Release Notes

May 23rd, 2022:

1. [Feature] Deployed a new billing and subscription management system.
2. [Bug] Various fixes to password set and password reset were implemented.

May 11th, 2022:

1. [Feature] Various backend improvements were deployed for site performance and speed.
2. [Feature] IWI and EA hours have been made visible in the Course Catalog.
3. [Bug] No user feedback was being given when a user shares a blog post via email. This has been fixed.

April 8th, 2022:

1. [Feature] Added a separate download as a PDF function to blog posts.
2. [Feature] Updated the Quiz Type filter tool for quizzes for better user clarity.
3. [Bug] The most recent quiz was not showing up in the Members' Section. This has been fixed.
4. [Bug] Social sharing buttons would disappear as you scroll on mobile devices. This has been fixed.

March 25th, 2022:

1. [Feature] Various backend updates to increase site performance.
2. [Feature] Table headers for CE quiz tables now float as you scroll.
3. [Feature] Minor stylistic updates to the Course Catalog completed.
4. [Bug] In some circumstances users were getting back redirect URLs after logging in resulting in a "page not found" error. This has been fixed.

March 11th, 2022:

1. [Feature] Deployed a new caching method for sitewide performance enhancements.
2. [Feature] Logged in members can suggest topics from the right sidebar.
3. [Feature] CE Catalog updated to show new CE designations that Kitces now offers.
4. [Feature] Passive Scrolling was added for mobile devices.
5. [Feature] Minor stylistic updates to the Members Section.
6. [Feature] Members can still access their account information after their account has lapse now.
7. [Bug] Changing filtering options on quiz list pages was not updating results. This has been fixed.
8. [Bug] Some social sharing buttons were not properly working on mobile devices. This has been fixed.

February 25th, 2022:

1. [Feature] Updated image formats across the site to increase site performance.
2. [Feature] Allow filtering quizzes by CE type.

February 11th, 2022:

1. [Feature] Allow filtering quizzes on multiple categories at once.
2. [Feature] Stylistic updates to Conference List.
3. [Feature] New Basic members were missing navigation on the left side of the Members' Section. This has been fixed.

January 28th, 2022:

1. [Feature] Meghaan Lurtz was added as an available speaker.
2. [Feature] Members who attempt to take a quiz without any CE numbers entered will be asked first if they want to add a number.
3. [Feature] Resources referenced in podcasts are now consolidated into one location.
4. [Feature] Various stability updates have been added to our server and backend code.

January 14th, 2022:

1. [Feature] Added addition form validation to email signup forms to prevent incorrect email addresses from being accepted.
2. [Bug] In rare occasions, members would be redirected to a black admin section with no fuctionality. This has been fixed.
3. [Bug] Some readers were seeing blog posts being advertised as being available for CE when the reader did not have a proper account. This has been fixed.

December 31st, 2021:

1. [Feature] Enabled the ability for reader accounts.
2. [Feature] Added Unix date format for the Kitces event RSS feed.
3. [Feature] Added the ability to see past conferences on the Master Conference page.
4. [Feature] Added field validation to CE numbers under My Account to ensure accuracy when reporting CE.
5. [Feature] Added ability to get a new password reset link with one click if the old link had expired.
6. [Bug] Left navigation on blog posts would "double up" when the headline included a link. This has been fixed.
7. [Bug] Some members were seeing expiration dates of 1970. This has been fixed.

December 17th, 2021:

1. [Bug] Articles related to expired quizzes were showing review questions. This has been fixed.
2. [Bug] Some articles were linking current members to a purchase page instead of the related quiz. This has been fixed.
3. [Bug] New members were receiving expired password links. This has been fixed.
4. [Bug] Some members were seeing outdated expiration dates for their accounts. This has been fixed.

December 3rd, 2021:

1. [Feature] Added a new member feature to show recent articles that the member may have missed reading.
2. [Feature] Added a close modal link for various onsite modals.
3. [Feature] Minor formatting and stylistic changes to the Master Conference page.

November 19th, 2021:

1. [Feature] New members now receive a link to create a new password rather than a temporary password.
2. [Feature] Added language and UX feedback to make password rules more clear.
3. [Feature] The member help button has been updated to a new version.

November 5th, 2021:

1. [Feature] Minor formatting and stylistic changes to the Master Conference page.
2. [Bug] Expiration date was missing for members. This has been fixed.

October 22nd, 2021:

1. [Feature] Updated SMTP server to reduce the likelihood that billing information emails would end up in spam for Gmail users.
2. [Feature] Deployed a new page layout for signing up for Kitces Summits.
3. [Bug] Some non-quiz related forms were unnecessarily displaying time and date information for CE. This has been fixed.

October 8th, 2021:

1. [Bug] In rare cases, when a user signed up for a new account, login access was not being granted. This has been fixed.
2. [Bug] Some users were receiving CE certificates that had the time AM and PM switched. This has been fixed.
3. [Bug] In specific cases, when a user requested a password reset, the user would get stuck in a login loop. This has been fixed.

September 24th, 2021:

1. [FEATURE] Launched a new Members Section Home page.
2. [FEATURE] Made stylistic changes to the main navigation to improve readability in tablet sized devices.
3. [FEATURE] Styles of "Rate This Article" have been standardized and moved into the left side bar for blog posts.
4. [Bug] Time zone information was unnecessarily showing up in the Change Password form. This has been removed.
5. [Bug] Some members were incorrectly receiving a "Welcome" email when changing their password. This has been fixed.
6. [Bug] When scrolling to the bottom of the site on a mobile device, a bouncing effect would scroll the user up slightly. This has been fixed.
7. [Bug] CE quizzes with no credit for EA would display "{ea_program_id}"and "{ea_hours}" for the program ID and credit hours. This has been removed.
8. [Bug] Some new members were receiving blank passwords in their Welcome email. This has been fixed.

September 10th, 2021:

1. [BUG] The Kitces Event Page was showing a live event as both live and past. This has been fixed.

August 27th, 2021:

1. [FEATURE] Logged in users can now close the right sidebar on the Nerd's Eye View Blog.
2. [FEATURE] Minor style changes were made to the main navigation on mobile view.
3. [BUG] The CE Catalog was displaying outdated availability statuses on several items. This has been fixed.

August 13th, 2021:

1. [FEATURE] The report data and time are now listed before and after blog quizzes for members.
2. [FEATURE] An Eastern Time Zone timestamp is now included on blog CE quiz certificates.
3. [FEATURE] More new administrative features have been created for Kitces staff to better assist users when they have an issue with their account.
4. [BUG] Some new users were missing a link to manage their subscription status from "My Account". This has been fixed.
5. [BUG] Pages with embedded PDFs would sometimes experience scroll bouncing when reaching the bottom of the page. This has been fixed.

July 30th, 2021:

1. [FEATURE] New administrative features have been created for Kitces staff to better assist users when they have an issue with their account.
2. [BUG] Some new users were not receiving passwords when they signed up. This has been fixed.
3. [BUG] Expired accounts were not having account status update in the website. This has been fixed.

July 16th, 2021:

1. [FEATURE] A published date column has been added to the Webinars page.
2. [FEATURE] A new email system has been put in place for the Nerd's Eye View blog posts.
3. [BUG] Numerous SEO fixes were applied. These were mostly redirects from bad or outdated URLs.

July 2nd, 2021:

1. [FEATURE] An entirely new and overhauled login, authentication, and permission management backend has been deployed.
2. [BUG] Very rare cases of blog post content was not appearing. This has been fixed.
3. [BUG] Some pages were redirecting to incorrect locations causing indexing issues for search engines.
4. [BUG] Blog table of contents were showing too many headlines as links. They have been removed

June 18th, 2021:

1. [FEATURE] Added framework for table of contents on Weekend Reading.
2. [FEATURE] Updated styles for blog posts for small laptops and tablets.

June 4th, 2021:

1. [Bug] Notification banners with short content were displaying slightly off center. This has been fixed.
2. [Bug] Feedback form after completing a quiz was the incorrect form. This has been fixed.

May 21st, 2021:

1. [FEATURE] Added table of contents navigation to blog posts.
2. [FEATURE] Banner notifications now appear and disappear automatically at midnight (Eastern Time).
3. [Bug] Recommend podcast guest was being redirected to the contact us form. This has been fixed.

May 7th, 2021:

1. [FEATURE] Migrated entire site to a new server.
2. [Bug] Some quiz pages were showing up in search results. This has been fixed.
3. [Bug] Some individuals were not getting CE certificates for webinars immediately after a live webinar. All users now receive certificates automatically.
4. [Bug] Some basic members did not have access to most recent blog quizzes. This has been fixed.
5. [Bug] A small number of basic members had access to all blog quizzes. This has been fixed.

April 23rd, 2021:

1. [FEATURE] Blog posts now have a fix header that will scroll with the reader.
2. [FEATURE] Nerd Notes can now display the author's 8-bit image.
3. [Bug] Downloading PDF version of the blog articles had a large blank area on the first page. This has been fixed.
4. [Bug] Podcast blog posts had double requests for signup. This has been reduced to one.

April 9th, 2021:

1. [FEATURE] New pages and templates were created for the Kitces Marketing Summit.
2. [Bug] Meta page description data being sent to search engines had extra "/" characters in it. This has been fixed.
3. [Bug] Some page redirections were not working correctly. This has been fixed.

March 26th, 2021:

1. [FEATURE] A new backend structure for generating resource lists has been deployed.
2. [FEATURE] When no matches are found for a search, a suggestion and quick link to advanced search is provided.
3. [Bug] Some logged in users were getting sidebar requests to sign up for NEV when they already had signed up. This has been fixed.
4. [Bug] Some links that required member logins were not correctly redirecting to the requested page. This has been fixed.

March 12th, 2021:

1. [FEATURE] Top level navigation has been updated.
2. [Bug] Google search results including multiple "/" in meta descriptions. This has been fixed.

February 26th, 2021:

1. [FEATURE] Clarified the use of the word "course" on the website.
2. [Bug] Starting month in advanced search results was missing. This has been fixed.
3. [Bug] Google search results were adding extra "/" to special characters in page titles. This has been fixed.
4. [Bug] Friendly print was not generating clean and printable documents. This has been fixed.

February 12th, 2021:

1. [FEATURE] Improved email deliverability for support emails.
2. [FEATURE] Added ability to search conferences by in-person or virtual.
3. [FEATURE] Updated styles of
   

   headers to make blog subsections easier to identify.

4. [Bug] Fixed the email link on the "There's a Problem" page if users cannot access content.
5. [Bug] URL redirects were not working if there were capitalized letters. This has been fixed.
6. [Bug] Certain share buttons on blog posts disappeared. This has been fixed.

January 29th, 2021:

1. [FEATURE] A new automated group intake form has been added to the website.
2. [FEATURE] A new page has been created for webinar events.
3. [FEATURE] NPS survey has been added to the blog pages.
4. [FEATURE] A notice of unsupported features for IE users has been added.

January 12th, 2021:

1. [FEATURE] Qualifying quizzes for CE credit have been updated.
2. [FEATURE] Right-side navigation has been updated to hide sign-up requests if the visitor has already signed up.
3. [FEATURE] Ethics has been added as a searchable category in the CE Course Catalog.
4. [FEATURE] Link lists for Kitces speaking engagement landing pages have been updated.

December 29th, 2020:

1. [FEATURE] Certain Nerd's Eye View Blog sign-ups have been removed if you've already signed up.
2. [FEATURE] Social share buttons on blog pages have been changed to green to be easier to use.
3. [BUG] Certain advanced author search would show author email instead of author name as the search term. This has been fixed.

December 15th, 2020:

1. [FEATURE] Added American College to our CE reporting. A new field in the user section has been added to support this.

December 1st, 2020:

1. [FEATURE] Set up a feedback system for support tickets.
2. [BUG] Some users were not able to signup for the Nerd's Eye Blog from the right sidebar. This has been fixed.

November 17th, 2020:

1. [FEATURE] Updated podcast signup for new blog posts related to podcasts.
2. [BUG] Logged in Basic members were seeing links to quizzes that they do not have access to. This has been fixed.
3. [FEATURE] A new option has been added to the "Out and About" schedule page to filter between all events and only upcoming events.
4. [BUG] Searching by authors in advanced search would give incomplete results when blog posts had multiple authors. This has been fixed.

November 3rd, 2020:

1. [FEATURE] Set up automation between our webinar service and email system to speed up delivery of CE certificates after a webinar.
2. [Bug] An update to our authentication broke the ability for members to update their certification numbers. This has been fixed.
3. [Bug] Kitces authors were also showing up as guest authors in advanced search. This has been fixed.
4. [Bug] When Basic members reached a Premier membership page, the error said their account expired. The text has been updated to reflect lack of permissions.

October 20th, 2020:

1. [FEATURE] Added advanced search options to blog search.
2. [FEATURE] Improved Kitces.com email identification.
3. [Bug] Fixed an issue with search engines indexing incorrect URLs.
4. [Bug] Fixed an issue with search engines not finding the correct metadata for conference pages.

October 6th, 2020:

1. [FEATURE] Signup code has been improved for site optimization.
2. [FEATURE] Streamlined backend reporting for CE credit.

September 22nd, 2020:

1. [FEATURE] The backend code for login has been refactored to increase performance.
2. [BUG] Nerd icon in print view was too large. This has been resized.
3. [BUG] The print button was not working in Chrome and Safari browsers. This has been fixed.
4. [BUG] If a user attempted to submit a search query after having already submitted one, no new results would appear. This has been fixed.
5. [BUG] Right arrow buttons on sliders throughout the site were not advancing the slides. This has been fixed.
6. [BUG] Several contact forms on the public side of the site were not appearing. This has been fixed.

September 8th, 2020:

1. [BUG] Certain unnecessary elements were appearing in the "Print Version" of blog posts. Those have been removed.
2. [BUG] Members who had their personal credit card expire after being upgraded to a group subscription erroneously received in-app messaging about needing to update their card.
3. [FEATURE] Formatting for the quiz table headers has been improved to reduce confusion.
4. [FEATURE] An additional question was added to the signup process asking new users how did they hear about Kitces.

August 25th, 2020:

1. [FEATURE] The ability to rate blog articles on a 1 to 5 scale has been added to all blog posts.
2. [FEATURE] Members who log in will no longer receive slide down/slide in requests to sign up for our mailing list
3. [FEATURE] Quizzes are now tagged by category.
4. [FEATURE] Quizzes can be filtered by category.
5. [BUG] Google was indexing and showing Kitces notification banners in search results. This has been blocked.

August 11th, 2020:

1. [FEATURE] The ability to rate blog articles on a 1 to 5 scale has been added (although not deployed to all articles).
2. [FEATURE] Course catalog now links directly to individual CE quizzes.
3. [FEATURE] The catalog has also been added as a link to the members' home page.
4. [FEATURE] A new alert for members who have credit cards that are about to expire (within 31 days) will appear on login.
5. [BUG] Text for the blog search button was not properly aligned vertically. This has been fixed.
6. [BUG] Users who sign up for the Nerd's Eye View mailing should no longer be asked via slide down messages if they would like to join.

July 27th, 2020:

1. [BUG] Some new users were not getting a proper account created to log into the members section. This has been fixed.
2. [FEATURE] Ethics CE quiz is not list first in the Blog Quizzes section. It will be sticky to the top of the list.
3. [BUG] A link to Weekend Reading blog category was unresolvable and causing errors for search engines and users. This has been fixed.

July 13th, 2020:

1. [FEATURE] Added "Nerd Notes" as a stylistic blockquote to the blog posts.
2. [FEATURE] Created new styles for on-site announcements to the blog.
3. [FEATURE] Upgrade to our backend subscription management system to enable more user-friendly features.
4. [BUG] Fixed an issue where search engines were reading certain files twice.
5. [BUG] Some members' PTIN numbers were not saving properly. This has been fixed.

June 30th, 2020:

1. [BUG] Ethics CE articles were only showing up in the CE Eligible blog category if you were logged in. Now all visitors will see the ethics CE articles there.
2. [FEATURE] New consulting page has been released with Craig Iskowitz as a new consultant for Kitces.
3. [FEATURE] CFP Board complaint post quiz questions have been added to the Ethics CE quiz.
4. [BUG] A link that was provided after password reset would take users to a login screen with an error message. This has been fixed.
5. [FEATURE] Blog posts that are CE eligible but do not have a released quiz yet will now alert logged in users that the quiz is coming soon.

June 16th, 2020:

1. [FEATURE] Added forms to add PTIN number to signup page.
2. [BUG] Share buttons on mobile were stacked closely together. This has been fixed.
3. [BUG] Some members were receiving multiple or incorrect. This has been fixed.

June 2nd, 2020:

1. [FEATURE] Added the ability to receive Enrolled Agent (EA) CE credit.
2. [FEATURE] Added a place in the member's account information to add a PTIN number for Enrolled Agent (EA) CE credit.
3. [FEATURE] Added the ability to list multiple job openings at once on the Careers Page.
4. [FEATURE] Additional metadata added to blog posts.

May 19th, 2020:

1. [FEATURE] The speaking page has been updated to better reflect virtual speaking opportunities.
2. [FEATURE] Added "CE Eligible" as a blog category.
3. [FEATURE] Improved feedback created in case of a user attempting to create a new account with a previously registered email address.
4. [FEATURE] Added "Typo/Correction" as a contact option in our main contact form.
5. [FEATURE] Added the ability to click-to-view larger versions of certain charts and graphs in blog posts.
6. [BUG] Fixed blog posts meta description so that accurate information would appear in search engine results as the page description.

May 5th, 2020:

1. [FEATURE] Removed right sidebar in members section to give more room for content and quizzes.
2. [FEATURE] Rebuilt XML site map for better searchability.
3. [FEATURE] Automated members renewal information for record-keeping.
4. [BUG] Blog posts with active CE quizzes were not giving links to the quiz for signed in members. This has been fixed.

April 21st, 2020:

1. [FEATURE] Updated Privacy Policy added and posted in site footer and during purchasing process.
2. [BUG] Quiz certificates on second attempts were showing the score from the first attempt. This has been fixed.
3. [BUG] Quiz statues were not updated after two failed attempts.
4. [FEATURE] Updated the change email form for members to be easier to complete.
5. [BUG] An extra white gap was appearing on many pages. This gap has been removed.

April 7th, 2020:

1. [FEATURE] "Our Team" page was added to the top navigation that features all team members here at Kitces.
2. [BUG] Home page blog articles always showed 0 comments even if there were comments on the article.
3. [BUG] Some forms were showing disclaimers about CE credit even if the form was unrelated to CE (such as contact us).

March 24th, 2020:

1. [FEATURE] A button was added to retake quizzes directly if the user failed the first time.
2. [BUG] We fixed and streamlined the redirect links to quizzes. This also makes external links into the quizzes possible (with an authentication step).
3. [FEATURE] Updates to how icons appear on Kitces.com to improve site performance.
4. [Bug] Made changes to the process to automatically remind users their account is coming up for renewal. This process should be more consistent.
5. [FEATURE] CE reporting to IWI is now reported by credit category type (General Financial Planning, Taxes & Regulations, and Ethics).

March 10th, 2020:

1. [FEATURE] Multiple improvements to page load speed, especially for mobile devices.
2. [BUG] Fixed missing icons on several pages including pricing page, members' section, and blog posts.
3. [BUG] Some Basic members could not access new webinar quizzes. This has been fixed.
4. [FEATURE] Created an improved user experience for expired quizzes, including better communication to end-user about the status.
5. [BUG] Standardized column width on speaking schedule page.
6. [BUG] Conference listings were incorrectly showing up in onsite search results. This has been fixed.

February 25th, 2020:

1. [BUG] In some cases password autofill software was incorrectly populating the search bar with the account name. A fix was released to reduce this likelihood.
2. [BUG] “Nerd’s Eye View” category was added as an option to the blog dropdown in the main navigation.
3. [BUG] Quizzes with two failed attempts were not listed correctly to the end-user. Now a “Did Not Pass” notice along with a strikethrough over the quiz name will appear to notify the user that the quiz is no longer available due to too many failed attempts. 
4. [FEATURE] A spam checker was added to the blog email share feature to prevent nefarious use of our share feature.
5. [BUG] Hotmail, Outlook.com, and MSN email users were not receiving password reset emails. This has been fixed.
6. [FEATURE] “Nerd’s Eye View Praise” rotation in the right bar has been set to rotate for a maximum of three times to reduce distractions while reading Kitces content.