Home page stories

In day-to-day operations, the Communications Division reserves the right to curate the content that appears on the website's home page. But in an emergency, it may be useful for Editors to be able to jump in and display an item on the home page—even when it may be impossible to locate a Site Administrator from communications to assist.

Here are the steps and considerations.

1. Create a (or use an existing) Content Page, News item or Event

Only a Content Page, News item or Event can be added to the home page. You can make one from scratch or promote one that already exists. Content Pages are the format most of our Web pages are saved as. News and Events are formats used by some staff more than others. This almost always will cover our bases for material we'd promote on the home page.

These other content types CANNOT be promoted to the home page: A to Z Index,  Alert, Bid, Bio, Development Project, Document, Facility, FAQ, Golf Course, Handout, Job, Park, Plat, Policy, Service, Timeline Date, Volunteer Opportunity, Webform.

2. Update the summary field

The summary will appear on the home page. You may want to modify the wording to suit this use/purpose. If the summary is empty, by all means add a sentence there, so there can be some text on the home page.

3. Add a featured image (if available)

The featured image will be cropped into a rectangle and displayed on the home page as the "thumbnail" image next to the title and summary text. In a pinch? Leave it for now. A City logo will be displayed on the home page if you don't have a featured image.

4. Set start and end display times

This controls when/how long the story will appear on the home page. Fill in all four fields: Start Date, Start Time, End Date, End Time.

5. Click on the "Promotion settings" tab

6. Add a check mark to the following boxes

• Promoted to front page box (to get the ball rolling).

• Sticky at top of lists box (optional but it ensures that this will be the "top story") which would be good for an emergency or urgent story.

And either....

• Special Feature box OR Featured box

Special Feature causes this story to be displayed in an extra-large, white box near the top of the home page. It's our best attention grabber:

Featured causes it to appear like most of our front page stories ususally look, with the picture thumbnail, link (page title), and details (page summary):

Additional News causes the item to be displayed via a  small summary below all the main stories, without a thumbnail picture. It tends to de-emphasize the urgency of the story so it wouldn't make sense in most urgent situations.