We started again, consolidating 13 years of add-ons, extensions and improvements to the theme into a more organised and streamlined set of code.
We have taken the opportunity to decouple from many plugins that the system relied on for functionality, including the staff profiles, breadcrumbs, likes, avatars and pagination. The theme no longer uses the Bootstrap framework, and we have adopted many elements from the GOV.UK alphagov design system and patterns.
This new release also crosses off some outstanding items from our client wish list, including spy-scroll on long pages and better support for image galleries.
We stay with the Classic Editor and Classic Widgets approach for now; there is no special support for the block editor.
Enhanced customisations
New options are introduced to the customiser giving you more control over the look and feel of your intranet. Options have been organised more intuitively for branding, header and footer.
Customisable header background image
The header background is not a new feature, but there are more options now to control size and placement of background images, and slider controls to increase opacity of the primary navigation menu options against the background image.
Customisable footer background image
New in the theme is the option to add background images to the footer area, with the same controls as the header for sizing and positioning.
Customisable logo, site title and tagline
Improved controls are in place for the logo, site title and tagline in the header area. Elements can be resized and switched on and off.
Simplified colour options
Customisable colour is available for the primary brand colour, buttons, badges, links, and, new in the theme, for Font Awesome duotone icon colours
Font Awesome
As we move away from the Bootstrap framework using Glyphicons, we adopt Font Awesome across the Govintra templates. This gives you access to nearly 65,000 icons! We support solid, regular and thin fonts, the brand set, and duotone alternatives. The new icons are used extensively throughout the new templates and widgets, and they look particularly good on the new Wonderwall template.
Timezone improvements
We have standardised treatment of dates and times across the system, ensuring that past issues with Summer Time clock changes are eliminated. All date and time references use the WordPress admin timezone setting.
New templates
Comms hub template
Designed as a main landing page for news, blog posts and news updates. This new template consolidates the numerous news/blog/news updates template combinations that were available in Govintranet.
News listing template
Designed as a main landing page for news. This new template is designed to be a child of the Comms hub, and consolidates the numerous news templates into one.
News updates listing template
Designed as a main landing page for news updates. This new template is designed to be a child of the Comms hub.
Blog listing template
Designed as a main landing page for blog posts. This new template is designed to be a child of the Comms hub, and replaces the existing blog posts template.
Team listing template
This new template outlines the teams structure, with expandable items, to give a clear layout of how the teams and sub-teams are organised.
Staff profiles
Profile pages have been redesigned to give clearer contact details, improved scrolling, an improved mini organisation chart and an integrated Wonderwall panel.
Staff directory
The directory template has been redesigned to give in-page loading of A to Z listings.
Long page template
A new template, available on pages and tasks, adds the scrollspy feature, automatically building a table of contents from HTML heading codes in the content. This guidance page is an example of a long page template.
Pages with left-hand navigation
The automated left-hand navigation menu has been restyled and works contextually, with dropdown menus for sub-pages.
How do I? template
A new template consolidates the numerous variants of the How do I? template into one. Options for layout are now within one template.
Wonderwall
We include a new template for the Wonderwall main page and the form page. The form page no longer relies on GravityForms.
New modules
Wonderwall
The Wonderwall module is now fully integrated into the theme, with hooks in to the staff profile and team templates.
Ultraverts
A new way of advertising and highlighting promotional material.
The ultraverts module allows admins to create promotional elements on the intranet, including toasts, banners, tickers and interstitial messages, targeted to appear at specific times, to triggers on events such as the number of page views a user has clocked up, or even targeted at posts with a specific tag.
A new Broadcast Planner dashboard widget gives you an overview of adverts that are currently live.
New features
Enhanced search
The search interface has been redesigned, with better integration with Relevanssi Premium for “Did you mean?” and suggestions. Auto-complete is available on the main search box in the header, and includes avatars for staff profile results.
Shortcode inserter
A new option in the TinyMCE editor allows publishers to insert shortcodes into content without having to remember names and parameters.
Dark mode
The Govintra theme has been redesigned to be compatible with dark mode settings, picking up your browser/system preferences. A new toggle in the footer allows a choice of light, dark or auto modes.
Image galleries
Core WordPress image galleries inserted into content now have better support using ‘PhotoSwipe’, a lightweight light-box framework. Images can be expanded into a modal window with full support for mobile touch and swipe.
Support for GravityForms Orbital framework
Govintra works with the Orbital framework and provides additional styling for dark mode compatibility.