Latest articles

A cartoon illustration of a person wearing a blue shirt and black trousers wearing headphones and a virtual reality headset standing side on looking at a screen.

Open source and virtual reality

During the last two Catathon days at Catalyst I hosted a virtual reality event, giving people an opportunity to experience virtual reality (VR) for the first time.

Logo for Create. Share. Engage podcast on a green background. Tagline reads Portfolio for learning and more.

Sharing portfolio stories with the world

The Mahara Project Team is excited to announce its podcast 'Create. Share. Engage.' which is dedicated to showcasing practises around portfolios for learning and more.

Doris Tam's journey in tech

Doris Tam’s journey to becoming a full-time Mahara developer at Catalyst began when she was still attending high school.

Te Wainui Aleisha and Chris standing in front of Ko Maui Hangarau banner.

Catalyst at Ko Māui Hangarau

The Catalyst Koha team was honoured to participate in Ko Māui Hangarau – Porirua, Te Whanganui-a-Tara (Wellington) on 17 May 2022.

mahara org pict4

Mahara 22.04: Search and support

Mahara 22.04 was released at the end of April by the Catalyst team. It contains a variety of new features, in particular around searching for content and supporting learners more efficiently.

Blue background with white text caption graphic reads: WCAG Web Content Accessibility Guidelines

A quick tip on designing accessible websites

There can be a lot to consider when designing an accessible website. After all, 1.1 million people in New Zealand identify as disabled, so creating experiences to suit their needs requires thoughtful consideration of your designs.

A laptop on a desk in front of a white brick wall with a coffee cup next to it, showing the WebAIM colour contrast checker tool.

Are you making this accessibility mistake on your website?

Web accessibility is critical for providing users with a complete and usable web experience. According to an accessibility evaluation of one million homepages conducted by the WebAIM Million Project, 97.4% of homepages had detected accessibility issues.

A Farewell Love Letter to Catalyst

After three years at Catalyst, I have made the tough decision to leave for my dream role. It's bittersweet - I was very happy here, but I know the new role is right for me.