GabrielSoft - News module: How it works

The News module allows you to feature timely content on your website, such as announcements, special messages, or even your own blog articles. Before adding plain text to your homepage using the Text/HTML module, consider using the News module instead!

How to create a news item or blog post

Navigate to the page on which you would like the News module to appear. Then, click Add Content > Core Modules, and click to drag and drop the News module onto the page.

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Add a news item / blog post

Once the News module has been added to the page, it will be empty. The next step is to add a news item to the module.

1. Click on the (+) icon that appears when you hover your cursor over the module.
2. Add the news / post details in the Basic News Settings dialog that appears (e.g., Title, Summary, etc.). Once you’ve added all the appropriate information, click Save.

Once you click Publish, the news item / blog post will appear in the News module on your website.

How to edit news items or blog posts

Hover your cursor over an individual news item or post and click on the  settings icon to access the news settings detailed below. There are four tabs within the News Settings dialog: Basic, Advanced, Social, and Pages.

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Basic news settings

Here's a breakdown of all basic news settings:

• Title
• Summary - Write a summary of the news item or blog post. (The summary is visible in the module without requiring visitors to click on the news item.)
• Full Details - Use the WYSIWYG editor to add full details for the news item. If creating a blog post, this is where you'll add the entire post. (This information is visible on the news item's page, which appears after visitors click on the news item's title).
• Link - Instead of adding full details, you can choose to direct your visitors to a specific internal or external URL, upload a new document directly from the module settings, or link to a document that already exists in your File Manager, upon clicking on the news item's title.

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Advanced news settings

Here's a breakdown of all advanced news settings:

• Alias - Edit the news item's alias (i.e., the URL that points directly to the news item's page).
• News Date - Enter the date on which the news item / blog post should be published.
• Archive After Date - Enter the date after which the news item / post should be archived.
• Author - Include the author of the news item / post
• Picture - Click Add Picture to upload a thumbnail image to display next to the news item's title and summary within the module. (The image will be cropped to 128 x 128 pixels.)
• Enable News Comments - Turn On to enable visitors to comment on your news items or blog posts (powered by Disqus). Then, follow the instructions in How to enable News Comments using Disqus to complete the setup.

NOTE: When a news item is archived, it no longer appears in the news module. Instead, it is visible on your site's News page.

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Social Media settings for news

In the Social tab, you can customize the way the news item appears on Facebook or Twitter if its URL is shared. Here's a breakdown of the types of metadata you can customize:

• Share Image - Upload the image you want to appear in the Facebook Newsfeed when the news item's URL is shared (must be at least 1200 x 628 pixels in size).
• Article Title - Enter the headline you'd like to appear with the shared URL in the Facebook Newsfeed (keep it under 60 characters to ensure it won't get cut off on Facebook).
• Article Description - Enter the brief details you'd like to appear with the shared URL in the Facebook Newsfeed (keep it under 160 characters to ensure it won't get cut off on Facebook).

Within the Pages tab, click the green arrows to tag specific pages on which you'd like the news item / blog post to appear. A single news item can be tagged to appear on multiple pages; however, you'll need to ensure the News module has been added to each of the tagged pages for the post to be visible.

NOTE: Each news item / blog post is tagged to appear on the homepage by default. Click the red X to remove a tag to a specific page.

Deleting a news item

Hover your cursor over an individual news item / post and click its trash can icon to delete it.