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Accessing Feeds

Once you have one or more feeds created, the next step is to make sure your user/patrons are able to access the information your are importing.

There are various methods that could be used, one of the most common is to add a block directly to your homepage or another landing page; however you can also direct people to the feeds page through menu links, header buttons, other Stacks features, or a footer link.

No one method is necessarily the best, ultimately the best method is determined by how you want your users/patrons to find and navigate to content on your site.

Adding Feeds to a Landing Page

Adding feeds to your homepage or another landing page can be done in one of two ways, either via a pre-built RSS Block or by adding the feed and configuring the settings directly on the landing page, both methods will be discussed here.

RSS Block

By creating an RSS Block, you are in essence creating a block that is pre-filtered to display certain feed items, this block can then be added to any of the landing pages on your Stacks site. 

Creating RSS Blocks

  1. From the Dashboard, then click the Feeds tile
  2. Click RSS Block, then Add New
    1. Provide a Title for the block
    2. Select the RSS Date:
      1. All - to import all items available on the feed
      2. Upcoming - to import items with upcoming dates
    3. Select the RSS Sort:
      1. Ascending - oldest feed items first
      2. Descending - oldest feed items last
    4. Select the RSS Feeds to include in the RSS Block
      1. To select multiple feeds
        1. Windows - hold Ctrl key, then click the feeds
        2. Mac - hold Cmd key, then click the feeds
  3. Click the desired checkboxes to display:
    1. Date, Source, and Time of each RSS item
  4. Select the Display Limit
    1. The default value is None, which will display 10 RSS items
  5. Click Save

Adding a RSS Block to a Landing Page

  1. Navigate to the page you wish to add the form to
  2. Click the Layout tab just below the header
  3. If needed, add a new section to the landing page, otherwise go to step 4
    1. For instructions on adding new sections, see the article Layouts and Content
  4. In the desired section, click + Add block
    1. In the window that opens scroll to the RSS Block section; OR enter the block's title in the filter field at the top
    2. Once found, click the block's Title
      1. A window will open displaying the current Heading
        1. By default this will be the Title value entered when the rss block was created, you have 3 options
          1. Leave the heading as is, by default this will be visible to your users/patrons
          2. Change the heading name, click into the field and type in a new heading name
          3. Hide the heading, if you do not wish to show any heading, click the eyeball icon to the right
            1. The field (and helper text field below) will then be "greyed-out" and cannot be edited
        2. Helper Text, if applicable, enter a short description or instructions to provide guidance to the user/patron
          1. This will appear as an 'i' icon to the right of the heading, users/patrons can click or hover over the icon to view the helper text
        3. Subheading, if applicable, enter a value to display as a subheading
          1. Sub-Title URL, if applicable, enter the full URL to the page you wish to direct users/patrons to when they click the displayed subheading
          2. Open in new tab/window, if adding a Sub-Title URL, check this box to open that page in a new browser tab/window
      2. Click Add Block
  5. Scroll to the top of the page, then click Save Layout to save your changes

Adding a Feed to a Landing Page without a RSS Block

As mentioned feeds can be added to a page without the need of creating an RSS block, in this scenario, you'll see in the layout builder you can configure the same settings you would for a RSS block when adding a feed to a page. 

  1. Follow steps 1 through 4 from the instructions above
  2. In the window that opens scroll to the System Blocks section, then click RSS
    1. In the window that opens, review and if needed update the current Heading
      1. By default this will be RSS, you have 3 options
        1. Leave the heading as is, by default this will be visible to your users/patrons
        2. Change the heading name, click into the field and type in a new heading name
        3. Hide the heading, if you do not wish to show any heading, click the eyeball icon to the right
          1. The field (and helper text field below) will then be "greyed-out" and cannot be edited
      2. Helper Text, if applicable, enter a short description or instructions to provide guidance to the user/patron
        1. This will appear as an 'i' icon to the right of the heading, users/patrons can click or hover over the icon to view the helper text
      3. Subheading, if applicable, enter a value to display as a subheading
        1. Sub-Title URL, if applicable, enter the full URL to the page you wish to direct users/patrons to when they click the displayed subheading
        2. Open in new tab/window, if adding a Sub-Title URL, check this box to open that page in a new browser tab/window
      4. Show content from
        1. All, select this option display content from all your added feeds
        2. Specific item(s), select this option to display content from selected feeds
        3. Display date, check this box to display the rss item date
        4. Display time, check this box to display the rss item time
        5. Display source, check this box to display the rss item source
        6. Show pager
        7. Items, this will only appear if Specific item(s) has been selected
          1. Select the feed(s) to display in the block
        8. Sort by date, select the desired sort by option, select from
          1. Ascending or Descending
        9. Limit, enter a numerical value to set the number of rss items to be displayed in the block
    2. Click Add Block
  3. Scroll to the top of the page, then click Save Layout to save your changes

Menu Links

Stacks has 2 menu areas, the top menu and the main menu; either of which could be used to provide access to your feeds. The links used here could be to either the pre-built Stacks feeds list page (/news) or the URL alias of any RSS blocks you have created (as described above).

To add a menu link:

  1. From the Dashboard, click the Menus tile
  2. Under the Operations column, click List Links for either the Main Menu or Top Menu option (the following steps will be the same for both options)
  3. Click +Add Link
    1. Menu Link Title - enter the name you wish to appear in the menu
    2. Link - add the default path /feeds to direct users/patrons to the pre-built feed listing page
    3. Enabled, check this box to enable visibility to the link, or leave unchecked to hide it
    4. Language, if applicable, select the most appropriate language
    5. Domain (this area only applies to multi-domain sites)
      1. Domain Access, select the domain(s) that will use this menu link
      2. Send for all affliates, when enabled will make the menu link accessible on all domains
    6. Parent Link (on the right)
      1. Select <Main menu> - to add the link to the main menu
      2. Select <Top menu> - to add the link the top menu
      3. All previously added menu links will also be listed, select any other link to embed this link under your selection, like a drop-down
        1. Important! The show as expanded (explained below) must be selected for the parent link for all child links to be displayed
    7. Display Settings (on the right)
      1. Weight, enter a numerical value to dictate the placement of the link in the menu
        1. Alternatively, after creating this link, click and drag the 4-way arrow in the list links screen to manually adjust the order of appearance
      2. Show as expanded, check this box to display all children links below
    8. Description (on the right)
      1. Description, if applicable, add a brief description to display when hovering over the link
    9. Click Save to complete the addition of the new link

Header Button

Call to Action (CTA) buttons are up to 4 custom buttons that can be enabled in you header and used for navigating to content, other Stacks pages, or external websites. Depending on the header layout, these buttons typically appear beside or just under the main search bar in your header.

  1. From the Dashboard, click the System Configuration tile
  2. Click the Header tile, then the Header CTA Buttons option from the menu on the left
  3. Enable, check the box to enable the CTA button feature
  4. Header Button 1 through 4
    1. Title, enter the button name, this will be visible to the user/patron
    2. URL, enter the path to the feeds page, /feeds, or the URL alias of a created RSS Block
  5. Click Save configuration when done

Other Stacks Features

Another method to to direct users/patrons to your feeds is through another Stacks feature such as a Callout, Slider, or Custom Block as example. The advantage of using features like these in particular, are the image options that can be used as a way of drawing the attention to the content the user/patron may want to access.

As described in the menu link section above, the key to directing people to the feeds page is by using the path (/feeds or the URL alias of a created RSS Block) in the appropriate link or URL field. 

For more information on creating or editing features such as Callouts, Sliders, Custom Blocks, etc.. please see the associated user guide articles for the desired feature type. 

Footer Link

The footer of your Stacks site allows for the addition of custom content and links that can be used for navigating throughout your site, including the easyform you created. 

  1. From the Dashboard, click the System Configuration tile
  2. Click the Footer tile, then click the Custom Link option from the menu on the left
  3. Custom Link Title, enter a name for the custom link section, this can be enabled to be displayed in the footer if desired
  4. Display Title, check this box to display the Custom Link title in the footer section
  5. Custom Link 1 through 4, click the title to expand the section
    1. Custom Link Title, then the name for the link, this will be visible to the user/patron
    2. URL, enter the full URL to your database listing page
      1. Unlike other areas, this requires the full URL (for example: https://yoursitename.com/feeds)
  6. Click Save configuration when done
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