release-2025-08-14-14.58/+0200

Changes

• added possibility to delete online users, #189
• improved usability in editing: show context menu for adding new element with a single tap on touchscreens, #527

Acknowledgements

The features of this release were developed within the research project Inclusion via digital augmentative and alternative communication (InDiKo) at the UAS Technikum Wien, funded by the City of Vienna, Project 38-09

release-2025-07-18-12.42/+0200

Improvement

• cache resources from AsTeRICS-Grid-Boards repo with "stale-while-revalidate" strategy, prevents long loading time when starting app offline

Acknowledgements

The features of this release were developed within the research project Inclusion via digital augmentative and alternative communication (InDiKo) at the UAS Technikum Wien, funded by the City of Vienna, Project 38-09

release-2025-07-18-12.07/+0200

Improvement

• better handling of caching non-cors images in serviceWorker.js

Acknowledgements

The features of this release were developed within the research project Inclusion via digital augmentative and alternative communication (InDiKo) at the UAS Technikum Wien, funded by the City of Vienna, Project 38-09

release-2025-07-18-11.15/+0200

Improvements / Bugfixes

• added possibility to automatically add ARASAAC pictograms at adding multiple elements, #297
• fixed bug of wrong height of global grid if set number of rows is smaller than actual number of rows
• added new keyboard shortcuts in edit mode: Ctrl + I and Ctrl + Shift + I for adding (many) new elements, see docs
• more stable behaviour at updating elements in edit mode - in some cases UI wasn't updated after updates on elements
• usability: auto-focus on image search in tab for editing image of an element
• usability: Ctrl + Enter on label input at editing an element searches for image for that label
• better handling of caching images if no cors headers are available, first try normally, then with no-cors mode

Acknowledgements

The features of this release were developed within the research project Inclusion via digital augmentative and alternative communication (InDiKo) at the UAS Technikum Wien, funded by the City of Vienna, Project 38-09

release-2025-06-26-14.58/+0200

Bugfixes / Improvements

• #541 make code more robust for cases of null values returned as grid, filter out nullish values if decryption fails
• #540 try tu use updateViaCache: 'none' in order to prevent update issues in Safari

Acknowledgements

The features of this release were developed within the research project Inclusion via digital augmentative and alternative communication (InDiKo) at the UAS Technikum Wien, funded by the City of Vienna, Project 38-09

release-2025-06-05-13.29/+0200

New features

• added integration of podcasts, AsTeRICS Grid is now an accessible podcast player, #520, see docs for podcast integration
• added possibility to set custom pronunciations for translations in translate dialog, #509
• added Montessori Color Schemes, #418, see new demo for color schemes
• added possibility to color both border and background of elements using color schemes, #473

Bugfixes / Improvements

• translation dialog: show empty elements at the bottom in order to support copy & paste better, #515
• fix non-working option prevent mouse click on YouTube player in a special case, #536
• fix error on pasting many elements without interaction before, made getOccupiedMatrix() more robust

Celebrate 🥳

While working on the podcast integration, commit 10.000 was made! And on May 24, 2025, AsTeRICS Grid turned 7 years old! The first commit dates back to May 24, 2018. For celebration, there is an easteregg! Maybe you’ll figure out how it works by examining eastereggService.js (hiding easter eggs is tricky in open-source software 😄).

Support us

If AsTeRICS Grid is helpful for you or your organization, please consider to support us. AsTeRICS Grid is and always will be free to use for everyone, but we need to run and maintain servers for thousands of users, which costs money. By donating you help us to cover these costs and keep all services running.

   

Acknowledgements

The features of this release were funded by netidee.

release-2025-05-20-11.34/+0200

Improvements

• fix not finding shortest path in search modal in some cases

Support us

If AsTeRICS Grid is helpful for you or your organization, please consider to support us. AsTeRICS Grid is and always will be free to use for everyone, but we need to run and maintain servers for thousands of users, which costs money. By donating you help us to cover these costs and keep all services running.

   

Acknowledgements

The features of this release were funded by netidee.

release-2025-05-14-08.56/+0200

Improvements

• #294 dynamic load of Matrix libraries only if needed, since Matrix libraries use operators ?? and ?. which cause old devices (iOS 12) to fail at loading the app (even if not using Matrix)
• added some translations for Hungarian (thanks rgabo74) and Portuguese (thanks ruiefe)

Support us

If AsTeRICS Grid is helpful for you or your organization, please consider to support us. AsTeRICS Grid is and always will be free to use for everyone, but we need to run and maintain servers for thousands of users, which costs money. By donating you help us to cover these costs and keep all services running.

   

Acknowledgements

The features of this release were funded by netidee.

release-2025-05-06-11.21/+0200

New features

• added integration of Matrix messenger - use AsTeRICS Grid as an accessible messenger to connect to non-AAC users on their smartphones or to connect with other users of AsTeRICS Grid. See docs for Matrix Messenger integration, see #294
• Added new "Collect element action" Share as image - sharing the current collected sentence as image in order to use it in other apps (or share it with other messengers), see #293
• Added new "Collect element action" Copy image to clipboard - copies the current collected sentence as image to clipboard, see #293

To try the new features, you can use the demo configuration for Matrix messenger.

Other improvements

• fix non-working option "hide cursor" of input method hovering
• improved calculation of paths through grids for search functionality, better performance
• fix non-working speaking collected phrase (separately)
• import word forms: use existing label for "base string" / ID, if no other word form existing
• added arabic app language - thanks to Youssra El Mrini

Support us

If AsTeRICS Grid is helpful for you or your organization, please consider to support us. AsTeRICS Grid is and always will be free to use for everyone, but we need to run and maintain servers for thousands of users, which costs money. By donating you help us to cover these costs and keep all services running.

   

Acknowledgements

The features of this release were funded by netidee.

release-2025-04-08-15.43/+0200

New features

• added possibilities to select and edit multiple elements at once in edit mode, #299, #1
  • select multiple elements with Ctrl + Click or Shift + Click (desktop) or by just tapping them (touchscreen)
  • transfer one or multiple properties to other elements using context menu of selected element -> Transfer properties:
  • see full list of new (and old) keyboard shortcuts in keyboard shortcut docs
• added possibility to set vocabulary level on elements in order to implement progressive language, see #344
• added possibility to specify if a grid is a keyboard or not (or leave automatic decision), see #471

Closing the first issue #1 which I've created more than 6 years ago. At this time I never imagined that AsTeRICS Grid will be used by thousands of people from all over the world. So thanks for using it! 🥳😄

Support us

If AsTeRICS Grid is helpful for you or your organization, please consider to support us. AsTeRICS Grid is and always will be free to use for everyone, but we need to run and maintain servers for thousands of users, which costs money. By donating you help us to cover these costs and keep all services running.

   

Acknowledgements

The features of this release were funded by netidee.