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Accessing News Articles

There are various ways to add news articles to your Stacks site, this could include adding a content block on your homepage or any other landing page, adding links to individual articles or the news article listing page, header buttons, though other Stacks features, or as 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 this content. 

This article will explain these various methods for directing users/patrons to your news articles, as well as the settings that can be configured to control the display of the new article listing page and the content seen on the news article detail view.

Content Block on the Homepage (or other Landing Pages)

Content blocks can be added to any section on your homepage or any other landing page as you see fit.

  1. Navigate to the page you wish to add the block to
  2. Click the Layout tab just under the header
  3. Scroll to the section where the block should be placed
    1. For more information on how to add a new section, see the Layouts and Content article
  4. Click + Add block
    1. A window will open on the right listing the content that can be added to the section
      1. Content will be organized by feature type, scroll to the System Blocks section, then click News Articles 
        1. In the next window, configure the appearance of the block, starting with the Heading, here 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 heading field (and the 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
        4. 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
        5. Open in new tab/window, if adding a Sub-Title URL, check this box to open that page in a new browser tab/windowIn the window that opens a default heading will be displayed, you have 3 options
        6. Click Add Block

Menu Links

Stacks has 2 menu areas, the main menu and the top menu, either will allow for custom links for navigating to your news article listing page.

  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 /news to direct users/patrons to the pre-built news 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 (or CTA) buttons are up to 4 custom buttons that can be enabled in the 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 this 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 or URL to the page users/patrons will be directed to when the button is clicked
      1. For the news article listing page, enter the path /news in the URL field
    3. Click Save configuration when done

Other Stacks Features

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

As described in the sections above, the key to directing people to your news article listing page is by using the path /news in the appropriate Link or URL field.

For more information on creating or editing content such as Callouts, Sliders, Custom Blocks, etc. please see the associated user guide article(s) 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 news listing page. 

  1. From the Dashboard, click the System Configuration tile
  2. Click the Footer tile, then the Contact Info option from the menu on the left
  3. In the Staff Directory URL field, enter the full URL to your directory listing page
    1. Unlike other areas, this requires the full URL (example: https://yoursitename.com/news)
  4. Click Save configuration when done

Settings for the News Listing Page

There are a few settings that can be configured to control the appearance list and detail views when viewing articles.

  • The Listing View will be the default view users/patrons will see when navigating to the /news page of your Stacks site, where they will see a list of all published news articles
  • The Details View will be the view users/patrons will see when they click on any one article to read/view the full article
  1. From the Dashboard, click the News articles tile
  2. Click the Settings tab near the top of the screen,
  3. Click the Listing View sub-tab
    1. Enable Listing View, when checked this enables access to the listing view for the news articles
      1. If disabled, when a user attempts to load the URL for this content, they will be redirected to the homepage 
    2. Title, edit the title for the page if desired, the default value is News
    3. Description, enter a description for the page if desired, this will be visible to users/patrons
    4. Display section
      1. Expand First Group by Default, check this box to expand the items, when they are grouped
      2. Display search form, check this box to display a search bar for news articles
      3. Display A-Z Link Index, check this box to display a link on the list view when "Group by None" is selected
      4. Enable Rss Feeds, check this box to display the RSS icon at the top of the articles list
        1. When a user/patron clicks this icon, the XML for the feed will be generated
          1. Note: any filters or search terms applied will be respected when the feed when the icon is clicked
      5. Enable Add to saved list button, check this box to enable a save to list button
    5. Defaults section
      1. Default Page Limit, select the number of articles to be displayed before pagination is enforced
      2. Default Grouping, select the default value articles should be grouped by
        1. Note: users/patrons can change this when viewing the list of articles
      3. Default Sort Field, select the default value articles should be sorted by
      4. Default Sort Order, select the default order in which articles should be sorted
        1. Note: users/patrons can change this when viewing the list of articles
    6. Field Visibility section
      1. Check the box beside each field that should be made visible to users/patrons when viewing the list of articles
    7. Click Save configuration when finished
  4. Click the Details View sub-tab
    1. Field Visibility section
      1. Check the box beside each field that should be made visible to users/patrons when viewing the list of articles
    2. Enable Add to saved list button, check this box to enable a save to list button
    3. Click Save configuration when finished
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