Though TownNews.com 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.
<Body> tag in FLEX?
Can anyone tell me where to find the <body> tag in FLEX? I need to implement some code right after the body tag and I can't find it anywhere.
Ability to add notes to user profiles
If you're like me you get dozens of tech support calls every week. People needing help logging in, subscribing, navigating the website, etc. For a while now I've wanted the ability to add notes to a user's profile.
There are tons of times people call and say they spoke with me last month, last year, yesterday about X, Y and Z and I have no memory of the conversation because of the sheer number of calls I get. So it would be nice to have a place to jot some quick notes, hidden to the user of course. Maybe a date field and a field for text.
It would also help the user's experience that we actually do remember the conversation.
Would anyone else use a feature like this? Is there a BLOX workaround way to do this that doesn't involve a spreadsheet or text document?
Feature Request: Display email vs Login email
We have some users who have signed up for BLOX with their personal email address, but have since gone on to be staff (from volunteers) so they then get their own site-branded email.
We are unable to change their email address since the system spits out that they need a static address for login purposes. We could make an entirely new user account, but there's too many articles to change over.
It would be great to be able to add/change the profile "display" email address to be different than the login one, so emails can go to a work address rather than a personal one.
Webinar | Announcing the new and improved BLOX Business Directory
New features and exciting improvements make it even easier for your site to be a one-stop source for business info in your community. At our November customer webinar, Phil Pracht, product manager for BLOX Business Directory, will show you how to:
- Easily create enhanced business profiles with the simplified Storefront setup in BLOX CMS.
- Leverage your business directory to power Local Niche Guides for new advertising possibilities.
- Save time and money with new automated enhancements for simplified directory updates.
- Take advantage of TownNews.com’s new partnership with Guarantee Digital for complete fulfillment packages.
- . . . and much more!
Ready to see the new and improved BLOX Business Directory?
Can the sticky ad be displayed on all pages?
I've tested the new sticky ad on an asset and it works great. But we'd like the position on ALL pages. Is this in the works? And can they be stackable?
Feature request: "Wikipedia" style revision history
1) Wikipedia-style revisions would allow users to see the actual changes made between two versions of the same asset. Text would be highlighted that was deleted, added or changed, with an area for specific notes (if needed) for why the changes happened. User information could be seen when hovering over the changes to see who actually did the edit.
2) It's difficult to see currently what the actual changes or revisions have been made to an asset.
3) This feature would be used all the time by every staff member. Allows us to keep track of every change and why the change was made. Would especially be useful on long-form articles where what was changed or changes that need to be highlighted were missed.
4) All users would benefit from this feature. Our head editors and copyrighters would benefit most from it.
You can clearly see the previous asset text on the left, and the right is the current (or latest selected) with the changes that were made to the asset. It could be even further clarified by highlighting with different colours.
Red = delete
Green = added
Orange = changes (ie: spelling)
Currently, if a staff member who did the edits is not around, we have to open up several of the previous revisons and compare them. By having the changes in one window and side-by-side, it's easier to see past changes and plan for future ones.
Registered users / subscription - hitting paywall even though all settings show user should be allowed through
I have a reader who - despite being a registered user and having been logged in on her phone, continues to hit our paywall, even though there is no reason she should be doing so.
We have tried to duplicate the issue on multiple devices and cannot do so.
I know that the paywall operates using cookies.Can anyone think of what might be happening in this isolated case? Phone is an iPhone6.
I assume that when she hits the paywall, she can log in and see content. But, each time she comes back, she has to log in again?
If so:
- It is unlikely to be a "remember me" issue since your site has "force enabled for all user" for the "remember me" setting.
- It is very likely she is in private browsing mode. In this situation the browser doesn't store cookies so it will not remember you between settings. (We see this complaint especially from iPhone users.)
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT203036
If she can't log in at all, then:
- There is probably something wrong with her account or her subscription purchase. Our Customer Support staff can help troubleshoot the issue.
Let me know if this helps! =)
Christine
Reporter profiles on print and web
In some of our sites, the bylines and taglines for authors differ between the print version and the web version. For example, the print byline in TCMS might by "BY JON DOE / Community News" but the desired byline for the web could be "By Jon Doe of the Community News staff."
Taglines are frequently even more different. A print tagline might be "Contact Jon Doe at jdoe@communitynews.com" while the web tagline might be "Jon Doe may be reached at jdoe@communitynews.com or 800-293-9576. Follow him @jondoe."
Those are simplistic examples. Some of our actual cases are even more different. Our desire would be to have the author field -- which would be the same in both TCMS and BLOX be the key for allowing these to automatically be different in the two channels, even though TCMS would carry the print version over to BLOX.
The idea would be that when an asset arrived in BLOX, the author field (if populated) would automatically place information from the "content" portion of the BLOX user profile into the byline and tagline fields, replacing what came over from TCMS.
This would occur on every bylined, staff-written story in our largest newspaper every day. The time saved would be measured in man hours every day. There's no reason that this work should have to be done manually.
Feature request: Search by geolocation tag
We use geolocation tags with assets to identify and display content by city. Without a search query by geolocation tag, I'm limited to what I can display to one page — I can't send users farther into our archives for more content about and related to the geolocation he or she is interested in. So, similar to asset type, keyword tag or offset queries, I'm looking for a geolocation tag query.
If anyone else is looking for the same feature, a vote helps get it done or at least added to a to-do list.
Hi Erica!
We do have a few search options related to geo tags. We have a block query rule in the Block Editor, so you can build blocks based on geo tags.
Since you mentioned offset parameters though, I suspect you mean search parameters in the front-end search. The good news is, we have this too! The parameter is simply "g."
For example:
http://www.flex-showcase.bloxcms.com/search/?g=united_states%2Fiowa
Will search for the geo tag united_states/iowa
Note that geo tags are hierarchical, and you need to include the whole hierarchy in the search. So in my example above, I have a tag called united_states, and then INSIDE that, another tag called iowa. So, in order to search for iowa geo tags, I also have to include the path for united_states.
ad blocker detection under design > page customizations > advertising
Can anybody fill me in on how the ad blocker detection / messaging works in BLOX.
There's a toggle under "advertising", but I'm not sure it even works or what the message says.
Can we control the text in the message or the frequency? How does it work?
Using the same calendar on multiple sites
Hello,
This year, we bought two southern West Virginia newspapers. I would like to add a Blox calendar to the sites. (For our main site, we use CitySpark, so I am not familiar at all with the Blox calendar.)
The two new papers have their own Blox websites. Because they are only 30 minutes apart from each other, I would like to create just one calendar for both sites, as they will have many events in common.
Has anyone using one calendar on multiple sites, or is it not possible?
Thanks!
Adding "Editor's Picks" in Google News
We're trying to impliment the "Editor's Picks" feature of Google News. When I submit the rss feed, it is giving the error "Feed Errors: We could not crawl your feed; the URL may be blocked by robots.txt"
The URL we're using is: https://www.westerngazette.ca/search/?f=rss&sd=desc&l=25&t=article&nsa=eedition&fl=featured&altf=google_newsstand
... which I think is the correct way for Google News. Anything glaringly wrong with what I'm doing?
Google News "Editor's Picks" Documentation: https://support.google.com/news/publisher/answer/1407682
Edit: Googlebot-News is allowed in my robots.txt settings.
Reporting the number of obituaries published, by funeral home, within a date range. Can it be done?
Accepting suggestions. / assistance
I am trying to generate a report of the obits published by funeral home within a certain date range. The purpose is to validate billing per obit for the funeral home. In other words, "We published ____ obits for ______ funeral home between ____ and ____, and here's a list of them."
All of our funeral homes are assigned as businesses within our business directory, and the business is attached to each obit asset when published. Example: http://www.richlandsource.com/obituaries/andy-scubby-scodova/article_baca4860-ad27-11e7-ba01-cbc8df811bd7.html
When viewing within Marketplace>Businesses, the individual articles are shown as child assets of the funeral home.
I tried to run a report out of analytics in BLOX.
Businesses>Related assets summary
It returned a "backend fetch failed"
How do I add an e-mail as a link to a web ad?
I thought that typing "mailto:" and then entering the e-mail address would do the trick, but it didn't work. Any suggestions on how to do it without making the ad an HTML5 ad?
Thanks,
Webinar | How to cover breaking news with BLOX CMS
Join us on October 5th @ 10:30 AM CDT
Natural disasters, protests, shootings or viral stories—when big news breaks, you want to be ready. At our October customer webinar, we’ll share best practices, practical tips, and customer success stories to help you become a go-to source for breaking news.
- Learn what you can do today to prepare your site.
- Get the story quickly with BLOX Go and other integrated BLOX CMS tools.
- Spread the word using BLOX Email Reach, specialty flags and site designs.
- Make the most of increased traffic when your story does go viral.
- . . . and lots more!
Will you be ready when big news breaks? Join us on October 5th at 10:30 AM CDT 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.
Customer support service by UserEcho