WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:13.040 **Speaker 1**: All right, let's jump in. We're looking at a software release with, I have to say, a pretty epic name: the Tooth of Time. **Speaker 2**: It really is. It's from the Illinois Department of Innovation and Technology, or DoIT. 00:00:13.040 --> 00:00:23.760 **Speaker 1**: And we should say that's pronounced "do it." **Speaker 2**: Exactly. And the name, it's from that 9,900-foot peak at Philmont Scout Ranch. And I think the name actually fits the mission here perfectly. 00:00:23.760 --> 00:00:35.320 **Speaker 1**: Okay, so what is that mission? Because this doesn't feel like a release about, you know, shiny new objects. **Speaker 2**: It's not. It's all about building a solid foundation. Think geological stability. They're hardening the bedrock of their whole Adobe Experience Manager platform, squashing bugs and really fine-tuning things. 00:00:35.320 --> 00:00:46.360 **Speaker 1**: So less flash, more function. I can get behind that. But I am seeing some powerful new tools in the notes. The elastic search data list caught my eye. **Speaker 2**: Yeah. 00:00:46.360 --> 00:01:00.640 **Speaker 1**: What is that exactly? Is it just a fancier kind of spreadsheet? **Speaker 2**: Oh, it's much more than that. Imagine you have this big messy dataset. This component takes it, organizes it into a clean list, but—and here's the kicker—it builds in search, sorting, and filtering right on the front end. 00:01:00.640 --> 00:01:10.960 **Speaker 1**: Wait, so you don't need a developer to build a custom query every single time you want to display a list of something? **Speaker 2**: That's it. It, you know, democratizes the data display. But while we're on the topic of data, we really have to talk about the new IP address feature for forms. 00:01:10.960 --> 00:01:23.840 **Speaker 1**: I saw that. It invisibly captures the IP address of whoever submits a form. I mean, that sounds risky. **Speaker 2**: It creates a real tension, doesn't it? And DoIT, to their credit, has attached a very, very loud warning label to this. 00:01:23.840 --> 00:01:34.960 **Speaker 2**: It's an optional feature, strictly for tracking and verification. But the release notes are crystal clear: do not turn this on unless you have fully vetted the security and privacy implications for your agency. 00:01:34.960 --> 00:01:46.400 **Speaker 1**: So it's like a loaded gun. They're saying, "Here it is, but know exactly where you're pointing it." **Speaker 2**: Precisely. Now, if that feature is about watching, the next big enhancement is all about forgiveness. They've completely changed the delete function. 00:01:46.400 --> 00:01:54.680 **Speaker 1**: With something called SOI Delete, right? And SOI is State of Illinois. **Speaker 2**: You got it. **Speaker 1**: So how is that different from just, you know, hitting the trash can icon? 00:01:54.680 --> 00:02:08.560 **Speaker 2**: Well, before, hitting delete was permanent. It was final. If you made a mistake, that asset was just gone. SOI Delete completely changes the workflow. It forces the system to first unpublish the page and then create a versioned backup before it gets removed. 00:02:08.560 --> 00:02:22.000 **Speaker 1**: So basically it prevents the "oops, I clicked too fast" disaster. **Speaker 2**: It's a safety net. It safeguards the entire agency against simple human error by creating that recovery point automatically. And speaking of making things easier, they've also standardized the rich text editor. Finally. 00:02:22.000 --> 00:02:32.400 **Speaker 1**: I noticed that. It used to be that you'd get different formatting tools depending on which component you were in, right? **Speaker 2**: It was so fragmented. Now it doesn't matter if you're in an agency footer or a callout box or a teaser. 00:02:32.400 --> 00:02:46.000 **Speaker 2**: You get the same toolset: all the headers, H1 through H6, horizontal rules, special characters. **Speaker 1**: It sounds minor, but not having to hunt for the copyright symbol or something is a huge quality-of-life improvement for a content manager. **Speaker 2**: It's a massive time saver. 00:02:46.000 --> 00:02:56.400 **Speaker 1**: Let's shift to the user experience for a minute. There's a fix here that I think everyone can celebrate, labeled "Silence is Golden." **Speaker 2**: The death of autoplay, thank goodness. It stops videos and audio from just blasting the second the page loads. 00:02:56.400 --> 00:03:07.720 **Speaker 1**: It's just good digital manners, really. But it's also a huge accessibility win. That sudden sound can be incredibly disorienting for screen reader users. **Speaker 2**: And it looks like they went deeper on accessibility, or A11Y, too. I'm seeing fixes for color contrast and "skip to main content" links. 00:03:07.720 --> 00:03:22.640 **Speaker 2**: Yeah, those skip links are vital for anyone navigating with a keyboard. But they had redundant alt text; it was just creating noise for screen readers. They also got rid of those weird, unnecessary scroll bars that would pop up in the month grid calendar view. Just a lot of cleanup. 00:03:22.640 --> 00:03:38.240 **Speaker 1**: It feels like a very mature, very precise release. They're even adding more granular search operators like "contains" and "is not equal to," plus new date formats. **Speaker 2**: That's the whole theme: precision and endurance. That's the Tooth of Time. 00:03:38.240 --> 00:03:52.440 **Speaker 1**: So here's the thought I'm left with, the point of friction I see. On one hand, you have SOI Delete. It's a system literally designed to protect us from ourselves, to forgive our mistakes. **Speaker 2**: Right. 00:03:52.440 --> 00:04:06.680 **Speaker 1**: And on the other hand, you have invisible IP tracking. A system designed to watch and verify us, to protect the machine from the user, in a way. **Speaker 2**: It's a fascinating duality. **Speaker 1**: So as we build out these huge government digital platforms, you have to wonder: are we prioritizing systems that protect us from our own mistakes, or systems that just watch us more closely?