News item

Owned by Charlotte Armstrong
Last updated: May 17, 2024 by Katie McElroy
6 min read

Create a News item

  1. From the administration bar, select Workbench then My Dashboard.

The University of Waterloo website, with red boxes highlighting the Workbench and My Dashboard

  1. In the Content types box, select the Add button beside News item.

WCMS 3 content types box, with Content types and Add News item highlighted by red boxes

Required fields

  1. In the Title field, type the page title using sentence case.

  1. Enter the Date the News item was created.

  2. Enter a Summary.

Note: The summary is the brief description of the News item that is visible when previewing the item on the News page or in a News item list or News item teaser.

  • Selecting the Intentionally leave summary blank checkbox means that summary text, like the example summary below, will not appear when the box is checked.

  1. Enter a Description of content.

Note: A Description of content must be brief and concise description of the item’s content. No more than one or two sentences are recommended.
The Description of content is the information blurb which appears when the News item is shared or searched.

  1. Select Draft from the Revision state field.

  1. Select Save at the bottom of the page.

Note: To add content to your News item, this can be done via the Layout tab. You can review Block types: Content to view Block options.

Optional fields

Optional information can be added to News items found under the Edit tab of a News item:

Media settings can be accessed through the Media drop down. You can add an optional Hero image or Banner image to your post through Media settings.

You can insert an optional Hero image. A Hero image is a full-width image at the top of the page that must be large and high definition.

  1. Under Media select Image from the Type of media drop-down menu. 

  2. Under Hero image select Add media. 

  3. Add a new image or select an image previously uploaded to your site. To add an image:

    1. Select Choose file in the Add file block and choose an image from your files.

    2. Fill in the mandatory Name field (it will default to the original file name) and Alternative text (guidelines can be found on the Brand page) field. You have the option of entering a caption to be displayed with the image in the Caption field.

    3. Select Save.

  4. Select the image by checking the box of the image from the image gallery.

  5. Select Insert selected.

Note: If the image doesn't meet the specifications, it is recommended that a Full-width image or Banner image be added in the Layout builder.

You can insert an optional Listing page image. This image is used on the news item listing pages.

  1. Select Add media.

  2. Add a new image or select an image previously uploaded to your site. To add an image:

    1. Select Choose file in the Add file block and choose an image from your files.

    2. Fill in the mandatory Name field (it will default to the original file name) and Alternative text (guidelines can be found on the Brand page) field. You have the option of entering a caption to be displayed with the image in the Caption field.

    3. Select Save.

  3. Select the image by checking the box of the image from the image gallery.

  4. Select Insert selected.

Optionally, News items can be tagged with keywords using the News tag(s) field. These tags will display in the tags section of the expanded News item page, and will not appear on the listing page.

  1. Choose the Audience from the Taxonomies drop-down. Multiple audiences can be selected.

  2. Events can be tagged with keywords using the News tag(s) field. These tags will display in the Event tags section of the expanded event page and will appear on the listing page. Selecting a specific tag will bring the user to a list of all events sharing that tag.

Note: News tags are case-sensitive. For example, "Celebration" and "celebration" would register as two separate News tags.

The Associated image is the image used as a thumbnail in social networks and other services. If no image is provided, the University of Waterloo logo will be used.

  1. Locate Associated image under Meta tag information for social media sharing/search/etc.

  2. Select Add media.

  3. Add an image or select an image previously uploaded to your site. To add an image:

    1. Select Browse... in the Add file box and choose an image from your files.

    2. Fill in the mandatory Name field (it will default to the original file name) and Alternative text field (guidelines can be found on the Brand page) field. You have the option of entering a caption to be displayed with the image in the Caption field.

  4. Select Save.

  5. If not already selected, select the image by checking its box from the image gallery.

  6. Select Insert selected.

The Menu settings drop down allows you to change whether your News item appears in the menu and how it appears:

Checking Place in site hierarchy box enables you configure how your News item appears in the menu.

  • Checking the Add menu link box will add your News item to the main menu.

  • The Menu link title field allows you to edit the News item title in the main menu.

Note: The title in the Menu link title field can be different from your event Title.

  • The Description field allows you to add a description that will show when hovering over the menu link.

  • The Parent link drop down allows you to choose where in the menu your page occurs.

Note: By default, the Parent link is set to Main navigation.

  • The Weight field allows you to choose the order that your menu items are displayed.

Note: Lower weights display before higher weights.

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