Introduction
Sharing happenings and stories across your organization in News allows you to connect your people. News makes it easy to publish stories with images and videos that celebrate your organization’s culture, values and accomplishments.
News provides a number of different ways to publish content, including Articles, Web Articles, Polls, or Albums. To create any of these News items, you need to be a News Reporter or Editor, whereupon you will see "Add New" in the Action Bar. (NOTE—Depending on your organization, there may be multiple Reporter Groups set up, each with customized publishing permissions. If you do not have the publishing permissions you expected, please contact your Jostle System Administrator).
NOTE—if you are using the "block editor" version of News, sections 1-5 below do not apply to you. Instead, please refer to this article, then return back here and resume at section 6.
Table of contents
- Creating News items - quick guide
- Creating News Articles
- Creating Web Articles
- Creating Albums
- Creating Polls
- Categories
- Targeting your content
- Using the Sign Off feature
- Using Notify
- Editing News items
- Archiving News items
- News item viewer lists
1. Creating News items - quick guide
- Click News in the Main Navigation bar
- Go to the Action Bar at the top of the screen and click Add New
- Select the News item type you want to create (Article, Web Article, Poll, Album)
- Add or upload your content and complete your item using the Options column (detailed instructions for each specific News item type appear below)
- Scroll back up to the Action Bar and click either "Preview", "Archive", "Save Draft" or "Publish"
Content
To create a News Article, go to News > Add New > Article. Then, on the New Article page, add your content to the following fields on the left side of the screen.
Title: The title for your Article. It can be up to 100 characters in length. This is a required field.
Body: This is the main part of your Article. Here you can format text and add photos or embed videos or links. It can be up to 60,000 characters in length, including any hidden characters (these are embedded 'control' characters that set format, etc.). Hover over the toolbar at the top of the Body section to learn what the various tools do.
Tips (for copy-pasting content)
If you are copy-pasting your content from a Word or similar document use "Paste and match style" in your browser (Mac: command-shift-v, Windows: ctrl-shift-v) to remove the Word format, which can sometimes interfere with formatting.
Another option that really cleans up the Word HTML is:
- Compose your article, including images, etc. in Word.
- Paste into this tool https://word2cleanhtml.com/
- Paste the output of this tool into the Body field of your Article.
Header images: Click on Browse for images to upload images. You can upload up to 5 images in PNG, JPG, BMP, or GIF (non-animated) format. The total upload size must be 500MB or less. After you have uploaded the photos you can add captions, crop them, and select one to be the Tile Image. For more information about using images, see Appendix A, below.
Attach files: You can attach documents such as PDF, Word (.doc), etc. Click on Browse for files to attach your files.
Options
On the right side on the screen you'll find the Options that you can set or enable for your Article:
- Publishing Role: If you are an Editor and/or belong to more than one Reporter Group (see Introduction above), you will be prompted to select your Publishing Role before you can begin creating your Article. If you only belong to one Reporter Group, it will be automatically selected for you.
- Highlight: These options to help draw attention to specific News items. Feature in banner displays articles for a set duration in a carousel that stretches across the top of your News view (see image below). Pin so new users see affixes an article to the top row of News Summary Tiles for each user until it has been read. See here for some ways to best utilize these features.
- Commenting: Uncheck the box next to "Allow commenting" if you want to block commenting on this Article.
- Publish date/Auto-archive: Select Set date and time for these features if you want to auto-publish and/or auto-archive (remove) your Article at specific future dates.
- Visible to: Use this feature to target your Article at a particular audience using the List Selector. See the section below for more details on this.
- Sign off: Use this feature to require each reader to sign off that they have read and understood this News Article. More details on this below.
- Notification (Comments): Uncheck this if you do not want to be notified each time someone comments on this Article. More details below. (To send an article notification, see "Using Notify" below).
Once you have finished with your Article are ready to publish it, scroll back up to the Action Bar and select Publish. Other options available for your draft at this time are: Preview (see what your Article will look like when it's published), Archive (store an Article and make it unpublished) or Save Draft (save a draft of your unfinished Article to be completed later).
3. Creating Web Articles
For how to create Web Articles using the Jostle mobile app, see this article.
Web Articles make it easy to pull in and share external articles like industry news and blog posts with the rest of your org. They're also simple to create -- just copy-paste the external article's URL and you can immediately publish it as an article in your own News.
To create a Web Article
1. Copy the URL from the site your want to republish. Please respect any relevant copyright restrictions.
2. In News click on Add New and select Web Article.
3. Paste in your URL and click OK. If the site you have chosen is technically configured to make it possible, Jostle will extract the images and text from that site into a draft News Article. An attribution will be added to the end.
4. You can now edit this text or add an introduction and then set the rest of your News Article permissions and preferences.
5. When ready, click Publish.
NOTE—if the imported text is over 60,000 characters, you will need to shorten it accordingly before you can click Publish.
Importing Issues
The technology we use to extract content out of webpages may ignore parts of an article that have a repetitive structure. This usually refers to the type of code being used in the article's images and videos. Sometimes it can just cause image alignment issues, but sometimes it can also affect the content around them.
For example, if a website uses a repetitive code structure to insert images into their articles, the technology we use to extract the article may only recognize one instance of that code structure and ignore the rest (meaning it will only pull in one image not any others). This could apply to any similar type of inserted or nested content, like videos or numbered lists.
You can work around this issue as follows:
- Go to the original article and copy or download the content that was not imported.
- Open your Web Article and click the Edit link next to the title.
- Manually add in the missing content to your Web Article and then click Save Draft/Publish.
Restrictions
This feature is designed to work for all web pages, but is sometimes restricted by the website that hosts the article. Some websites impose technical restrictions against people from pulling their content, or are otherwise not configured in a way that allows us to extract their content.
To enable social media sharing of Web Articles
On the New Web Article form, go to Options column and check off "Allow viewers to share the original article to their social media". This will enable sharing of the article on Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin (NOTE—this option only appears for Web Articles).
TIP: Use this feature as a way to promote your org's own content (company blog articles, LinkedIn posts, etc.). Just import what you want promoted as a Web Article, enable social sharing, and then encourage your employees to then share the article across their social media. There's even an option to download a social sharing metrics report for the article, so you can track its progress.
Customer Resources Blog
The Customer Resources Blog (CRB) is the place for News Reporters and Editors to find relevant content for their News view. It's a repository of best practices, helpful tips, and general user information in regards to the Jostle platform and its features. Workplace issues are also covered, and both types of articles are specifically designed to be easily pulled into the News view of your platformvia Web Article so orgs can educate their users and/or keep the content in their News view fresh and relevant.
4. Creating Albums
Albums supports images in PNG, JPG, BMP, and GIF (non-animated) formats
To create an Album
- In News, click on Add New and select Album.
- Add a Title and short Description. Both are required.
- Upload the photos for your Album. You can add up to 500, but it's best to upload them in smaller groups. Added together, your photos per Album must consume less than 500 MB of storage.
- Set any other features, such as targeting an audience or setting a publish time, exactly as described above for Articles.
- When ready, click Publish.
NOTE—Readers will be able to download the Album or selected photos from it
5. Creating Polls
Polls allow users to cast a vote on a question published by a News Editor or Reporter. All users who the Poll is published to can vote, however only your organization’s News Editors/Reporters can create and publish Polls.
To create a Poll
- Inside the News view, go to Add New and then click on Poll.
- Select the type of poll you want to publish (Options: Text poll or Image poll).
- Enter your question, as well as up to seven answers for users to vote on.
- Select your voting close date.
- Finally, you have the option to Save as Draft (if you intend to publish at a later date) or Publish, which will display immediately in your organization’s News view.
Below is an example of how a published Poll will appear in News:
Creating multi-answer polls
You can enable multiple answers to your poll by selecting the checkbox to Allow multiple answers.
Polls where you can see who voted for what
You can start polls where who-voted-for-what is identified by selecting the option "Identified results can be downloaded by people with edit rights (cannot be changed after published)". Those with edit rights to the Poll can download the current status of the votes as a .csv file by viewing the Poll and clicking on the Download results link bottom right.
6. Categories
Categories allow you to publish any News item (Article, Album, Poll, or Web Article) with a custom label that makes them easy to identify and filter. (Categories also incorporates the former Custom Article feature. See more below)
Categories are a great way to identify the different types of content your organization may publish on a regular basis, like CEO Blog posts, Social Committee Events updates or New Employee introductions.
Categories are also available as one of the sorting options in the News Filter:
News Editors can add, remove, or edit categories by clicking the gear icon in the top right corner of the News view and selecting Manage Categories.
From here News Editors can:
- Click “Add new category” to open a new slot
- Enter or edit a category name in its text field
- Select a color for the category label via the color boxes on the left.
- Remove a category via the trash can icon to its far right.
- Save or Cancel changes via the toggle in the top right.
TIPS
- If your org created any Custom Article types (see below), they will automatically appear on your Category list.
- The default Category “News” cannot be removed from your Category list (but it can be renamed or recolored)
- If you have a "Job Posting" Category, it can be removed if you choose. ("Job Posting" was a default Custom Article type)
- Emojis are supported in Category labels
When creating a News item, go to Options > Category and click anywhere in the text field to pull up the Category menu and select the one you want to add.
Once published, a News item's colored Category label will appear in the upper left corner of its tile.
For orgs that have created/used Custom Articles (the format that existed before Categories):
- Any Custom Article types created by your org will automatically migrate to your Category list.
- Any previously-published Custom Articles will be automatically updated to Articles with their Custom Article type as their Category.
- The formatting or filtering of your published Custom Articles will not be affected.
- As a Category, your custom label can now be applied to any News item you publish (previously: only Articles could be customized).
- As a Category, your custom label can be applied to any previously-published News items, allowing for improved curation and filtering of your organization's content (previously: any Article that had already been published could not be updated to a Custom Article type).
- Workflow change (example: Custom Article type: CEO Blog):
Before: News > Add New > Custom Article: CEO Blog
Now: News > Add New > Article > Category: CEO Blog
7. Targeting your content
Jostle's List Selector allows you to publish News items to any specific audience you wish. For example, maybe you have a detailed article on the renovation plans for a building that is only relevant to those located in that building. Targeting your content helps keep your platform relevant and engaging for everyone.
When you are using creating any News item, you will see the Visible To option. The default setting is "Everyone" but if you click on the setting, it will bring up the List Selector and allow you to create a Custom List to target your content to, if you wish. Learn more about the List Selector here.
8. Using the Sign Off feature
News Articles, Web Articles, and Custom Articles all include the Sign Off feature. Use this when you need to ensure that a particular item has been read and understood by everyone in your audience, like an article that details upcoming changes to your company's benefits policies.
To activate this feature, check the box under Sign Off in the Options column when creating your News item:
When activated, users are asked to sign off when they have completed reading the article. If they don’t, when they try to close the News item they will be presented with a pop-up reminder. They will have to select one of the following options in order to sign off:
I confirmed I have read and understood this: selecting this option the user will confirm it has read and understood the News item. The message will not appear anymore to this user for this item.
I will read this item later: this option will close the News item and the message will appear again when the user opens it and try to close it.
I will read this item now: the final option will return to the News item so the user can read it and then sign off.
At the bottom of the News item, those with edit rights will see a summary of how many users have signed off on the News item.
There is also a Download CSV link that provides a record of this data in a CSV file.
NOTE—a version of Sign Off for Library items is also available on platforms that have both Library and Tasks enabled.
9. Using Notify
All News items include the option to send notifications to everyone it's been published to (these are a special type of notification that users cannot opt out of in their My Preferences).
The Notify feature is best used only for when you:
- Need to get all eyes on a new item you've published (e.g., an article with info about your building's next fire drill).
- Need to let everyone know about an important update you’ve made to a previously-published item (e.g., a rescheduled time for your building's next fire drill).
Once an item has been published, you (or anyone with edit rights) can access this feature by viewing the item and clicking Notify in the right corner of the action bar (next to Edit).
This will bring up a modal. Once you enter a message in the modal to explain the reason for the notification, (for example: "Park Plaza Fire Drill info" or "Updated schedule for building fire drill") click Send, and you’ll notify all viewers of that item.
The notification will automatically include the following information:
- Sender's name (your name)
- Sender's notice (your message)
- Link to the related News item
- Publishing info (category and original date posted)
NOTE—Currently these notifications are sent with a generic subject line. However, the ability for them to pull the related News item's title in to its subject line and provide better user reference, is already slated for an upcoming release.
Notify is also available for Events notices and Library updates.
10. Editing News items
To edit a published News item, select its tile from the News view and then click the Edit link that appears in the upper right corner. After making your edits, scroll up to the action bar and click Publish to post the revised item back to the main News view.
You can also edit an item via the Manage list:
Editing from the Manage list
You can access your lists of Drafts, Scheduled, Published, and Archived items via Manage in the News Action Bar.
Any item on any list can be edited via right clicking on the item and selecting Edit from its Action Menu (Action Menus also contain management options specific to each type of item).
11. Archiving News items
As News items get added, older News items work their way down the News timeline until they are eventually out of view. However, if you need to remove an item from visibility immediately, you can do so by archiving the item. Here's how.
To archive a News item
1. Go to Manage > Published
2. Locate the item you wish to archive, right click on it and then from its Action Menu, select Archive.
NOTES
To republish an Archived item go to Manage > Archived, check off the item, select Edit from its Action Menu and then Publish from the Action Bar.
To permanently delete an Archived item go to Manage > Archived, check off the item, and select Permanently Delete from the Action Menu.
To export the details of all your Archived items go to Manage > Archived and then select Download CSV from the Action Bar.
Auto-archiving
While archiving items in general is discouraged, because it removes the visual history of your organization, there are times when you may need to post a time-sensitive item that requires removal at a certain date. For that you can use the Auto-archive feature, found in the Options column, which allows you to enter a date and time when you would like a particular Item to be automatically removed from the News view and archived.
12. News item viewer lists
News Admins can get a detailed list of who has viewed any individual News item. Reporters or Editors can click the number of views link at the top of any News item they have edit rights for to download a CSV list with the names of everyone who has viewed that article. The viewer list is private data, which is why it cannot be pulled up by anyone in-article, and can only be downloaded (unlike the "likes" list, which can be opened and viewed by anyone).
NOTE—News Editors can also view detailed metrics reports for News and Activity.
Appendix A - Using images in News Articles
On the Edit Article screen there are a few methods and options for adding images.
Inserting images into an Article
You can insert images into the body of your article clicking the “Upload and display an image file” from the row above the Body field.
If you want to embed an image, you can do so via the “Link to and display an image URL” icon, which appears to the immediate left of the icon above. This method can also be used for adding GIFs to your article (See Adding GIFs below).
Resizing inserted images
While there is not a resizing function available in the editor, you can resize an inserted image by adding width and height tags to the image's HTML.
To do this:
- Click the </> SHOW icon at the end of the row above the Body field to display the article in HTML.
- Locate the image's HTML, it will look something like <img src="pages/xyz?id=555">
- After the last quotation mark in the image HTML, leave a space and insert the width and height tags that you want to resize the image as, for example: <img src="pages/xyz?id=555" width="400" height="400"> (TIP: a width of 600px or less will make your image width smaller than the width of the article frame)
- Click the </> icon again (now displaying as HIDE)
Your image should now be resized, and you can click on it and use the centering option from the Body bar, if you wish to do so:
Header images
Separate from the images you insert into your article, you can upload up to five header images, which:
- Will appear in a gallery at the very top, above your headline.
- Can be viewed in sequence by clicking on the arrow icons on the sides of the displayed image
- Can be jumped to image-by-image by clicking on a thumbnail from the row beneath the header display.
Header image limitations
- Header images do not have to conform to a particular size, ratio, or dpi.
- However, if you want to avoid any letterboxing of your image, make sure it has a 16:9 ratio (minimum size: 800 x 450 pixels).
- Any image smaller than 800 x 450 pixels will automatically be enlarged when viewed in News, which may cause them to become blurry.
- Images are converted to JPG format unless they are less than 1600 pixels wide and less than 400kB in size.
- Animated GIFs up to 400 KB in size are supported as header images. Anything larger will be converted to a non-animated image.
To add a header image
- Under Header images click the Browse for images button.
- Select and upload the image you want to add.
- When the Edit Crop screen appears, use it to adjust how the image will be displayed.
Editing a header image
There are three edit options on the Edit Crop screen:
- Expand (shows the whole image, leaving empty space on the sides as needed.
- Fit (enlarges the image to fill the header space, may result in portions of the image to be cut off)
- Rotate (turns the image by 90 degrees, in Fit mode)
You can also manually edit the image by:
- Placing your cursor over the image and scrolling up (zoom in) or down (zoom out)
- Click-and-holding on the image to move it around
When you are satisfied with your edits, click the Set images button.
NOTE—if you have multiple header images and want them all to be edited the same, check off the “Apply to all” box before making your edits.
Header image management
All your uploaded Header images will appear as thumbnails below the Body field. Here you can change their viewing order or click on any of the images’ available actions (Make tile image, Edit crop, Add a caption).
Body images
Any images that you inserted into the Body field of your Article will be displayed below the Header images. If you wish to use any of these images as the tile image, just click the link on the appropriate image.
Tile preview
The tile image is the image that appears on your Article tile when it is published to your News view. You can select the image you want to display as the tile image by clicking Make tile image above any thumbnail.
You can use the Tile preview to see what your Article tile will look like with the image you’ve selected.
Articles with no images
If an Article doesn’t have any images, some of the initial Body text will be used on the tile (see example below).
Adding animated GIFs
You can include an animated GIF as a non-header image in your article via inserting its URL:
- Place your cursor in the Body of your Article where you want your .gif image to appear
- Go to the row above the Body and click on the Link to and display an image URL icon
- Paste in the URL of your .gif file
- Click OK
Appendix B - Creating Web Articles in Mobile
This content can now be found in our mobile app guide.
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