Customize the look and feel of your site

The look and feel of this site is created by a combination of style and layout choices. To help get you started, your site came with a preselected style, but you can change this preset style to create a different baseline look.

You can change the fonts, background, general appearance, and even your site’s favicon and bullet points by using the tools provided under General Design and Layout.

Each widget on your site can be assigned to one of five widget styles that you can customize. In addition, SNO widgets can each be assigned custom colors and styles in the controls for the individual widget on the Edit Widget page.

Use social media to increase readership

Social media platforms are the best way to drive traffic to your new site.

So, set up a Facebook Fan Page, and get your audience to like your publication. Even add a Facebook Like Box to your website to increase your audience.  Then when you publish a story, add a link and teaser on your Facebook Fan Page.

For Twitter, set up an account for your publication, and get your audience to follow your publication. Then use your tweets to provide your audience with instant news and sports updates. You can even display your Twitter feed on your website. And when you publish a story, tweet about and link to the story from your Twitter account.

For Instagram, set up an account for your publication, get your audience to follow your publication. Use Instagram to provide visual images of news and happenings that would interest your audience.  Don’t forget to link your Instagram account to your website.

Prepare your photos for online presentation

Your site automatically generates a series of scaled down images for each photo you upload for the various parts of your site that display different sizes of images.

Cameras take pictures at a far higher resolution than will ever be useful on a website — the pictures you take are often more than 100 times larger than your website needs.  In order to keep your website from loading slowly, it is important that you scale your photos down appropriately before you upload them to your site.

You can use PhotoShop’s cropping tools and Save for Web option to effectively reduce the file size of a photo before you upload it to your site.

Always save your photos in RGB color mode — this is the default mode your camera uses.  Color photos for print require CMYK mode, but CMYK mode doesn’t work consistently on all browsers.

Go beyond a single photo with slideshows

Slideshows are built by uploading multiple photos to a story. Follow the steps below to make a slideshow that goes with any story.

When adding/editing a story, click on the Add Media button above the main story box. In the window that opens, click on Upload Files and upload from your computer all of the images you are interested in adding to the slideshow. (Do not click Create Gallery.)

Click on each image you uploaded and use the boxes that appear to the right to enter a caption and photographer. To see just the images that will be in your slideshow, choose “Images uploaded to post” from the dropdown menu.

When you are done adding the pictures, click the X in the upper right-hand corner. (Do not click the Insert into post button). Select “Slideshow of all Attached Images” for the Featured Image Location option, and a slideshow with captions and photo credits will automatically be generated at the top of the story.

You will not see these photos anywhere on the Edit Story page for the story, but once you view your story on your website, they will be displayed there.

It is recommended that you also add a Featured Image to this story so that an image will be displayed on the homepage of your site.

Add a story to your site

Adding a story is a simple process with SNO FLEX.  To get started, click on New under the Stories tab on the left navigation bar in the WordPress dashboard.

Enter the headline for the article. In the box to the right of the title, choose your title size for the Story Page, if you would like it to be different from the default option. If you would like a secondary headline or deck for the story, type it into the appropriate box in the right-hand column.

Either type or paste the main body of the story in the main box on the page.

Every story has three options for its story page: Full-Width, With Sidebar, or Long-Form. Simply, select which you would like. The default for this option can be set on the SNO Design Options page under the options for Story Page and Comments. This story is currently using the Full-Width.

Scroll down to the box with category choices in the right column and select the appropriate category. The Showcase category is best used for the top area or showcase carousel on the homepage. You may assign a story to multiple categories, but this will cause it to show up in multiple places on your homepage.

Scroll to the bottom of the page and find the set Featured Image box on the right-hand side; click on the Set featured image link.

Click on Upload Files in the upper left-hand corner, then click select files or drag and drop the picture you would like to be the featured image for this story. The picture will upload and a set of fields/boxes will appear to the right.

Type your caption in the caption box.

Type the photographer’s name in the photographer box. If there is a staff profile for the photographer, this field is what will enable your site to automatically link this story to that staff profile.

Click the set featured image button in the lower right-hand corner. You will now see your featured image show up in the featured image box.

Complete the Custom Fields as needed then scroll up and click Publish.

The Publish button is in the right column about halfway down. If you return to edit this story, this button will have changed to the Update button. After making any changes to the story or its settings you will need to have click the Update button for them to appear.

Completing the custom fields

Each story has custom fields available for you to fill in as needed. Not all of these features will show up on the homepage, but they will show up on a story’s page. While the descriptions for each custom field make its purpose obvious, read below for more information.

Writer: Be sure to add a writer for each story — this is what will connect the story to a writer’s profile on the staff page. You must spell the writer’s name exactly the same as when you set up the writer’s staff profile. Use the green plus to add another writer.

Job Title: You can add something like “Staff Writer” or “News Editor” in this box.

Featured Image Location: This choice determines where the photo is displayed on the story’s main page. It does not affect its placement on the homepage or other pages. Do not choose Slideshow of All Attached Images unless you have attached many images to the story.

Video Embed Code: Paste the embed code from any video on any site.

Video Credit: This will create a credit line just below the video on the story page — this will also connect the video to profiles on the staff page. Use the green plus to add more than one credit.

Video Location: This choice determines where the video is displayed on the story’s main page. It does not affect its placement on the homepage or other pages.

Audio: Once you’ve uploaded an .mp3 audio clip to your site, you can paste the URL of the uploaded clip here, and it will generate an audio player on the story page. You can also link to .mp3 files hosted anywhere on the Web; you don’t need to upload them to your site.

Sports Add-On: Attach to Sport Page: This only works if the Sports Center Add-On package has been installed on your site. This allows you to have a story show up on the individual pages in the Sports Center package.

Go long using the long-form option

This story is currently using Long-Form Page Template. Every story has three options for its story page: Full-Width, With Sidebar, or Long Form. Simply, select which you would like on the left hand side of the Edit Story page. The default for this option can be set on the SNO Design Options page under the options for Story Page.

The Long Form Story Page Template showcases drop caps on the first line of the story, the ability to add chapters, a minimal header, and immersive photos (see above). The Long-Form page options can be set on the SNO Design Options page under the options for Long-Form Story Template.

Drop the sidebar and expand the story

This story is currently using Full-Width Page Template. Every story has three options for its story page: Full-Width, With Sidebar, or Long Form. Simply, select which you would like on the left hand side of the Edit Story page. The default for this option can be set on the SNO Design Options page under the options for Story Page and Comments.

 

Sidebar offers more room for widgets

This story is currently using With Sidebar Page Template. Every story has three options for its story page: Full-Width, With Sidebar, or Long Form. Simply, select which you would like on the left hand side of the Edit Story page. The default for this option can be set on the SNO Design Options page under the options for Story Page and Comments.

You can design your sidebar by choosing which the widgets to display.  Just go to Widget under Appearance on the Dashboard.