Welcome to the BLOX Digital (formerly TownNews) customer community! Connect with other BLOX Digital customers—and with us—to suggest features, share best practices and ask questions.

Though BLOX Digital representatives often participate in discussions, this is not a customer service site. For immediate help, call 800-293-9576 or submit a support request via our online ticketing system.

0
Answered

Remove Google Street View from Featured Marketplace Business.

Jeff Sebestyen 7 years ago in BLOX CMS updated by Christine Masters 7 years ago 4

All my business that are featured default to a Google Street View.  I do not see an option to remove the Google Street View.  There should be a Custom Property, or even an application setting for completely disable this.  

  • Some businesses use a home address, so the guys house is on the masthead.  
  • Some street views simply are of the back of the business, or have an incorrect image, or has an inappropriate image.  
  • Other times, this simply ruins the style of the page.


Why is there a Custom Property for everything but this?  Why is this being forced upon me? Please humble me, and show me there is a simple checkbox that I am missing.  


There is a Default Masthead Image that will appear which will generate a Street View of the business. This can be over-ridden by uploading a Masthead Image.

Answer
Christine Masters 7 years ago

Hi Jeff, 


This can be disabled entirely by navigating to URL Page Properties for your business directory URL.  Under the Business settings you'll find the setting "Streetview Masthead" with the option to turn it off. 




0
Completed

IDEA: Paywall options for collections, section pages

Marcus Fitzsimmons 7 years ago in BLOX Total CMS updated by Christine Masters 7 years ago 2

We're in the process of locking down more content behind our paywall and have run into a limitation.

We'd like to lock our entire obit section behind the paywall so only subscribers can see the page that contains the assets. (Its obits, once you see the name, it just takes a google name search and you have the funeral home's page)


What would be a great help is either

1) Ability to make a section page require a subscription to view

and/or

2) the ability to move a collection behind the paywall


We're looking at it for some other cases, but if a collection is behind the wall, then in the case where headlines give away too much, having the option  where only subscribers could view them would also remedy the problem.

Answer
Christine Masters 7 years ago

Hi Marcus,


We have an experimental option that allows you to set subscription on non-story assets. Submit a ticket to our Customer Support and reference this ticket and we can help you set it up.


We don't currently have the ability to put the section page behind a paywall.

0
Answered

Auto schedule Ad reports export to email? Can it be done on Flex?

Kathy Kolb 7 years ago in BLOX CMS updated by Christine Masters 7 years ago 2

I'm not seeing where to do it. Thanks!

0
Answered

Why won't my 2nd block leaderboard ads at the top show up?

KathyG 7 years ago in BLOX Total CMS updated by Christine Masters 7 years ago 3

I added a block below the one that was there automatically in the template, and it shows up on the main page, but when you click on an article, it does NOT show up on the asset page?  Same goes for my GALLERY page albums and videos.  The 2nd leaderboard ad underneath the original one does not show up once you click on a photo album.

Answer
Christine Masters 7 years ago

Thanks for the quick response!  I JUST figured it out.  I've been working on it for 3 days... :-)  


The ad I had placed under the original block-leaderboard-ad had automatically been 1000px wide, which is too wide for that area on the asset pages.  It was also in the Index-top-featured content area.  I moved the 2nd ad block underneath the original block in the top global container - NOW IT WORKS!  


https://www.colemantoday.com/news/stock_shows/

https://www.colemantoday.com/news/stock_shows/santa-anna-livestock-show-results/article_f0abd2de-f4e2-11e7-b884-c380c6f8429b.html


Thanks for responding so quickly...  I hope this helps someone else that needs MORE ad spots!

0
Under review

Google AMP: Inconsistent Fonts for Lists in AMP Articles

Robert Dundon 7 years ago in BLOX CMS updated by Christine Masters 7 years ago 1

Note: I made a support ticket for this, but thought I'd share in case others are having the same problem.

While dealing with AMP pages, an internal "client" pointed out inconsistent fonts for lists in article (see attached screenshot)

I found this CSS in the macro amp_stylesheet() in macros/module.amp.css.utl in the Core TN component "AMP":


.asset-body p {

     color: #444;

     font-size: 16px;

     line-height: 27px;

    margin-bottom: 24px;

}


I accounts for paragraphs, but not lists. To fix that, I added the
following CSS to the macro "amp_customCssOverwrites" for now:

.asset-content ul li {

    color: #444

    font-size: 16px;

    line-height: 27px;

     margin-bottom: 24px;

}

0
Answered

Is Google Chrome Credit Card auto-fill disabled for everyone?

Jeff Sebestyen 7 years ago in BLOX CMS updated by Christine Masters 7 years ago 1

I use Google Chrome.  I can autofill credit card information when I click on a Credit Card field on 99% of sites.  But when I'm in a form made in Blox, auto-fill works on everything BUT Credit Card.  Is this disabled across all TownNews sites?  For what reason? 

Answer
Christine Masters 7 years ago

Hi Jeff!

We are using Spreedly iFrame model, and they do not allow Chrome auto fill of credit card information for PCI compliance reasons.


https://support.spreedly.com/hc/en-us/community/posts/115006369733-Autofill-support

+6
Completed

Limit in-story ads based on length of the article

Nick 8 years ago in BLOX CMS updated by Christine Masters 7 years ago 32

Can we somehow limit ads on short stories? It just looks REALLY bad to break a couple of sentences up like this.


Image 199

Answer
Christine Masters 7 years ago



The new automatic ad placement provides what we spoke about in this ticket... it has automatic ads but also has a better layout for short stories. Let me know what you think!


https://help.bloxcms.com/knowledge-base/releases/software_releases/article_cbd40150-fb0e-52bc-aa8b-0caf7cd183bf.html

0
Under review

Is it possible to sort calendar search results by priority?

Brad Bautista 7 years ago in BLOX CMS updated 7 years ago 2

Hi all,


Publisher would like a handful of large, tentpole events to appear at the top of relevant calendar search results, the thought being that more popular events should be displayed above less popular events.


My initial thought on implementing this was to assign those events a higher priority within the calendar, then sort search results by priority.


I tested this by changing the Calendar URL field in the Featured Search block to read "/calendar/?s=priority" (sans quotes) but, running the search, found my high-priority test item third out of four results.


Is the result we're after possible this way? If so, what am I doing wrong?


Thanks,


Brad Bautista

0

TownNews.com and Brainworks Software launch strategic partnership

Cherry Wolf (Marketing specialist) 7 years ago updated 7 years ago 0

TownNews.com and Brainworks Software today announced a strategic partnership aimed at providing new and innovative solutions that help print, broadcast, digital, and web-native media companies jumpstart revenue and audience engagement. Read more

+2
Under review

Feature request: Ability to set defaults for in-line asset styles

Kyle Whitfield 7 years ago in BLOX CMS updated by Christine Masters 7 years ago 2

We love the in-line asset styling options. It'd be awesome if there would be a way to set a default style for those within BLOX. For example, every time we pull a sibling asset into body text it'd be great if the styling options were already set to "presentation: summary."

What problem does this solve? Eliminating an extra, sometimes monotonous step, for reporters and editors.


Why do you need this idea? Save some time.


How often would you use this feature? Daily


How many people would this affect in our news org? 100+

0
Completed

Webinar | What's BLOX OTT?

Cherry Wolf (Marketing specialist) 7 years ago updated 7 years ago 1

Webinar recording now available.

Grow your audience and drive revenue with streaming video


Image 364


BLOX OTT enables media organizations to grow their audiences with branded channels on all of the major streaming platforms, including Roku, Apple TV and Amazon Fire TV. At our January customer webinar, Susan Bell, senior product manager of BLOX OTT, will discuss what over-the-top (OTT) video is, how you can start making money and expanding your reach with streaming video.


Topics will include:

  • An overview of the complete BLOX OTT app suite.
  • Populating your channel with high quality homegrown and community-sourced video.
  • Turning your OTT channel into a powerful driver of new revenue.
  • . . . and much more!


Ready to learn how you can benefit from BLOX OTT? 

+3
Answered

Facebook comment mirroring

Andrea 9 years ago in BLOX CMS updated by Christine Masters 7 years ago 9

Facebook is again offering comment mirroring (where comments made on a story on our Facebook page are supposed to also show up in the FB social plugin at the bottom of the story -- and vice versa).


Turning comment mirroring "on" in the the Facebook plugin is easy. However, our Blox site is not showing the same comments as our Facebook page.


The Facebook app id has not changed, so I'm not sure where to start with this. I entered a ticket, but thought I would check here in case anyone else has had success with it.


Thanks!

+3
Answered

Facebook Comment Mirroring

Henry M. Lopez 8 years ago in BLOX CMS updated by Christine Masters 7 years ago 8

TownNews support says it can't help me and referred me to Facebook, but as you all know, that's a black hole. Well, I have mirroring set up correctly as far as I can tell. The comments originating on my FB page and my site page show up in the moderation panel but the site comments from my site don't make it to FB nor vice versa. I think this has something to do with the way TN forms it urls. I notice in my moderation panel a url might be http://www.santafenewmexican.com/tncms/asset/editorial/6f4e907b-a7b2-5f94-acb5-00044cdd1e52/ but a front end user sees http://www.santafenewmexican.com/opinion/letters_to_editor/letters-to-the-editor-march/article_6f4e907b-a7b2-5f94-acb5-00044cdd1e52.html for the same asset.


I'm throwing out the Bat signal. Someone, be brilliant, help me out.


—Henry

0
Completed

Webinar | Why ad viewability matters to your bottom line, and what you need to do

Cherry Wolf (Marketing specialist) 7 years ago in BLOX CMS updated 7 years ago 1

Starting as early as January 1st, 2018, sites with programmatic advertising inventory that’s less than 70 percent viewable will see a dramatic drop in fill rate and eCPMs. At our December customer webinar, we’ll talk about why viewability matters to digital advertising and what you can do to increase your score and impact your bottom line.

Image 356


Topics will include:

  • How advertiser expectations, the IAB and the Better Ad Standards are affecting the industry.
  • How to find out your current viewability score to see where you stand.
  • Simple ways to improve and optimize your site’s viewability.
  • New BLOX CMS features and enhancements to help boost your viewability score.
  • . . . and much more!

Join us on December 14th at 10:30 AM CST to learn more.


Want to take in the webinar on your own time? Register now and we’ll send you a link to the webinar recording once it’s ready.

+2

Tie ad blocker detection (does it work?) to member / subscriber recruitment.

Jay Allred 7 years ago in BLOX CMS updated by Kevin M. Cox 7 years ago 1

It makes sense to me is to closely tie adblocker detection with subscription / membership recruitment. 


So - for example - if an adblocker is detected, BLOX should notify the reader and encourage them to whitelist the site AND allow publishers to direct the reader to support our work through a membership / subscription.

 

Publishers should be able to easily modify the message the reader sees to make it fit within the corporate "voice" of the organization.

 

Publishers could also be given the option to allow an ad-free experience to readers who become subscribers / members. 


It could work something like this:

Reader: I hate ads and use an ad blocker.


Us: We get it, but if you want to view our content for free, we need you to tolerate the ads. They are the price of admission. But, if you become a member / subscriber, we can offer you and ad-free experience. Sound good?


Reader choice 1: Totally! I want to become a subscriber today!
Us response 1: Great! Here's a link to become a subscriber.


Reader choice 2: No thanks, but I'll white list you so the ads come through.
Us response 2: Thanks! If you ever want to become a subscriber, here's how.


Reader choice 3: No way, you suck. I'm keeping my ad blocker and not paying you a dime. 
Us response 3: We're sorry to hear that. But since we have to pay our bills and the news is not free to report, we'll have to say goodbye for now.