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Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Accountability for what?
Part of what I was trying to demonstrate in my guest post on the Core Knowledge blog, which was inspired by this post by Robert Pondiscio, is that the accountability structures (which frankly, Pondiscio says are needed--UPDATE: See Robert's clarification below--and which Porter-Magee's colleagues at Fordham advocate vigorously for) are driving what is taught and how it is taught. If accountability structures are based on high-stakes math and reading tests, then that's what's going to be taught. This is actually quite a traditional concept in education, that you look at the assessment (what you want students to know and to be able to do) and you work backwards from it. So if reading and math skills are what we want educators and schools to be accountable for on a yearly basis, that's what they're going to teach. Research papers? Not so much. Complex, whole-class novels? Not so much. Science experiments, civics debates, the arts, and foreign languages? Not so much. Supporting experienced, knowledgeable teachers (evil LIFO!) with institutional memory and knowledge of their content and content-related essential skills who are more likely to be skeptical of and to resist edu-fads such as 21st century silliness? Not. So. Much.
Some might counter: Well, that's why we need better and more tests. Okay, that's a start, in a way. That's what we have in Virginia: science and social studies standardized tests, as well as art SOLs. But let's see what the students are actually learning about science and social studies; let's see what they graduate high school with. As Chris Dovi shows us here (and as my guest blogger will show) it ain't pretty. The way to educate ourselves out of this high-stakes testing hole is not by giving more questionable high-stakes tests.
Some might counter, well, that's what the Common Core is for. Okay, that, too, is a start. But who's to say the content of the Common Core is rich and meaningful or that it makes for developmentally appropriate instruction and content? Andrew Porter disagrees on the first count and at least many elementary school teachers I've heard from disagree on the second count. (And we're not even freaking piloting the CC first!!!)
Unfortunately, the cart has been put before the horse and is getting further and further away, gaining momentum as it rolls down the hill. And guess what? It's empty. And all of those who cheered it along need to own that.
14 comments:
Absolutely right, Rachel. They need to "own that empty cart," but I am worried that many good teachers and students with differing abilities will be run over in its path.ReplyDelete
- AnonymousAugust 10, 2011 at 2:53 PM
People who learn to read, write and understand math, science and so on will, as a matter of course, be able to pass tests that ask questions that they have the knowledge to handle. If one learns algebra, rather than just learning algebraic manipulation, one should be able to pass a test that asks you to do some algebraic manipulation. The same goes for reading and writing and everything else. One need not teach to the test to enable students to pass the test.ReplyDelete
That being said, the idea of 100% proficiency given the entire population is pure silliness. No matter how you scale your bell curve, the only place to enable 100% of the people to pass is to put the line at essentially 0.
Adequate yearly progress should be applied to students, not schools. Of course, if students at a school or in a class are making no progress, one should be willing to take a careful look at what is going on and make adjustments.
People seem to think education is about teaching content. It is not. It is the student who does the learning of the content and in order to learn, generally, has to decide that the content with which they are presented is something that should be learned. Last I knew, there was no funnel sticking out of a student's head where you could just pour content and have it acquired for life.
Teachers need to motivate and provide access to ideas, wonder and content. Students need to do the learning for themselves.
Hi Rachel,ReplyDelete
Whether or not accountability measures are "needed" they are certainly inevitable. In a publicly financed system of education, the public will (rightly) demand to know if their money is well spent. Thus it makes sense to me to argue in favor of effective and valid measures, not the validity of accountability at large.
@Robert: What you say makes sense and I'm glad you offered the clarification--I should have asked you first.ReplyDelete
Though I rather loathe the term, especially in the context of education, I agree that we need "accountability." I also agree that accountability measures should be "valid," but even more, they should be appropriate to and correspond with the goals of the education any given school, subject, or even teacher is to provide, and also according to the specifics of what should be required of any particular teaching job.
The accountability measures as they are now are just so crude.
- AnonymousAugust 12, 2011 at 9:45 AM
You can't have accountability if you don't know your goal. You can make a long list of specifics (the National Core), or you can take Potter Stewart's approach to pornography and apply it to an educated person. I prefer the latter.ReplyDelete
That the public should be satisfied by a test score perhaps shows that our conception of an educated person truly has fallen. See "When a Diploma Is Not Enough" (http://www.richmondmagazine.com/?articleID=b6be37e393514b0143892f3821a585ce)
@abellia - Thanks for the thoughtful comments. You're right that student engagement and participation is key. And I agree heartily that accountability without goals is a fool's errand. I would add that the goals should be meaningful as well. I link to "When A Diploma Is Not Enough" all of the time including in the post above (see where I mention the journalist Chris Dovi)--I'm glad to see you find it a valuable piece of journalism as well.ReplyDelete
I attended a 2-day Common Core training sponsored by the NC Dept of Ed. In the English Language Arts (ELA) workshop, we were told that one of the GREAT things about the common core was that we no longer should teach entire novels. Snippets and targeted short passages from novels were all we needed to teach ELA concepts. There was an audible, collective gasp from the people in the room. But I was the only one who raised my hand and questioned this pronouncement. And the trainers continued to tout the wonders of using shorter texts.ReplyDelete
This is only one example of the Common Core sucking the enjoyment out of reading. How will students engage with short passages?
We were also told that now that we have Common Core writing standards, we can throw writing programs out the window because the writing standards are so specific. No more Lucy Calkins. No more writers' workshop. WHAT? Again, I protested and was shot down.
I realize that i haven't even addressed the accountability issues because we have no assessments that match the Common Core. We have no money for textbooks and yet the Common Core trainers told us that we need to start looking at textbooks that support the Common Core. Surely new assessments and mandatory textbook upgrades are in our very near future.
The trainers did say that the Common Core assessments would involve much more than bubbling. Even at the lowest levels (K-2) the assessments will be "short or long" answer - essay-style. Can you even imagine a 5-year old ESL student taking a test like this? Can you imagine the time involved in this type of standardized testing? I am not by any means saying that we should eliminate all testing. i assess my kids every day - often the assessments are observation and notes. And yes, those assessments are NOT standardized. But they drive my instruction and the support student learning.
@Anne - Thanks so much for your comment. It's really, really important for people to know what happens on the ground with these education reforms.ReplyDelete
- AnonymousAugust 13, 2011 at 12:50 PM
@Anne - how I wish you could have been at the training for the teachers at Thomas Jefferson school in Forest City, where they will start the year reading The Wind in the Willows - that's the beauty of the materials published by The Core Knowledge Foundation - we put the common sense back into education!ReplyDelete
The reform movement is not about a logical approach towards and shared vision of what a sound primary and secondary education should be. If it were, there would be a pilot phase of the CC standards and the tests and testing systems being developed. No one, even those pushing these upon schools and students, can honestly say it's the right way to do it, even if you do favor more testing as the way to go. That means that the goal is really something other than the best thing for schools and students.ReplyDelete
We are at a pivotal time in history in the United States. Our involvement globally is growing and becoming more contentious. This is a dangerous condition, but serves to secure influence and control, and make huge profits for a small segment of the population (here and around the world). Domestically we have seen debate over our economic conditions turn toward social programs that we supposedly can no longer sustain, and middle class workers with "lavish salaries and benefits". Educated critical thinkers can see (and point out to others) that while a huge number of motivated and patriotic americans wait eager to work and earn a living wage, a tiny number of people have soaked up and hoarded the capital that once circulated in the economy to create these jobs.
These unbelievably wealthy few have great influence over policy. Their PR justifies this in a number of ways (calling them "earners", "job creators", trying to make it sound as if they work harder and are more motivated),and questions about the inequity and unfairness in the system prompt return accusations of socialism or worse.
Again, educated, logical and critical thinkers could see and even point out the unfairness and dishonesty that has come to control recent debate and "reforms". Guess what institution has a history of creating educated critical thinkers who can best seek out truth for themselves, then use their knowledge to drive democracy? Guess who is behind trying to change, control ("reform")this process? The process may be called reform, but controll and supression could be an underlying motive.
I have not been to an official Common Core training, but have been studying the new standards for a while. There's been a swing to short text for a while. There are good reasons for it - anchoring/modeling thinking strategies, identifying word choice, language use, organization. I think we have overused the novel - at least in my region. But to advocate the complete removal is too far on the extreme. I wonder why in our field we have to keep swinging the pendulum back and forth. And the getting rid of programs? My best hope is that that are saying that to boost our professionalism. Use the research, like Caulkins, but we shouldn't have to buy premade materials. I get that. But it sounds like your trainers spent some time drinking the new kool-aid and just weren't using their own best judgement. Sad.ReplyDelete
After teaching for 25 years and watching pendulums of educational thought and practice swing in all different directions, my advice is to teach reading well with all the experience and knowledge you have--we all know that good readers generally test well in all areas. Short text works well for illustrating a skill, concept, or strategy while longer texts build understanding of story elements, story development, writing skill, stamina, fluency and most of all the love of story.ReplyDelete
Also, cull the essential points/concepts/skills (ones that will benefit children throughout life) from the standards and teach those well. We want an educated populous that thinks critically, acts creatively, communicates effectively and collaborates for greater good. After 25 years, there are some skills, concepts and knowledge that have remained essential and the effective teaching of reading with many tools and strategies is one of them.
Do we need "accountability" or do we need ways to measure development, learning, and growth?ReplyDelete
Accountability implies the need to blame someone if/when something goes wrong.
Measuring development, learning, and growth allows us to support people to do all of these things more effectively.
Accountability is a small-minded way of looking at what actually happens when people learn. If we can't get the semantics right about what we want to achieve with our measurements, we'll never get the actual measurements right.
And to be clear: I am not advocating for no testing, and no measurement - we need to be able to define why certain approaches are more effective than others, and the circumstances under which one approach is more effective. But this is more than simple accountability.
Accountability is a blunt instrument. Making our educational systems better deserves something more sophisticated, with a bit more sheen.
@Bill, Why were you not looking over my shoulder as I wrote this post? You make a terrific point. The term "accountability" itself is inherently narrow & limiting.ReplyDelete


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The fuss over Survival International's "uncontacted tribes" (see my earlier piece) hasn't ceased — the Huffington Post and others continue to spread the original news largely uncritically. (William at the excellent Integral Options Cafe shared that news, but has now kindly amended his post in response to my own comment regarding it.) Now Greg Downey […]
Posts Tagged 'Fourth World'
Not 'uncontacted,' just 'free'
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Amazon, Decolonization, Fourth World, indigenous, uncontacted tribes on February 9, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
First contact (again & again)
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Amazon, anthropology, Decolonization, ethnography, Fourth World, indigenous, photography, uncontacted tribes on February 5, 2011 | 3 Comments »
Thanks to the "Jungles" segment of BBC's Human Planet series, Survival International's photos of an "uncontacted tribe" in the Amazon are making the rounds once again — see Environmental Graffiti's "Images of the Last Uncontacted Tribe on Earth", Ron Burnett's "Never Before Seen Footage of an Amazonian Tribe," and MSNBC's PhotoBlog. The rhetoric here — […]

subset: commoncrawl


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Book details
Dreamer of Dune
The Biography of Frank Herbert
Author: Brian Herbert
Dreamer of Dune
About This Book
Book Details
Everyone knows Frank Herbert's Dune.
This amazing and complex epic, combining politics, religion, human evolution, and ecology, has captured the imagination of generations of readers. One of the most popular science fiction novels ever written, it has become a worldwide phenomenon, winning awards, selling millions of copies around the world. In the prophetic year of 1984, Dune was made into a motion picture directed by David Lynch, and it has recently been produced as a three-part miniseries on the Sci-Fi Channel. Though he is best remembered for Dune, Frank Herbert was the author of more than twenty books at the time of his tragic death in 1986, including such classic novels as The Green Brain, The Santaroga Barrier, The White Plague and Dosadi Experiment.
Brian Herbert, Frank Herbert's eldest son, tells the provocative story of his father's extraordinary life in this honest and loving chronicle. He has also brought to light all the events in Herbert's life that would find their way into speculative fiction's greatest epic.
From his early years in Tacoma, Washington, and his education at the University of Washington, Seattle, and in the Navy, through the years of trying his hand as a TV cameraman, radio commentator, reporter, and editor of several West Coast newspaper, to the difficult years of poverty while struggling to become a published writer, Herbert worked long and hard before finding success after the publication of Dune in 1965. Brian Herbert writes about these years with a truthful intensity that brings every facet of his father's brilliant, and sometimes troubled, genius to full light.
Insightful and provocative, containing family photos never published anywhere, this absorbing biography offers Brian Herbert' unique personal perspective on one of the most enigmatic and creative talents of our time.
Dreamer of Dune is a 2004 Hugo Award Nominee for Best Related Work.
Imprint Publisher
Tor Books


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CHICAGO (AP) ? Hours after Encyclopaedia Britannica Inc. announced it will stop publishing print editions of its flagship encyclopedia for the first time in more than 200 years, someone among the editing minions of free online rival Wikipedia made an irony-free note of that fact.
"It was announced that after 244 years, the Encyclopaedia Britannica is going out of print, instead focusing on its online encyclopedia," the entry read.
The book-form of Encyclopaedia Britannica has been in print since it was first published in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1768. It will stop being available when the current stock runs out, the company said. The Chicago-based company will continue to offer digital versions.
Officials said the end of the printed, 32-volume set has been foreseen for some time.
"This has nothing to do with Wikipedia or Google," Encyclopaedia Britannica Inc. President Jorge Cauz said. "This has to do with the fact that now Britannica sells its digital products to a large number of people."
The top year for the printed encyclopedia was 1990, when 120,000 sets were sold, Cauz said. That number fell to 40,000 just six years later in 1996, he said. The company started exploring digital publishing in the 1970s. The first CD-ROM edition was published in 1989 and a version went online in 1994.
The final hardcover encyclopedia set is available for sale at Britannica's website for $1,395.
"The sales of printed encyclopedias have been negligible for several years," Cauz said. "We knew this was going to come."
The company plans to mark the end of the print version by making the contents of its website available free for one week, starting Tuesday.
Online versions of the encyclopedia now serve more than 100 million people around the world and are available on mobile devices, the company said. The encyclopedia has become increasingly social as well, Cauz said, because users can send comments to editors.
"A printed encyclopedia is obsolete the minute that you print it," Cauz said. "Whereas our online edition is updated continuously."
Lynne Kobayashi of the Language, Literature & History section of the Hawaii State Library notes some people will always prefer using print sources, but that readers are becoming attuned to online searching because of a proliferation of electronic publishing.
"There are many advantages to online searching, chief among them the ability to search within the text," Kobayashi said. "The major disadvantage is the need for a computer or devices with access to the Internet."
Kobayashi said her decision to use traditional or online resources depends on the question she wants answered.
"Sometimes subject knowledge and familiarity with standard resources may get faster results than keying in a search and sifting through results," she said. "If the search is broader, searching across several online sources may yield more options."
Britannica has thousands of experts' contributors from around the world, including Nobel laureates and world leaders such as former President Bill Clinton and Archbishop Desmond Tutu. It also has a staff of more than 100 editors.
"To me, the most important message is that the printed edition was not what made Britannica," Cauz said. "The most important thing about Britannica is that Britannica is relevant and vibrant because it brings scholarly knowledge to an editorial process to as many knowledge seekers as possible."
Kobayashi said as information professionals, librarians see an important part of their role as directing patrons to trustworthy information sources.
"While Wikipedia has become ubiquitous, the Britannica remains a consistently more reliable source," she said.
Online: http://www.britannica.com


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Alaska Fish & Wildlife News
May 2011
Bear-Proofing Cabins
Prevents Bear Break-ins
Gayle Nienhueser and his family have owned a cabin off the road system near Trapper Creek for 30 years. Bears would sometimes make their presence known by rubbing against a cabin corner or chewing on something like a snowmachine seat. But in all the time they have had the property, bears never broke into the main cabin or caused significant damage, Nienhueser said.
Then, between last August and early winter, bears broke in to the main cabin twice. Both times they left behind such a mess it took days to clean the muck from the floor and haul out debris. The second break-in was the most destructive, Nienhueser said.
"The bear ripped the door off the refrigerator, broke the rocking chair into pieces, tore up the couch, ripped cabinets off walls, tore up the counters and moved the antique cook stove six feet," he said, "To get in, it ripped shutters off the door of the cabin. It tore the plywood right in two."
The Nienhuesers were not alone last summer. In and around Petersville and Trapper Creek, Nienhueser estimates bears broke into at least 35 cabins. Neighbors began comparing notes and taking steps to fortify cabins.
After learning of the problem, Fish and Game Regional Supervisor Bruce Dale approached Brian and Diane Okonek of Talkeetna for help in hosting an educational program for cabin owners. The Okoneks had earlier helped found a local group called the Talkeetna Bear Necessities Coalition aimed at minimizing human-bear conflicts.
The two-hour seminars, held in Anchorage and Palmer in late April and early May, featured presentations by a bear biologist, a wildlife trooper, Fish and Game staff and Brian Okonek. Topics ranged from bear behavior and hunting regulations to electric fences and bear-resistant shutters and barriers.
The idea is that if cabin owners can keep bears from breaking in or finding food if they do break in, the bears should eventually leave the cabins alone. Residents have already killed some bears around cabins, but as Fish and Game biologists pointed out, it's hard to know if the bears shot are the same ones causing damage.
During both seminars, wildlife troopers discussed Alaska's regulations governing when bears can be shot and how. Although it is legal to shoot a bear "in defense of life and property," that may only be done under special circumstances such as when a bear is charging you or breaking into a cabin when you are inside, troopers said.
Troopers instead advised cabin owners to legally take bears by obtaining a hunting license and following all hunting regulations.
Many cabin owners wanted to know why bears would suddenly start breaking into cabins that had previously been ignored by bears for decades. Why the sudden change in behavior?
Grant Hilderbrand, a bear biologist with the National Park Service, said it's important to remember how important food is to bears. "The currency that matters for bears is calories," he said. For them it's life or death. It drives their behavior, even the risks they will take."
If a bear finds food inside a cabin, that will encourage that bear to break into similar structures to find more food. "A bear can be a pretty challenging animal once it gets in its mind something it wants," he said.
Fish and Game biologists are recommending that all food stored inside cabins be in bear-resistant garbage containers – or that nothing be left behind.
Until bears learn that breaking into a cabin yields no food reward, there is going to be a painful transition, Hilderbrand noted. Bears may keep trying for some time even when they don't find anything to eat, he said.
Other preventative measures discussed at the seminar include installing an electric fence or building bear barriers.
Doug Hill, a wildlife biologist with Fish and Game and manager of the Palmer Hay Flats State Game Refuge, talked to cabin owners about how to set up an electric fence. The fences emit high voltage, low amperage pulses through wires. The shock is painful to bears but not dangerous, Hill said.
Fences can be simple or elaborate, Hill said, and have been used effectively as deterrents against black bears, brown or grizzly bears, and polar bears throughout Alaska and Canada and other parts of the world. They can be used to protect everything from trash transfer sites and houses to beehives and fish hatcheries and smokehouses. Effective electric fencing requires proper materials (a UL approved charger, for example), setup and maintenance.
Brian Okonek showed cabin owners several designs for bear shutters over doors or windows. He recommends cabin owners use at least ¾ inch plywood and mount shutters as flush to the wall as possible so bears can't pry them off. Okonek also suggests using fully threaded hanger bolt screws instead of nails, which are easier for bears to pop off.
Doors, when possible, should open out, not in, Okonek said. Inward-opening doors can be strengthened by adding a chain or bars that prevent the door from being pushed in by a bear. Another option is to add removable metal grates over windows or doors.
The key, Okonek said, is to think as creatively as possible. But also keep it simple, so barriers are easy to install and remove. Try to think like a bear would and then try to outsmart the bear, Okonek said.
Like many of their neighbors, the Nienhuesers have spent considerable time and expense this winter to prevent another bear break-in. After attending the Anchorage seminar, they decided to install an electric fence around the cabin powered by a solar panel and battery at a cost of about $500.
The family also made more bear boards using screws, and fastened them to the porch so bears could not push them out of the way. The shutter over the main cabin door is also now fastened shut with hangar bolts and wing nuts instead of nails.
Nienhueser said his family used to leave food staples in the cabin such as flour and dry goods. "It was all in mouse-proof containers, but not bear-proof containers," he said.
All that food is now gone, he said. "There's no food in the cabin now. Nothing. Zilch."
Ginger Silver, another longtime cabin owner in the area, said their family's cabin was also broken into by bears for the first time last September after 35 years with no break-ins.
"It was just open house for the bears after the first bear got in," she said, noting that both black and brown bears appeared to have ransacked the cabin.
Silver said her sons cleaned up the considerable damage over the winter and installed stronger shutters and new door barriers.
This spring, the area's cabin owners are hoping all their hard work fortifying cabins will deter the bears. "We just don't want it to happen again," Nienhueser said. "I think we've done everything we can do."
Elizabeth Manning is an outdoor writer and an educator with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game in Anchorage.
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Vancouver Canucks Song: Parody of Maroon 5's "Sugar" – Sutter
The Vancouver Canucks turned over about one-third of their roster to start off the 2015-2016 NHL season. Brandon Sutter, Brandon Prust, Matt Bartkowski, Adam Cracknell, and rookies Jared McCann, Ben Hutton, and Jake Virtanen all made the team. So, of course, we decided to sing about it. I'm joined by regular collaborators – the lovely and talented Marie Hui and Arielle Tuliao for our version of Maroon 5's popular song "Sugar".


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Gutenberg Blocks and Page Builder Plugin For WordPress
Ghost Kit is the powerful page building experience for WordPress. Ghost Kit provides a large collection of Gutenberg Blocks, Templates, and Extensions. With this collection, you will gain more control over content just like with popular page builders. Just start with pre-defined templates and you can't stop building the page 😉
See Live Demo | Documentation | GitHub
We created this blocks collection for our own needs – create different multipurpose sites and themes. This is a professional collection and extensions with responsive grid system helps us and will help you as well, Ghost Kit will boost your development speed.
🏆 Create Multipurpose Sites with Ghost Kit
Gutenberg is good tool for basic websites, but when you need something advanced, Ghost Kit will give you the needed power. Enormous collection of blocks and extensions will be your magic wand:
🧱 Blocks
Grid Block
Responsive grid block to build layouts of all shapes and sizes thanks to a twelve column system. Visual columns size and order change.
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Show the progress of your work, skills or earnings.
Button Block
Change important links to buttons to get more click rate.
Shape Divider Block
Add SVG shapes between your sections.
Divider Block
Divide your long texts and blocks.
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Provide contextual feedback messages for user actions.
Icon Box Block
Icons are one of the best visual replacement for text descriptions.
Number Box Block
Show your progress and rewards using counting numbers.
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Toggle the visibility of content across your project.
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Separate content on the tabs with titles.
Countdown Block
Display countdown for you upcoming events.
Video Block
Plain and Fullscreen YouTube, Vimeo and Self-Hosted videos.
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Compare two images with a slider.
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Carousel for any type of content – images or other blocks.
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Sell your products or services and show all features.
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Show how your users love your products and what saying.
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Show Twitter feed and user data.
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Search for and insert an animated image from Giphy.
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Add contact form to your page with reCaptcha.
Google Maps Block
Show maps with custom styles, markers and settings.
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Embed code parts form GitHub Gist to your site or documentation.
Changelog Block
Show the changes log of your product.
Table of Contents Block
Automatically generate a table of contents by parsing page headers in content.
Markdown Block
Lightweight markup language with plain-text-formatting syntax.
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Select registered sidebars and put it in any place.
⚙ Extensions
Easily add spacings to Ghost Kit and Core blocks.
Show and hide blocks Ghost Kit and Core blocks on different screen sizes.
Add borders, shadows and corner radius to Ghost Kit and Core blocks on different screen sizes.
Animate on Scroll
Show with animation Ghost Kit and Core blocks on page scrolling.
Custom CSS & JavaScript
This extension is available on all pages and let you add custom CSS and JavaScript for the current page and globally site wide.
This extension is available on all pages and let you change customizer options on the current page.
📁 Templates
Ghost Kit has pre-made templates, so you can get started with it and build your pages quickly.
📄 Typography
Change typography options globally on a whole site or on specific pages only. Options available:
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- Adobe Fonts (Typekit) in Pro version
- Font Weight
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By default you can change typography for the following elements:
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- Headings
- From H1 to H6
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Add custom colors to Gutenberg color palette.
📝 Content Formatting
See demo page with content formatting https://ghostkit.io/content-formatting/
- Dotted Lists
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🔥 Ghost Kit Pro
Ghost Kit plugin is also available in a professional version which includes more features and blocks! Learn more about Ghost Kit Pro
In order to maintain the free version of the plugin on an ongoing basis, and to provide quick and effective support for free, we offer a Pro version of the plugin. The Pro version allows you to:
- Visual Grid Editor
- Custom Responsive Breakpoints
- More Icon Packs
- 30 additional shapes for Shape Divider block
- Adobe Fonts (Typekit)
- Custom Fonts
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- And more
🏳 Multilingual
Ghost Kit adds a new layer of compatibility for WPML. All blocks are compatible with it and ready for translation. https://ghostkit.io/docs/multilingual/
This plugin provides 1 block.
- Powerful Gutenberg Blocks and Templates - Ghost Kit
Make sure you use WordPress 5. As alternative you need to install the Gutenberg plugin to use Ghost Kit.
Automatic installation
Automatic installation is the easiest option as WordPress handles the file transfers itself and you don't need to leave your web browser. To do an automatic install of Ghost Kit, log in to your WordPress dashboard, navigate to the Plugins menu and click Add New.
In the search field type Ghost Kit and click Search Plugins. Once you've found our plugin you can view details about it such as the point release, rating and description. Most importantly of course, you can install it by simply clicking "Install Now".
Manual installation
The manual installation method involves downloading our Ghost Kit plugin and uploading it to your webserver via your favourite FTP application. The WordPress codex contains instructions on how to do this here.
How to disable enqueued plugins (JS, CSS) on frontend
How to add templates in theme
How to extend typography settings
How to extend shapes in Shape Divider block
How to extend icons in icon picker list
How to extend existing blocks
You should use default Gutenberg hooks to extend blocks functionality. Read more here: https://wordpress.org/gutenberg/handbook/designers-developers/developers/filters/block-filters/#block-style-variations
How to extend existing blocks classnames
You can extend Gutenberg blocks save attributes using core hooks. Read more here: https://developer.wordpress.org/block-editor/developers/filters/block-filters/#blocks-getsavecontent-extraprops
jQuery frontend events
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"Powerful Gutenberg Blocks and Templates – Ghost Kit" is open source software. The following people have contributed to this plugin.Contributors
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- added JS events
- improved Carousel displaying in editor (added slides per view and gap styles)
- improved appender CSS in some blocks which uses InnerBlocks
- fixed "Display" extension styles in editor
- fixed TOC conflict with special characters in headings
- fixed Form block appended overflow upper blocks
- fixed wrong variable type usage warning
- fixed Customizer Plugin displaying in Non Block Based themes
- disabled Color Palette Plugin from the Block Based themes (custom colors can be added in Appearance → Editor → Styles → Colors → Palette)
- minor changes
- fixed custom Gap settings save number value instead of string
- changed Tested up to in readme
- added Vertical Gap support to Grid and Buttons blocks
- added horizontal align option for top icon/number in the Icon and Number boxes
- added usage of IntersectionObserver for Animate on Scroll and similar features
- added aria-label for URL picker
- updated Swiper script to v8.4.0
- changed Grid vertical gap from margins to CSS
- changed Button gap from margins to CSS
- changed Spacing control start from the Top input
- changed RangeControl in all block settings to allow custom values. For example, allow specifying more than 12 columns in the grid
- fixed Animate on Scroll hide elements even when JS is disabled in browser
- fixed invalid date in editor Countdown block when block inserted
- fixed Carousel block making duplicate slides even when Loop option is disabled
- fixed Carousel block content inside duplicated slides. For example, Tabs block now working correctly inside slides and duplicated slides
- fixed Images Compare block usage inside Carousel block
- fixed Form block nonce field ID conflict with block ID
- fixed Form block send error on some hosts
- fixed easing function in the Progress block animation
- fixed rest call permission check
- minor changes
- fixed Countdown block wrong date with UTC timezone settings
- fixed Countdown block possible DatePicker error, when invalid date specified
- ! Important – breaking change – changed
AutoGrid Column to flex Auto width (depends on the content width). To restore previous behavior use
Growcolumn size
- added Grow size for Grid Columns
- updated Google Fonts list
- fixed custom styles rendering in FSE templates editor
- fixed automatic heading anchor generation, as we needed it for Table of Contents block. Enabled standard
generateAnchorssetting in the editor by default
- fixed Table of Contents preview in editor if some of headings does not contain anchors
- fixed Countdown block dependency of the user's time zone. Now used timezone setting from the WordPress site
- removed
will-changestyles usage
- fixed Video block play action
- removed blocks categories fallback used for WP < 5.5
- minor changes
- improved method to enqueue block assets and custom styles in block themes (we no more need to parse content of the posts, we can make everything inside block render)
- improved styles for nested panels in grid background settings
- disable Plugin Customizer settings in block themes, as Customizer no more used there
- fixed custom styles render in block themes Site Editor
- fixed custom styles re-rendering in editor when interacting with editor elements (better performance)
- fixed updating custom styles attributes on editor load
- !important – dropped IE support
- added support for WordPress 5.9
- added Animate on Scroll presets in Toolbar block settings
- added possibility to remove link in URLPicker component (for example, in Button block)
- added support for scrollBehavior in TOC links (used in modern themes)
- added ToggleGroup control to use it instead of ButtonGroup (better UI)
- disabled automatic heading anchor generation code in WordPress 5.9 and higher (as it is already generates by the Gutenberg)
- rolled back ScrollReveal to older version, since latest one is not working properly when cleaning styles
- fixed mail send headers
- fixed Video block autoplay after loading when fullscreen already closed
- a lot of minor changes
- !important – removed support for deprecated blocks older than Ghost Kit v2.12. Make sure you re-saved all pages with old blocks versions.
- added possibility to remove image in Image Compare block
- added possibility to change Alt text in the Testimonial photo and Video poster
- added encodes for Google Maps styles and AWB background images attributes
- fixed usage of image tag in Video and Testimonial block (no more tag string in the attribute)
- fixed encode/decode functions fails when no string given
- fixed XML export problem when block styles use
- removed poster images from the Video block with "Icon Only" style selected
- fixed crashing block with Custom CSS
- added option "Pause autoplay on mouse over" to carousel block
- fixed custom CSS compiler error
- fixed Table of Contents block scroll to anchor JS error when using Chinese headings
- fixed icon wrong escaping in the Icon List style
- added escaping for SVG icons (fixes conflict with XML content import)
- added support for WordPress's excerpt in some blocks
- improved form reCaptcha code to work only when submit button clicked
- changed minimum PHP to 7.2
- fixed block assets loading when block used in new block widgets screen
- fixed conflict with PublishPress Blocks plugin
- fixed errors in new Widgets editor
- added line breaks for form email texts
- added support for WP 5.8
- fixed rare conflict with reusable blocks while parsing
- hidden Slides per view and Gap carousel options when selected Fade effect
- hidden Carousel slides before JS init to prevent content jumping
- fixed carousel block initial slides count in editor
- fixed possible error with nested reusable blocks while parse page blocks
- fixed warning a non-numeric value encountered conflict with Give plugin
- added vendor prefixes to scss files (fixes unprefixed styles generated for custom breakpoints)
- added dynamic styles for breakpoints generation in background (using CRON)
- improved custom styles output in
<body>– use JS to prevent w3c error
- changed Twitter and Google Maps blocks usage of svg images as backgrounds (we need this to prevent possible errors in generated dynamic styles)
- fixed some editor settings dropdown wrong widths
- fixed block error when selecting Form Submit block
- fixed dynamic styles for breakpoints generation if change plugin version
- tested with WordPress 5.7
- plugin moved to new Github repo
- added z-index to Shape Divider to keep divider always on top of other elements
- added support for TOC to Rank Math SEO plugin
- fixed Grid and Buttons gap in editor
- fixed Icon Picker width in WordPress 5.7
- fixed toolbar templates button in WordPress 5.7
- fixed conflict with generated CSS and Custom CSS + Autoptimize plugin
- fixed possibility to disable Ghost Kit blocks in settings
- minor changes
- added support for Custom fonts (Pro only)
- updated FontAwesome icons list
- fixed active tab content displaying in Tabs block in editor when used Wide or Full alignment
- fixed Adobe Fonts label in Select component
- fixed limited width of InnerBlocks inside some of blocks
- fixed possible PHP errors when non-valid font weight added
- removed webfontloader script, add fonts manually using wp_enqueue_style (allows users to download fonts to their servers)
- minor changes
- added settings to change responsive breakpoints (Pro only)
- added
prepareCountersjQuery event to add possibility to change counters speed
- improved admin UI styles
- fixed some SVG icons w3c warnings
- fixed
Add Templatebutton rendering in Gutenberg toolbar
- fixed first and last child blocks margins in editor inside Alert, Icon Box and Number Box blocks
- fixed Pricing Table block preview in blocks inserter
- added Image Compare block https://ghostkit.io/blocks/image-compare/
- added style "Icon Only" to Video block
- added Reusable Blocks admin menu item
- improved Button block states in editor. Display Hover or Focus styles, when you switch color tabs in Inspector
- updated all vendor scripts
- fixed
webfontloaderregistration for Ghost Kit Pro
- fixed usage of deprecated 'ready' event
- removed outdated blocks deprecations
- added WPML support for all blocks
- fixed Carousel block slides count change
- added Loop option for Video block
- added horizontal mover for Grid Columns and Carousel blocks
- fixed horizontal mover for Buttons and Pricing Table blocks
- fixed Tabs block add/remove tabs
- fixed Grid block change columns count
- fixed Grid background image position preview
- fixed custom CSS output in reusable widgets, when custom CSS already added on some of the content blocks
- fixed icons picker dropdown scroll bug
- fixed forms options editor component loosing focus while typing
- minor changes
- added support for WordPress 5.5
- added RTL support
- added support for
Start valueand
Reversesettings in Styled numbered lists
- added support for Gradients for Badges in Ghost Kit Pro
- improved some editor UI elements
- changed components
return '';to
return null;(fixed possible conflicts with 3rd-party plugins)
- fixed Grid CSS variables error in IE11
- fixed Grid block background top position bug when use Frame extension
- fixed blocks assets rendering inside custom content locations
- fixed reusable widget usage (use 'the_content' filter)
- changed reusable widget render in bbPress pages
- added modal to blocks custom CSS extension
- added button on edit page in reusable block widget ui
- added script to close fullscreen video by clicking on wrapper (not only on X button)
- fixed fullscreen video offset depending on admin bar
- fixed fullscreen video conflict with Safari
- fixed pricing table align styles
- added GIF block
- added Markdown block
- added list columns settings to default
- updated Google Fonts list
- changed TOC block smooth scroll script native browser
- fixed color picker component correct re-rendering picker and palette
- fixed conflict with
additional_font_weightsattribute, used in custom themes
- fixed fonts loading undefined weights
- fixed translation files
- added Ghost Kit blocks collection (all blocks moved to separate default categories)
- changed spinner icon to CSS variables and relative color usage
- changed accordion collapse button color to inherit
- fixed js error when open typography options and when font doesn't exist
- added Align option to Form Submit Button
- updated google fonts list
- fixed Button border CSS conflict with Ghost Kit Pro Gradients
- fixed displaying some Typography options (rare bug)
- fixed fonts loading based on available registered fonts, but not on the saved in DB (rare bug)
- added Icons style for
- improved offsets for styled lists
- fixed missing formatting buttons inside some blocks (accordion heading, button, tabs, etc…)
- fixed Templates modal images lazy loading when switch categories
- fixed CSS calc() conflict with 0 values
- fixed PHP Notice: Undefined index: SERVER_NAME using WP-CLI
- ! to changes takes effect, re-save your pages
- added button outline CSS variable
- improved DatePicker component in Countdown block
- simplified CSS selectors in blocks (easier to extend styles)
- changed styles loading priority (new 4th point added):
- Enqueue plugins assets
- Enqueue Ghost Kit assets
- Enqueue theme assets
- Enqueue Ghost Kit custom CSS
- changed Grid Column Sticky option to use the class with CSS variable
- fixed empty custom styles
- fixed blocks custom styles for number attributes (wrong styles when a variable is undefined or == 0)
- fixed PHP notice – Trying to access array offset on value of type bool
- fixed Tabs and Accordion items hash parse with Japanese/Chinese/… characters
- removed all defaults from blocks – easily change defaults using CSS variables now – https://ghostkit.io/docs/css-variables/
- removed hard-coded box-shadow from buttons, use CSS variable instead
- changed name of CSS variables with -x and -y in name:
- ! breaking change ! – all styles now uses CSS Variables. No more IE browser supported
- added WordPress 5.4 compatibility
- added better possibilities for extending/changing blocks styles (thanks to CSS Variables) https://ghostkit.io/docs/css-variables/
- added custom gap option for Grid, Buttons, Instagram and Pricing Table blocks
- added Grid vertical Gap by default
- improved styles for nested styled lists
- changed a lot of styles of blocks
- removed wp-i18 dependency from the main script, used for Countdown script only
- fixed Styled Lists text wrap
- fixed TOC block inside columns
- fixed Progress bar count tooltip size when progress bar has a small width
- fixed Twitter block profile description pre-wrap
- fixed Contact Form mail template long words break
- fixed loading fonts dependencies when fonts are not selected
- fixed color palette PHP error, when palette is empty by default
- fixed assets enqueue sequence (plugins -> Ghost Kit -> theme)
- added higher assets enqueue priority (fixes styles bug with AWB plugin)
- added Twitter block Text Mode option (to display full tweet text)
- added icon picker Search input autofocus
- added Reset button in Icon Picker component
- added null option to Select Field when default value is not selected
- added option to remove photo from Testimonial block
- improved Twitter block text formatting (line breaks)
- improved conditional options display in the editor for Alert and Icon Box blocks
- change unique Form Fields slug slash to underscore
- prevent Form Fields input focus in editor
- fixed vertical Tabs Pills active tab styles
- fixed Buttons block align option in editor
- fixed php error when use rest to get image by id, that is not exists
Note: there may be breaking changes. Try to re-save pages if you see issues on the frontend.
- loading blocks assets conditionally only when block added on the page (better pages performance)
- added Form block https://ghostkit.io/blocks/contact-form/
- added URL options to testimonial block
- added styled inner lists in table of contents block
- added "Add Template" button in editor Toolbar
- changed icons in blocks to pure SVG and removed FontAwesome scripts (better pages performance)
- changed wp-editor dependency to wp-block-editor (possible fix conflict with 3rd-party plugins like Yoast SEO)
- fixed left and right margin in grid, button, pricing table blocks in Twenty* themes
- fixed accordion and tabs item hash missing dash
- fixed js error if used missing font (for ex. when disabling Pro plugin)
- fixed Table of Contents editor preview
- fixed Adobe Fonts CSS output in Pro plugin
- fixed JS files translation possibility (read /languages/readme.md for more info)
- added Adobe Fonts in Pro version
- added Shape Divider block https://ghostkit.io/blocks/shape-divider/
- added Frame extension (border, shadow, radius) https://ghostkit.io/extensions/frame/
- added Color Palette plugin to extend default Gutenberg color palette https://ghostkit.io/extensions/color-palette/
- added possibility to activate Tabs and Accordions on hash change
- added visual styles in editor for hidden blocks that used Display extension
- improved Table of Contents block reload after headings change (no jumping in the editor anymore)
- fixed Reusable Widget number of blocks to select
- fixed Instagram block image alt attribute
- fixed font family reset button also resets font category
- fixed non-working links in TOC block when used special characters
- fixed Grid Columns, Buttons gap styles in editor
- fixed Display extension not adding classname
- fixed alignfull grid background margins
- added transformations Accordion to Tabs and vice versa (issue #31)
- fixed possible errors with reusable blocks
- fixed width of column content in editor
- fixed alert, icon box and number box last child paragraph margin
- added Countdown block
- added Custom CSS extension for each blocks
- added preview in editor for buttons outline styles
- added examples to blocks
- added translations to js files
- added Vertical option for Tabs block
- added Pills style variant for Tabs block
- added stars option for Testimonial block
- added URL options for Icon Box and Counter Box blocks
- added Accordion block activation based on location hash
- added active indicators to extensions panels
- improved Accordion block to work with unique slug, generated from label
- improved Tabs/Accordion labels unique slug generator (no hash conflicts)
- updated vendor plugins FontAwesome, Swiper, Jarallax
- fixed reusable widget rendering in custom posts without Gutenberg enabled
- fixed reusable blocks custom styles rendering
- disabled all extensions on dynamic core blocks
- fixed Templates modal open when active Pro
- fixed settings JS errors when no options updated
- added Typography settings page
- removed Settings page
- added Icons settings page
- added CSS & JavaScript settings page
- better fonts loading (load only necessary weights)
- fixed custom styles loading in reusable widget
- Warning! Changed custom styles rendering method. Recommended to go over all your posts and click on the Update button.
- added Typography settings
- add Google Fonts globally site-wide
- add Google Fonts locally on the edited page only
- added preview for all core blocks in editor for Spacings extension
- added Table of Contents block
- added Styles for core/list block
- added Numbered Style for core/heading block
- added Highlight format to WYSIWYG toolbar
- added Spacings and Display extensions support for Instagram and Twitter blocks
- improved Icon Picker
- improved performance
- added tooltips on each icon
- added toggle button for categories
- improved performance of templates list loading
- changed Progress minimum height to 1
- changed Templates capability type to Post
- changed all extensions to use native className attribute
- fixed grid column bottom sticky
- fixed blocks unique classnames regeneration every time when editor loads
- fixed Carousels added inside Tabs
- minor UI changes
- added Focal Point picker in Grid background settings
- added jQuery events for ScrollReveal to let users change the config
- improved position of badges popup with color picker
- changed Changelog badges styles
- changed Grid background img tag output (fixes bug, when user with Editor permission save background image and block crashed)
- updated FontAwesome to 5.9.0
- updated Swiper to 4.5.0
- updated Jarallax to 1.11.0
- fixed Badge background color when adding it the first time
- fixed selected Column content left offset
- fixed grid background alignfull left and right styles
- fixed conflict with AWB video background and Video Block
- changed video-worker script to jarallax
- added Grid Gap preview styles in editor
- added Carousel item block inserter
- fixed Carousel fade effect and visible previous slides
- fixed pricing table editor columns styles in default themes
- added cleanup to Animate On Scroll blocks (extra styles automatically removed after animation ended)
- fixed Animate On Scroll errors in all blocks since update 2.4.1
- added "Animate on Scroll" preview in editor
- improved styles for code editor component
- fixed 'getBlockOrder' of undefined error
- added option to hide text in button and show only icon
- added Columns appender
- added blocks transformations:
- between
- added buttons wrapper clear style
- show grid align controls if 1 column selected
- fixed conflict with
- fixed Google Maps block error when used invalid API key
- fixed FullHeight Google Maps block editor preview
- fixed Buttons block label save bug
- fixed Gist preloader
- added Templates Library. You can now add pre-designed templates and create your own
- added image backgrounds support on Grid and Column
- added global CSS & JavaScript on Settings page
- added support for prefix and suffix in Counter Box (just add texts around your count)
- added responsive Vertical Align option on Column block
- fixed creating new Button, Accordion and Pricing Table blocks (handles error after page updated)
- fixed changelog badge width
- fixed progress caption remove error
- fixed error when disabling blocks
- fixed Testimonials name and source remove error
- fixed Pricing Table RichTexts remove error
- fixed Progress Bar xml import error (aria attributes bug)
- fixed Grid columns number control if only 1 column showed
- added local and global Custom CSS / JS options
- added Ghost Kit options, that contains Custom Code and Customizer buttons (top right corner of Gutenberg editor)
- added Open in new tab and nofollow options on Buttons block
- added inline badges support (see text editor toolbar for new option)
- added uppercase format to text editor
- removed Custom CSS and Customizer blocks (use Ghost Kit options instead)
- minor changes
- added icon picker right inside block preview in editor for blocks:
- Alert
- Button
- Divider
- Icon Box
- Testimonial
- Video
- added Buttons '+' button to add buttons
- added Buttons block prev/next move buttons to resort
- added Buttons 'Align' button in Inspector
- added Accordion '+' button to add new accordion
- added Accordion '-' button to remove selected accordion
- added Accordion 'Collapse' button in Toolbar
- added Accordion items up/down buttons to resort
- added Tabs '+' button to add new tab
- added Tabs '-' button to remove selected tab
- added Tabs 'Align' button in Toolbar
- added Number Box 'Position' button in Toolbar
- added Number Box 'Show Content' option
- added Pricing Table '+' button to add new tables
- added Pricing Table '-' button to remove selected table
- added Pricing Table items prev/next buttons to resort
- added Icon Box 'Position' button in Toolbar
- added Icon Box 'Show Content' option
- added Video 'Aspect Ratio' button in Toolbar
- added Video 'URL' input in Toolbar
- added Progress Bar resizable indicators
- added Google Maps 'Add Marker' button in Toolbar
- added Google Maps 'Style' button in Toolbar
- added Google Maps 'Full Height' option in Inspector
- added Google Maps height resizable box
- added Google Maps 'Better Scroll & Draggable' option
- added Grid dynamic layouts preview generator (without SVG)
- added custom filter 'ghostkit.editor.grid.layouts' to extend predefined Grid layouts
- added Video transformations to Core blocks
- added Divider transformations to Separator
- changed Grid and Column buttons to icons instead of 'Select Grid' and 'Select Column'
- changed Google Maps 'Style' selector to image picker
- change Video 'Aspect Ratio' selector to image picker
- changed default Google Maps styles (better contrast)
- improved icon picker:
- larger icons
- 3 icons per row
- sticky icons pack label
- updated all block icons (removed ghost from icons and changed color)
- hide Grid options if no layout selected
- fixed Google Maps error after adding marker
- fixed Google Maps Full Height styles in Editor
- fixed column content sticky
- fixed 'gkt_enqueue_plugin_font_awesome' filter order (you can use it in themes functions.php)
- a lot of minor changes
- fixed Tabs Legacy block extensions support
- added background option for Grid and Column blocks (+ support image, video and parallax backgrounds with AWB plugin)
- added Video block possibility to play videos on mobile devices without open new tab
- added Video block autoplay & autopause options
- added Icons to Button block
- added extendable Icon Picker control with default FontAwesome icons
- added draggable for Spacing inputs. Now you can change value using mouse and up, down keys
- added plugin Settings page
- added Tabs page hash support (old tabs are deprecated, you need to add new Tabs block on the page)
- added controls to show/hide Pricing Table price/currency/repeat items
- added 'ghostkit' attribute with plugin parameters support for blocks (3rd-party blocks may be extended with Ghost Kit Extensions)
- added :focus styles outline for Button block
- added Ghost Kit Pro support
- added 'inserter' and 'reusable' attributes with 'false' value in inner blocks
- added icon in Ghost Kit blocks category
- improved Grid block columns and row hovering styles
- updated overall styles
- changed offsets to em
- changed changelog badges to solid color
- added border-radius to some blocks
- changed Video block image placeholder only visible until video start playing
- changed Google Maps data-markers attribute to children blocks for each marker (better extensions possibility)
- changed column structure (added content wrapper for better extensions possibility)
- changed Grid Column editor classes (added variants and custom Ghost Kit unique class support)
- removed inline toolbar from Tabs & Accordion
- disabled Spacings inputs autocomplete
- fixed IE11 Counter Box and Icon Box blocks with top icon and number
- fixed Tabs block disappearing of tabs when renaming it
- fixed Button line height in editor
- fixed Accordion collapse icon size & position in editor
- fixed Alert, Icon Box & Number Box editor content margins
- fixed custom className duplicates in most of blocks
- fixed Grid columns attributes resets to defaults after initial insertion
- fixed Grid block full width align horizontal scrollbar in editor
- fixed multiple rows in Grid block editor columns overlapping
- fixed custom style unique class duplication after block clone
- fixed inner blocks overlapping in editor Alert, Number Box & Icon Box blocks
- fixed invisible video in some themes
- added file types limitations in Video and Testimonial blocks
- fixed WP 5.0 admin styles enqueue
- fixed self-hosted videos play on mobile devices
- fixed jQuery is undefined error in some of the themes
- added jQuery custom events trigger
- added img selector string in OFI script
- improved ghostkit attributes – created only when custom styles added (before this update it was always added on all blocks)
- changed main script to es6 class for extensions
- fixed Google Maps marker address change
- fixed some blocks broken after XML content importing (escaped characters in custom styles)
- added number wrapper in counter box
- changed carousel slides backgrounds in editor
- fixed usage of deprecated PanelColor
- fixed button line height in editor
- fixed "Bar" label in progress bar background color control
- added hover colors options to Alert, Number Box, Counter Box, Icon Box, Divider, Progress blocks
- improved color pickers in blocks (show colors palette only in popover)
- changed fullscreen video popup z-index to 1500
- removed CodeEditor from Custom CSS since it removed in Gutenberg 4.2
- fixed error in Customizer, Instagram, Twitter, Testimonial, Video blocks in Gutenberg 4.2
- fixed Animate on Scroll zoom effect
- minor changes
- fixed selected image preview in Inspector (Video and Testimonial blocks)
- added default InnerBlocks in Alert, Number Box, Icon Box, Testimonial, Changelog
- fixed Gutenberg 4.0 Spacing extension and Grid Columns options
- fixed Gutenberg 4.0 number attribute type automatic convert
- fixed Gutenberg 4.0 Button block url input width
- fixed Pricing Table block variant name to extend it
- fixed Pricing Table block error when enabled showPopular option
- fixed Pricing Table block padding in features list
- fixed Pricing Table block bottom margin on mobile devices
- fixed Grid block fullwidth styles in editor
- fixed Google Maps block markers show when no custom map Style defined
- deprecated Customizer and Custom CSS blocks. This functionality you can find in the top right corner of the editor
- added multiple buttons support in Button block. Be careful, Button block may lose some settings when you update the plugin
- added Instagram block
- added Twitter block
- added Pricing Table block
- added widget for reusable blocks to use in sidebars
- added anchor support to almost all blocks
- improved Animate on Scroll extension (added more options)
- changed default blocks color
- changed button block url input style (now floating)
- changed Spacings extension (device selector changed to tabs)
- prevent adding extensions on reusable blocks
- fixed php error when Gutenberg plugin is not activated
- fixed animate in viewport, when on the screen > 1 counters or progress bars
- fixed styles rendering for new and duplicated blocks
- fixed first loading of Customizer block
- fixed php notices in customizer
- fixed custom styles in transformed blocks
- minor changes
- added Animate in viewport options in Number Box and Progress Bar
- added Animate on Scroll extension (use scrollreveal library)
- added Custom CSS block styles in editor to preview
- extensions moved from Advanced inspector to bottom of Inspector Controls
- renamed extension Indents to Spacings
- fixed column sticky position 0
- fixed Google Maps placeholder marker icon map overlap
- fixed Google Maps deprecated object
- added Google Maps block
- added !important style support in Spacings extension
- changed plugin logo
- added Changelog block
- added Widgetized Area block
- added vertical align buttons in Grid toolbar
- added predefined layouts in Grid block (when you first insert Grid, you can choose)
- updated some block icons
- fixed Gist block table styles bug in default themes
- fixed possible bug with "0" number output in some blocks
- added Gist block transformation from url
- added option collapseOne to Accordion block
- added option count to Progress block
- added helper toolbar with predefined styles to Alert block
- added helper toolbar with line type to Divider block
- improved Grid column responsive settings (added tabs for each device)
- changed icons to use <svg> instead of <img>
- improved blocks JS initialization. Support dynamic blocks (for example after AJAX content loading)
- updated block icons
- added support for Gutenberg 3.7.0
- improved custom styles extension (simplified code and prevent console warnings)
- added "Select Column" helper UI element to easily select Grid columns https://wordpress.org/support/topic/selecting-a-column-in-a-grid/
- moved all blocks to Ghost Kit category
- fixed compatibility with WordPress Import/Export content
- fixed Spacings (margins / paddings) responsive values change https://wordpress.org/support/topic/indents-settings-not-working-on-desktop-laptop-table-mobile/
- added Testimonial block
- added Divider block
- added support for some Kirki fields in Customizer block
- added Fullscreen click action in Video block
- added column block Sticky option
- updated FontAwesome to 5.2.0
- changed RichText usage (some blocks may break)
- removed wp-block-… classname from all blocks
- fixed Customizer and Custom CSS blocks save meta data in custom posts
- fixed Custom CSS block styles escaping (escape > and <)
- fixed columns centering in Grid block editor
- fixed GitHub Gist block iOs smooth scroll
- minor fixes
- Initial Release


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Best basketball shoe for wide flat feetboys – Top 10 Picks In 2022
Our Tips For Buying The best basketball shoe for wide flat feetboys
By focusing on a few key details, you can choose the right basketball shoe for wide flat feetboys. The following information could help you if you're seeking for the greatest one. Before making a purchase, make sure you check these out.
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If you know the well-known manufacturers to look for, finding the ideal basketball shoe for wide flat feetboys is not difficult. A brand is a representation of sturdiness, respect, and trust. However, many businesses are only ready to rob you by providing free promotions.
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Instead of investing in the best goods, the majority of consumers are constantly searching for the cheapest. However, there is a distinct group of people who understand that higher-quality goods are worth higher prices.
Cost-effectiveness, however, does not necessarily equate to paying less for goods than they are genuinely worth. You can locate what you're looking for in this way. Create a flexible budget in order to find the greatest product in your desired market.
Customer Feedback
Customers who read customer reviews before purchasing a basketball shoe for wide flat feetboys always come out on top. If this is your first time purchasing it, you most likely are unaware of its true advantages and disadvantages. As a result, the corporation creates adverts to promote its goods, making it highly likely that they are concealing any down sites.
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Time of Delivery
Last but not least, keep an eye on the shipment or transit time. Before placing an order for a product you want to buy, you should find out how long it will take to arrive.
Products are often delivered by Amazon or other trustworthy businesses on business days, thus Saturday and Sunday are not included in this calculation. Furthermore, during particular holidays, the delivery can be delayed. Prior to making a purchase, make sure the item will arrive by the deadline.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQS)
1.Why Should I Purchase This?
People typically like a product when it is the greatest on the market and falls within their price range. Based on this knowledge, we decide on the basketball shoe for wide flat feetboys.
To discover the best, we occasionally need to sift through hundreds of products. Thus, it can be concluded that the products we chose are the best. Hopefully, you won't have to think twice if you want to purchase the ideal things at the proper price.
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A well-known brand can be identified by its excellent product reviews and widespread acclaim. A new company that is growing in popularity may produce both good and bad products. Established brands have long-lasting popularity. Customers are confident in them because of this.
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It is normal to become confused about which items are ideal for your budget when there are so many on the market. It must be remembered, though, that the product should be chosen even if it costs a little more.
Even so, the basketball shoe for wide flat feetboys we chose are reasonably priced and excellent buys when quality is taken into account.
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Wrapping Up
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SAPPHIRE NOW, a yearly global business event presented by SAP, the world's leading provider of business software, was held simultaneously in Frankfurt, Germany and Orlando, Florida. The events highlighting SAP's innovative business solutions were linked in real-time online and streamed between venues. Production Resource Group (PRG) supplied the lighting systems for both venues.
Utilizing a single provider for both events ensured that continuity could be easily achieved. It also guaranteed that Lighting Designer Paul Palazzo received the highest quality equipment and support for the simultaneous events. Palazzo, the LD for ten previous SAPPHIRE events, supervised the Frankfurt setup while working on-site in Orlando. "I designed the template, the whole concept of the thing and told them how to implement it from 5,000 miles away," he said. At Messe Frankfurt, Palazzo's design was implemented by Habegger AG, under the technical management of Eventrix AG. PRG worked closely with Habegger to provide the 170 tons of lighting and rigging technology, including 140 automated fixtures, over 2,000 conventional fixtures, close to 14,000 feet of truss and 550 motors.
The producer for the Orlando event was Joe Venturella, President of i4D Event Services, Inc. "The design approach this year emphasized SAP's successful transformation into an agile, innovative company," Venturella explained. Working with Palazzo and Production Designer Dana Christensen, the team created an open environment for 322 interactive demonstration stations and 269 exhibiting partners on the conference floor, as well as a 7,000-seat keynote space, satellite theatres, two TV studios, lounges and session spaces.
For the Orlando event, PRG provided the complete lighting package including 250 automated fixtures and over 3,000 conventional fixtures. PRG also supplied 740 chain hoists and over 15,000 feet of truss to rigging contractor Kish Rigging.
Palazzo noted, "The biggest challenge was just getting the sheer volume of the show accomplished in the timeframe allowed. PRG has always been very flexible; they understand what I need."
Venturella agreed, "PRG has always been really great. Partnering with a global company such as PRG gave us the tools and resources to execute innovative ideas without compromise due to resource limitations. PRG's support was exceptional."
For more information on PRG, please visit www.prg.com.
About Production Resource Group – Production Resource Group, L.L.C. (PRG) is the world's leading supplier of entertainment and event technology to a wide range of markets, including corporate and automotive events, concerts, special events, theatre, television and film, trade shows, and installations, such as theme parks, museums, retail stores and performing arts centers. PRG provides integrated services and equipment, including audio, video, lighting, rigging, staging, and scenery and automation systems for these markets from more than 31 offices in North America, Europe, Africa, and Asia.


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Ask him for the highlight of his Hall of Fame career and Frank Robinson jumps on it like a high fastball.
"The '66 season," he told The Baltimore Sun last month. "I couldn't have scripted the first year [with the Orioles] any better. That's winning the pennant, that's sweeping the Dodgers [in the World Series], that's winning the Triple Crown and the Most Valuable Player. That's Hollywood stuff."
None of that happens without Robinson, the headstrong 30-year-old outfielder obtained from the Cincinnati Reds. He played six years here and led the Orioles — never top-drawer before — to four World Series appearances and two championships. He averaged 30 home runs and batted .300. And he instilled in the team a cheeky can-do mindset that put the Birds over the top and lingered here for decades to come.
His impact on the club began Opening Day in 1966:
April 12: In his third at-bat as an Oriole, Robinson homers in a 5-4 victory against the Red Sox in Boston.
May 8: Against the Cleveland Indians' Luis Tiant, who had thrown three straight shutouts, Robinson drives a pitch completely out of Memorial Stadium — an unprecedented feat. The ball sails 451 feet on the fly and rolls under a car in the stadium parking lot, 540 feet from home plate. A crowd of 49,516 gives No. 20 a one-minute standing ovation.
June 12: His American League-leading 15th home run against Boston triggers the Orioles' sixth win in seven games. Also, Robinson catches the Red Sox napping and scores from second base on a double-play ground ball.
June 21: With two New York runners on base, two outs in the ninth inning and the Orioles leading 7-5, Robinson makes a game-saving catch at the fence in Yankee Stadium, then falls into the right-field seats. He tells reporters, "People tried to get the ball from me, but they didn't."
As he trots to his position in the second game of the double-header, Robinson is pelted with fruit and beer cans. In the sixth inning, he reaches into the stands to rob Elston Howard of a home run. A fan who tries to grab Robinson's arm gets an elbow in the kisser.
July 12: At the All-Star break, the Orioles are a gaudy 58-29. Says the outspoken Robinson: "We've passed the halfway mark with more than 50 wins. I'd have to say it's all downhill now."
July 16: Robinson's aggressive, all-out play has rubbed off on his teammates, manager Hank Bauer says: "One game, Frank took out [New York's] Bobby Richardson with a body-block slide at second base, and I'll be damned if Luis Aparicio, the smallest and lightest man in the league, doesn't do the same thing the next time he gets a chance."
July 17: With Curt Blefary mired in a slump, Robinson suggests the Orioles' outfielder use his heavier bat.
"I'm not strong enough," Blefary complains.
"It's not that I'm stronger than you," Robinson replies. "It's just that I'm smarter."
July 21: Heeding a batting tip from rookie second baseman Davey Johnson, Robinson breaks out of a slump of his own, getting four hits (two homers) in a victory over Detroit.
Aug 3: For the fourth time this year, he hits two home runs, monstrous blasts of 425 and 440 feet against Cleveland. "I don't believe I ever hit two balls any harder in a single game," he says afterward.
Aug. 11: Again, Robinson's fielding saves the Birds. His jackknife catch of a fly ball in the 11th inning carries him into the left-field pavilion at Yankee Stadium and sends the Orioles home 6-5 winners.
Sept. 20: In a 4-0 victory over the Kansas City Athletics, he slams home run No. 47, a club record.
Sept. 22: The Orioles clinch the AL pennant, 6-1 over the A's. Robinson's contribution: a single, two doubles, two RBIs and a stolen base. A Sun editorial congratulates the team and gives "a special mention to Frank Robinson who has been, shall we say, helpful."
Sept. 23: Grateful city officials change the name of the slugger's street in northwest Baltimore, Cedardale Road, to Robinson Road until after the World Series.
Oct. 2: Robinson becomes the AL's first Triple Crown winner since 1956. His numbers: a .316 average, 49 home runs and 122 RBIs.
Oct. 5: The Orioles take Game 1 of the World Series, 5-2 over the Los Angeles Dodgers as Robinson parks a fastball from Don Drysdale into the left-field seats for a two-run shot in the first inning.
Oct. 9: Baltimore completes the four-game sweep, 1-0 on Robinson's 410-foot homer. He is named World Series MVP. In the Orioles' jubilant clubhouse, infielder Bob Johnson sums up the championship season: "Our spirit was great, from the time Frank hit a homer Opening Day in Boston to the one he hit today — and that's all she wrote."
Baltimore Sun reporter Dan Connolly contributed to this article.
Ask him for the highlight of his Hall of Fame career and Frank Robinson jumps on it like a high fastball.


text:
|Payment Type:
|Min. Order:
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|Delivery Time:
|30 Days
Basic Info
Model No.: SCS5225GPSEQ
Transmission Type: Manual
Engine Capacity: 4 - 6L
Emission Standard: Euro 3
Sprinkling Area: >16m
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Engine Type: 4 Stroke
Fuel: Diesel
Payload: 30T
Condition: New
Volume: 15001 - 30000L
Drive Wheel: 6×6
Chassis Brand: DONGFENG
Tank Color: Army Green Or Any Other Colors Optional
Drive Model: All Wheel Drive
Additional Info
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Productivity: 30000sets/year
Brand: CLW
Transportation: Ocean,Land
Place of Origin: CHINA
Supply Ability: 3000sets/month
Certificate: SGS,ISO9001, CNAS,CCC
HS Code: 8705909990
Port: SHANGHAI PORT,CHINA
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text:
If you haven't heard yet, it's time you did: yesterday afternoon, U.S. Senate nominee Todd Akin said in a televised interview that women rarely get pregnant following instances of "legitimate rape," because the female body has ways to "shut that whole thing down."
Akin is wrong. He is wrong on many levels, but most importantly he's wrong about basic medical facts governing how the female body works. So let's take a step back and examine Akin's statement from a scientific angle, with the help of some relevant, peer-reviewed publications.
First things first. Here's the actual quote that, yesterday afternoon, incited the ire and incredulity of just about anyone with a brain, a pulse, and the misfortune of hearing or reading it. Akin's assertion comes in response to a question about whether abortion should be legal in cases of rape (a video of the exchange is also featured up top):
It seems to me, from what I understand from doctors, that [pregnancy from rape] is really rare. If it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.
Go ahead and read that again. Replay the video if you have to. Try to absorb every iota of what Akin is saying. For the record: your mind should be reeling. Did Akin really just assert that some cases of rape are more "legitimate" than others, WHILE arguing that a woman can depend on her body to stave off pregnancy when her efforts to prevent a man from forcing himself upon her fail? In the same breath? All under the banner of medical and scientific evidence? Did that really just happen?
Yeah. Yeah, it did.
Let's set aside, for the moment, the fact that rape is rape, and that modifiers like "legitimate" and "forcible" (another term Akin has paired with "rape" in the past) are so fraught with ignorance and dishonesty as to warrant their own well-reasoned, thoroughly researched analyses elsewhere. (Here are three such articles, by The Guardian, Jezebel and New Statesman, to get you started.) For now, let's just focus on the "medical" claim he's making.
Rape-Related Pregnancy By The Numbers
Let's look at the science. After all, Representative Akin (who is a sitting congressman in Missouri, and will run against Democratic incumbent Claire McCaskill for a seat in the U.S. Senate in this year's election cycle) is a member of the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology; if anyone in Washington is qualified to speak to the medical and scientific evidence surrounding abortion, rape, and pregnancy, surely it is a member of the House Committee on Science. Right?
Evidently not. "It seems to me," opines Akin, "from what I understand from doctors, that [pregnancy from rape] is really rare." We may never know whether the doctors Akin is referring to even exist (outside of the congressman's ill-advised attempt to legitimize his baseless argument), but a 3-year longitudinal study involving over 4,000 adult American women stands in staunch opposition to their spurious claims. The entire article, which is published in a 1996 issue of the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology is relevant to our analysis, but here's the bit that Akin and his doctors really need to read:
Rape-related pregnancy occurs with significant frequency. It is a cause of many unwanted pregnancies and is closely linked with family and domestic violence. As we address the epidemic of unintended pregnancies in the United States, greater attention and effort should be aimed at preventing and identifying unwanted pregnancies that result from sexual victimization.
If you're looking for hard numbers, the study concludes that the national rape-related pregnancy rate is 5.0% per rape among victims of reproductive age (12—45), and that an estimated 32,101 pregnancies result from rape each year. Does 32,000 pregnancies per annum sound "rare" to you? It's not.
Five percent may not sound like much, but the fact is that couples trying to have kids would be ecstatic over a five percent chance of pregnancy per sexual encounter; what's more, a study published in 2003 in the journal Human Nature found that a single act of rape was more than twice as likely to result in pregnancy than an act of consensual sex:
"Our analysis suggests that per-incident rape-pregnancy rates exceed per-incident consensual pregnancy rates by a sizable margin," write researchers Jon and Tiffani Gottschall, "even before adjusting for the use of relevant forms of birth control." [emphasis mine]
Again, here are the numbers: the researchers examined data collected from 405 women between the ages of 12 and 45 who had suffered a single incidence of penile-vaginal rape, and found that 6.4 percent of these women became pregnant. This number leapt to almost 8% when the researchers accounted for women who'd been using birth control (according to New Scientist, US government statistics show that 20% of the women in the sample were likely to have been using the pill or an IUD). A separate study, conducted by the US National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences in 2001, found the per-incidence pregnancy rate for a single act of consensual sex to be just 3.1 percent.
In light of these studies and statistics, it's almost not even worth addressing Akin's assertion that the female body has ways to "shut that whole thing [i.e. pregnancy] down" in cases of "legitimate rape"; but what the congressman seems to be referring to is post-copulatory sexual selection, a real technique used by some female animals to actively control which males will father their offspring. For example, as this episode of Isabella Rossellini's award-winning Green Porno series explains, the labyrinthine vaginal canals of female ducks allow them to hide their eggs from undesirable males. The ability to store and select sperm from multiple potential mates (a form of post-copulatory sexual selection thought to have evolved in response to the risk of unsolicited sexual encounters, and ironically named "female choice") has also been observed in reptiles, spiders and insects.
But humans don't have labyrinthine vaginal canals. They also don't actively store and select sperm from multiple males inside their bodies. And if there are any hormonal responses at play in a post-copulatory sexual response — as is hypothesized to occur in some species of monkeys — the studies we referenced earlier clearly demonstrate that they certainly aren't powerful enough to warrant calling pregnancy among rape victims "rare."
Congressman Akin has since backed away from his remark, saying that he "misspoke" during the interview, though he has still failed to mention which point (or points) he's referring to.
"In reviewing my off-the-cuff remarks," Akin said in a statement released yesterday afternoon, "it's clear that I misspoke in this interview and it does not reflect the deep empathy I hold for the thousands of women who are raped and abused every year."
This is a half-assed explanation, and a sorry excuse for an apology (if you can even call it that). Perhaps more shocking is that Akin sits on the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology. In that role, he should be required to address the spurious nature of his comments by responding to the hard, scientific evidence that he was not simply wrong, but basing his understanding of reproduction on opinion rather than medical facts.


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If you have a COLLADA question but no answer, start at the COLLADA public forums. (This FAQ is about COLLADA, not about this wiki--see the Wiki FAQ or wiki help desk.)
|You can post a new question with an answer using the following link:
Now you may
post a new FAQ by clicking here.
This list has been compiled from frequently asked questions and direct inquiries such as : 3d-test.com
About COLLADA
What is COLLADA?
COLLADA stands for COLLAborative Design Activity. Development of the standard is currently managed through The Khronos Group Read more.
What are the benefits of using COLLADA?
Previously, art assets created in one package were incompatible with other packages. You could not create an asset in one package and then use a different package to modify that asset. Custom exporters had to be written for each package, and freelancers were often forced to use the same package when contributing content to a project.
By having a standard format supported by many packages, it becomes possible to exchange assets between packages and to have greater flexibility in choosing the right tool for the right job. A standard format also enables art assets to be easily formatted into compatible data regardless of which package they were created with.
COLLADA is also an extendable format, so you are not limited in any way by the features supported by COLLADA's current format.
Is COLLADA "only" a new file format?
COLLADA is an XML schema and a common profile defining a list of features that every COLLADA partner has agreed to support. Using an XML schema enables the powerful capability of validating data, as well as the possibility of using many existing commercially available or public domain tools. The goal of COLLADA is to create a working group enabling collaboration among all the partners to standardize on the representation of all the features required by interactive applications.
Currently, the COLLADA DOM includes the source code for loading and saving the data and helps integrate COLLADA support into applications. This code is available as open source. In addition, this API introduces the capability of using a database system, rather than a simple file, to store the data, thus giving additional flexibility, such as database queries and asset management.
Why develop a new format?
We did not take lightly the burden of introducing another file format. Before the decision was made to start the COLLADA project, we looked at all the existing formats and decided that, unfortunately, we needed to create a new one that would have a chance to become a standard. Let's use the example you are mentioningok at the arguments: ((EDITOR: This page needs the following improvement: this sentence was garbled in original FAQ; what should it be? ))
Most existing formats are not open formats and have not been designed by a working group, but by a single company. That is a problem: Will all other companies agree to support a format that they have not participated in designing? But most importantly, what would happen if that one company disappears or decides to prioritize their support for different tools?
The main existing interchange technologies are not designed as a language, but rather as APIs (available under a license on a limited number of platforms). This enables data to be exchanged among applications that have licensed the technology, but it does not help at all to liberate the data from proprietary formats. How can one risk having one's vital assets stored in a format that one does not have sufficient control over, including the exact specifications for?
What happened to Kaydara (being acquired by Alias) and then Alias (being acquired by Autodesk) should remind everyone of the risks of using proprietary formats, and all of us should be asking for COLLADA to be widely supported by all DCC companies and different tool makers.
What tools and companies support COLLADA?
COLLADA is already available in many DCC tools and utilities, our constantly growing list is available here!
Even better, source code is available for many of these COLLADA plug-ins and tools. Many importers and exporters are written and supported directly by the DCC tool vendors. Although we encourage the use of the MIT-license, please check licensing for the given exporter.
Major supporters of COLLADA include Sony Computer Entertainment, NVIDIA, ATI, Softimage, Autodesk, Google and Intel. A number of game engines also support COLLADA including OGRE, C4, AgentFX, Multiverse, PhyreEngine and CryEngine.
What are the major features of this format?
We have defined the COLLADA schema and its COMMON profile. The schema defines the XML elements and attributes that enable COLLADA to represent many features using these XML building blocks. The COLLADA 1.4.x feature set includes:
- Mesh Geometry
- Transform hierarchy (rotation, translation, shear, scale, matrix)
- Effects
- Shaders (Cg, GLSL, GLES)
- Materials
- Textures
- Lights
- Cameras
- Skinning
- Animation
- Physics (rigid bodies, constraints, rag dolls, collision, volumes)
- Instancing
- Techniques
- Multirepresentations
- Assets
- User data
Additionally, the COMMON profile is the superset of all the common features that COLLADA supports across domains. At a minimum, all COLLADA-compatible tools need to be able to load and store such data, even if a given tool is not using the data.
Extensions are grouped into vendor- or application-specific technique profiles and are used for describing features where their design is not yet validated, but early exposure is desired.
What features are supported by the partner implementations?
There is, unfortunatly, a difference between what the format can handle and what is supported by the exporters and importers provided by the partners. The Khronos Group is working to provide a conformance test for COLLADA adopters to make it easier for developers to know what comforming implementations support.
In addition, the format is extensible by nature. One can use the same COLLADA schema to represent additional information that is not something that the team had in mind when designing the schema. Of course, it is also possible to extend the schema if one needs to do so.
Is COLLADA Open Source?
The COLLADA schema and specification are freely available from The Khronos Group.
The COLLADA DOM uses the SCEA Shared Source License, allowing usage in commercial and noncommercial applications, without restrictions. Some partners are releasing their import/export source code using the MIT license, some have more restricted licenses, but all the code is available for download.
How does COLLADA help developers?
Without COLLADA, every developer has to create their own exporters to extract the data from the tools that artists are using. This data is then repurposed for their game engines. This industry practice replicates the cost of data interchange within every development company.
With the increased data complexity expected from developers and periodic updates of the tools, this task is becoming increasingly difficult and resource consuming.
With COLLADA, we wanted to simplify this process. Developers can directly use the exporters that are provided by the tool vendors. These are not only maintained by the people who know the most of their tools, but they are also readily available with the new releases. Upgrading to the latest art packages will become easier on application developers, which translates into saving time and money.
In addition, COLLADA provides an import path back to the modeler, so it is now possible to create a variety of tools that can interact with the data outside the modelers.
Is COLLADA devoted only to the video game industry?
COLLADA is focusing on providing solutions for interactive applications, which of course includes the game industry. It can also be used in the movie industry for previsualization tools and asset management (such as motion tracking), also in real-time visual systems and other interactive applications, such as Google Earth.
Does COLLADA compete with middleware?
We view COLLADA as a complementary technology, not competitive. COLLADA enables different middleware and tools to communicate with one another.
Why make it multiplatform and not just PlayStation specific?
COLLADA is not platform specific. It is publicly available and not restricted to Sony platforms. Our initiative is to make content creation easier for every developer on any platform--including the PlayStation, of course. It is part of our strategy to help elevate the interactive entertainment industry to a next level of productivity.
MPEG 4 and X3D are standards in 3D (using XML); will COLLADA provide interchange with those formats?
We will probably see in the future more and more tools that transform COLLADA into various other formats. Some companies have already expressed their interest in producing such conversion tools. (update: COLLADA-to-X3D conversion tools are now available].)
How can I participate in the design of COLLADA?
Participating in the design of COLLADA requires contributor membership in The Khronos Group.
Using COLLADA
How do accessors work?
See Using accessors.
How do you represent skinning in COLLADA?
See Skinning.
How can I validate my COLLADA document against the COLLADA schema?
See Schema validation.
How do I correctly reference external documents from within a COLLADA document?
What is the COLLADA DOM and how do I use it?
See Portal:COLLADA DOM.