BB Better Layout

Appearance

Changelog ​

This file records notable user-facing and maintenance changes to BB Better Layout. Release entries use the version from manifest.json and the date format YYYY-MM-DD.

Unreleased ​

  • Open existing Study Note notes in Preview by default while keeping newly created notes ready to edit in Write mode.

v2.12.3 - 2026-08-29 ​

  • Match the Dashboard navigation drawer, legal footer links, and collapse control to the active Appearance instead of exposing Blackboard's native dark footer background.

v2.12.2 - 2026-08-29 ​

  • Replace Rose Reading with a brighter Cute Pink Appearance while preserving accessible reading contrast.
  • Open Blackboard's native Your Courses switcher from the Courses shortcut on single-course pages without changing Course Content or Roster search behavior.
  • Add Arrow Up/Down result selection, Enter navigation, and Escape closing to the Your Courses search field.
  • Center the native Your Courses dialog and match its surfaces, text, borders, tabs, results, and selected states to the active Appearance.
  • Fix the themed Your Courses search field and its focus-state label mask so the background, floating label, caret, and typed text remain readable in every Appearance.

v2.12.1 - 2026-08-15 ​

  • Add a dependency-free Markdown editor to Study Note with Write and Preview modes, a formatting toolbar, keyboard shortcuts, and safe DOM-based rendering.
  • Support headings, emphasis, strikethrough, links, quotes, ordered and unordered lists, task lists, code blocks, horizontal rules, and tables in Study Note previews.
  • Display incomplete and completed task boxes reliably inside Blackboard, and strike through completed task text.
  • Convert a selected HTTP(S) or mailto URL into a Markdown link while keeping the link label selected for immediate editing.
  • Add a one-time Markdown writing example to Quick Notes without recreating it after the user deletes it.
  • Change Study Note JSON import from replacement to append-only merging, add CSV backup import, reuse matching notebook names, and regenerate colliding IDs instead of overwriting local data.
  • Enable Show Study Note and Show Weekly Schedule by default for installations without a saved preference while preserving an explicit disabled setting.
  • Replace Schedule's imported-course-only selector with an editable course combobox that accepts manual course names and still fills course, teacher, day, and time fields from imported choices.

v2.12.0 - 2026-08-15 ​

  • Add an optional device-local weekly Schedule workspace to Blackboard's main side panel.
  • Add an options-page switch that enables or disables Schedule without deleting saved timetable data.
  • Import course codes, names, meeting days, meeting times, and instructor details only after the user clicks Import on the Blackboard Courses page.
  • Parse compact Blackboard meeting-day formats, including combined weekday codes and Saturday schedules.
  • Import each instructor's first name and preserve Blackboard's Multiple Instructors label when a course uses the multi-user instructor control.
  • Let users add, edit, delete, color-code, and save schedule entries with course, teacher, day, time, and Room fields.
  • Provide editable teacher suggestions and preserve local teacher overrides, manual entries, Room values, and colors across subsequent course imports.
  • Display a live current-time line with a visible minute label and update it on every exact minute.
  • Refresh the highlighted day and all week date labels automatically across daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly boundaries.
  • Improve one-hour and shorter course cards so course names remain readable while Room and time details stay visible.

v2.11.0 - 2026-08-15 ​

  • Replace the previously hard-coded sidebar destinations with user-defined external links.
  • Add an options-page switch that hides or shows custom links without deleting their saved configuration.
  • Let users add, edit, and remove up to six external destinations with a name, HTTP(S) URL, and Google Material icon.
  • Validate stored and submitted links, reject non-HTTP(S) destinations, and open accepted links in a separate tab with opener isolation.
  • Update custom links immediately when synchronized extension settings change, including during Blackboard SPA navigation.
  • Keep the Dashboard navigation scrollable when additional links exceed the available viewport height.
  • Bundle the Apache-2.0 Google Material Icons font locally for the options-page icon picker.
  • Match Blackboard's official Courses-page To Do panel to the selected Appearance palette.
  • Theme the To Do surface, divider, headings, secondary text, accordion states, assignment hover states, date badges, empty states, and icons with stable semantic selectors.
  • Preserve Blackboard's overdue warning colors while applying readable theme colors to the surrounding item content.

v2.10.5 - 2026-08-15 ​

  • Add a footer control that collapses the Dashboard main navigation from its full width to a persistent 64px icon rail.
  • Use Google Material Symbols right_panel_open and right_panel_close for the navigation control without a visible text label.
  • Keep native and extension navigation icons available while the panel is collapsed, and expand the Dashboard content into the released space.
  • Hide Privacy, Terms, and Accessibility while the navigation is collapsed, with the open-panel control remaining at the bottom edge.
  • Remember the collapsed navigation preference in device-local extension storage across page reloads and Blackboard SPA navigation.
  • Ignore incomplete synthetic keyboard events and malformed legacy shortcut settings instead of raising an undefined.toLowerCase() extension error.

v2.10.4 - 2026-08-13 ​

  • Keep the desktop main navigation above the Study Note workspace so its right-edge shadow remains visible.
  • Preserve full Study Note coverage on narrow screens.

v2.10.3 - 2026-08-13 ​

  • Present the popup description as a left-aligned subtitle and unordered feature list.

v2.10.2 - 2026-08-13 ​

  • Align Study Note and extension-provided navigation labels in the main navigation.
  • Remove hard-coded non-breaking spaces from custom navigation labels and rely on shared icon spacing.

v2.10.1 - 2026-08-13 ​

  • Replace Todo Calendar with a notes-only Study Note workspace.
  • Add notebooks with create, rename, and delete controls.
  • Add note search, notebook filtering, and multi-select note deletion.
  • Add a configurable global shortcut for opening the Quick Study Note dialog from any Blackboard page.
  • Preserve unsaved note and notebook changes with confirmation prompts before leaving Study Note.
  • Correct Study Note navigation highlighting when switching between Study Note and Blackboard pages.
  • Improve editor, search, action button, notebook selector, typography, and form-control alignment.
  • Keep Study Note data device-local with JSON backup import/export and CSV export.

v2.10.0 - 2026-08-13 ​

  • Add an optional Todo Calendar workspace to Blackboard's main navigation.
  • Add monthly and Backlog task views with drag-and-drop date changes.
  • Add task priorities, notes, completion tracking, and task search.
  • Store Todo data only in device-local Chrome Extension storage.
  • Add JSON backup import/export and CSV export.
  • Add Todo Calendar settings, privacy documentation, and manual regression checks.

v2.9.1 - 2026-08-10 ​

  • Add 10px of internal top spacing above the vertical course-navigation items without moving the navigation container.

v2.9.0 - 2026-08-10 ​

  • Add soft header shadows to Courses, Calendar, Messages, Grades, and Tools pages.
  • Add soft full-height shadows to the main navigation drawer and vertical course navigation.
  • Prevent Appearance colors and Blackboard's multiply blend mode from tinting custom course covers.
  • Add mouse, touch, and keyboard course-cover positioning with a center reset control.

v2.8.0 - 2026-08-10 ​

  • Remove the empty horizontal course-navigation space after the tools move into the vertical sidebar.
  • Add a device-local custom course cover image setting with automatic WebP resizing and compression.
  • Add a subtle shadow below the Activity Stream header to separate it from the content area.

v2.7.0 - 2026-08-10 ​

  • Add Graphite, Aqua, and Rose reading themes with low-saturation surfaces and accessible text contrast.
  • Apply the selected Appearance palette to Blackboard's main navigation and course navigation.
  • Detect duplicate extension shortcuts while recording and remind users about browser, operating-system, and Blackboard shortcut conflicts.

v2.6.0 - 2026-08-02 ​

  • Add a course search dialog to the configured search shortcut on the Courses page.
  • Add Arrow Up/Down result selection and Enter navigation to course search.
  • Open Blackboard's native Course Content search from course outline pages.
  • Open Blackboard's native member search from Roster pages.
  • Preserve Blackboard's native search fields and result styling on outline and Roster pages.
  • Clear the Courses-page search filter when the search dialog is dismissed or a result is opened.
  • Navigate search results with CSP-safe course outline URLs instead of Blackboard's javascript: card links.
  • Add a standalone changelog for future release tracking.
  • Add a manual regression checklist for Blackboard pages and extension settings.
  • Split the content script into focused theme, banner, sidebar, Group Space, back-to-top, and shared utility modules.
  • Keep content.js as the SPA initialization coordinator and declare module load order in manifest.json.

Legacy notes through v2.5.1 ​

The following historical notes were migrated from the previous README summary. Earlier releases did not record which individual version introduced each item.

  • Add new appearance options.
  • Fix keyboard shortcuts.
  • Improve the layout.
  • Add the back-to-top button.