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0
Under review

Creating block - one week

Rick Holtz 8 years ago in BLOX CMS updated by Kevin M. Cox 8 years ago 6

I am trying to create a block with content that stays in the block for only one week. I know how to set it up for "today only" but I can't figure out the coding for having stuff that was published in the previous week.

0

Sponsorship to Remove paywall

Kevin M. Cox 8 years ago in BLOX CMS 0

We've got an advertiser asking about how much we'd charge to let them sponsor the entire website and remove the paywall for a period of time. Basically letting everyone read everything for free, sponsored by XYZ, Inc.


Has anyone done anything like this before? Very curious to hear any thoughts on how to price this or reasons why would shouldn't even consider it.


Thanks!

+5
Under review

Please make HTML block keep its hard returns

Nick 9 years ago in BLOX CMS updated by Patrick O'Lone (Director of Software Development) 8 years ago 5

Some of us are OCD about how our code looks. So it's somewhat of an exercise in frustration when creating an HTML block to then have the system remove hard returns. I don't see any rhyme or reason as to what it removes. It does save tabs(or four spaces) which is good but hard returns are really a crapshoot.

+2
Under review

I'd like the ability to see Taboola/Outbrain revenue

Nick 8 years ago in BLOX CMS updated 8 years ago 2

To my knowledge there isn't a way in BLOX to see the revenue made from clickbai...I mean Taboola/Outbrain ads. I think they look unsightly on our website and I'd like to get rid of them, but if they're performing well I can't justify getting rid of them.


I don't receive our bills from TownNews so I never see how much we get per month. Is there a way that certain admin can view the performance of Taboola/Outbrain ads?

Answer
Christine Masters 8 years ago

Hi Nick!


If you put in a CRM ticket, our accounting staff can look up that information for you. I did look up one of your recent months, and I'll just say that this program is paying about 65% of your BLOX hosted fees for all of your umbrella sites! So you're doing quite well! (Sorry!)


I would also mention in the ticket that may want to experiment with tweaks to the formula or the design to be more in line with something you're comfortable with. You may be able to tweak the logic slightly to optimize less on revenue (you may make a little less money, but have better ads) before just removing them entirely.

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Answered

Section Specific Website Logos

Micah Moore 11 years ago in BLOX CMS updated by anonymous 8 years ago 7
How can you have a custom website logo for a specific site section? We want to rebrand our website sports section to match our "Sports Blitz" mobile app and print products. The logo would look similar to the attached image. 
Image 21
0
Under review

General Video Discussion

Andrea 8 years ago in BLOX CMS updated 8 years ago 20

Hello!


Video has been something that we have never done consistently, or well. It has been a tough culture change for our small newspaper (and I have not done a good job in leading the charge).


I am interested in hearing from those who think they do a good amount of video.


Please list your video page page below, and share how you ramped up your video efforts.


Also, it appears there are two video options in Blox: using a YouTube link or uploading a video file into Blox. With using a YouTube link, it sounds like there is no way to show a preroll ad. However, uploading a video file into Blox DOES show a preroll ad. Is that correct?


I am also interested in hearing about your video workflow. Do you prefer adding videos to YouTube or Blox, and why?


Thanks in advance for any insight!

Andrea



+1
Under review

Force an asset at the top of seach results

Craig V 8 years ago in BLOX CMS updated by Christine Masters 8 years ago 1

Is there a way to force an asset at the top of front-end search results when specific terms are queried? Ideally a link asset.

0
Under review

Right Rail on Articles In Flex

Craig V 8 years ago in BLOX CMS updated by Christine Masters 8 years ago 5

Is there a way to add content from an article asset in the right rail?

0
Answered

I'm not sure if the paywall referrals property is working correctly

Nick 8 years ago in BLOX CMS updated by Rich Griffin | Product Manager (Product Manager) 8 years ago 1

We're opening up our paywall to people referred from Facebook and Twitter. That way they won't hit the paywall and stories won't count toward the paywall. But in testing it it looks like the views are being counted until 0 articles remaining and then it just continues to let future articles be viewed. I thought they would just not count period.


For instance if we have 10 free articles and someone views two from our website and then two more from social media they would then have eight remaining. But it seems to say they have six. Then it continues to deduct views until it reaches 0 at which point it just continues to give them the free views.


And one thing the documentation doesn't really make clear is whether this custom property has to be an EACH page behind the paywall or if it just need to be on our root URL. For instance can I just have it set on / or do I have to set it on /local_news/, /local_sports/, /life/, etc?

0

Business Directory Storefronts could work better as Standalone Full Websites

maryshepard 8 years ago in BLOX CMS 0

We currently use Business Directory Storefronts to serve as standalone mobile optimized websites for some of our advertisers. This has been a great addition to our local small business advertisers and our sales team! However some functionality of the Storefronts makes it difficult for them to truly function as stand alone websites.


Primary Example - By allowing certain child-related assets to be clickable, visitors to these standalone sites are re-directed to our site, to view the asset. For example we posted an article with an image for an advertiser on their Storefront Website under the "Products" tab. When visitors to his site click on the image, they are confusingly re-directed to the image asset on our site. Taking the user off of his/her intended website and making the user experience not very friendly.


We would like the ability to make some assets not-clickable within the Business Directory.

+3

Inline Notes on Photo Assets - Feature Request

Sarah McCraley 8 years ago in BLOX CMS updated by Kevin M. Cox 8 years ago 1

We use the inline note feature to communicate changes and additional information that reporters and editors may need when reading articles (article assets). This tool would be valuable in photo assets captions - where we are checking spelling on names or adding notes about presentation or dragging images inline. Would anyone else find this valuable?

+3
Under review

"Unique" Asset on a page

Joe Hansen 8 years ago in BLOX CMS updated by Michael Becker 8 years ago 7

I'd like to suggest a feature that would help to alleviate articles appearing multiple times on the same page.


Feature: Add a query rule for "asset must be unique". This would make sure that an asset is shown only once on a given page.


Reason: Due to over-zealous tagging on content, sometimes articles will appear more than once on a page, regardless of rules that are set up. This would ensure that each headline is shown only once on a page.

Possible Implementation: Global array at page initialization holds array of unique asset ids. As assets are added to the page block by block, the asset ids are added to the array. If the query rule is checked, then when the query for that block is made, the global array of used ids is passed along as a "AND id NOT IN (list of used ids)".


1) What problem does this solve?

Solves the issue with a headline being shown in multiple blocks on the same page

2) Why do we need it?

Example case would be a breaking news story. Imagine a news/local section tagged asset flagged as breaking news. It shows in the "breaking" block and in the news/local block. If you want it to appear on the page only once, then you'd have to have a rule on your news/local block to hide any "breaking" flagged items. Rather than to have the reporter remember to remove a breaking news flag from an asset later so that it will automatically show up in the news/local block, having this "only once" option would allow it to be visible only once on the page.

0
Under review

Change the order of blogs (assets) from oldest to newest so they sort by most recent

Lonnie de Lambert 8 years ago in BLOX CMS updated by Christine Masters 8 years ago 1

It doesn't make sense that the most recent blog would be at the bottom of the page.

When a reader is following a blog they do not scroll to the bottom to see the most recent post.

Can the order of blogs (assets) be changed from from oldest to newest so they sort by most recent?

+1

Feature request: Restricted/Private mode for assets

Robert Armstrong 8 years ago in BLOX CMS updated 8 years ago 3

1) A secure mode for assets would only allow specific people (through a list of usernames or group access settings) to edit an asset and publish.


2) Sometimes there are sensitive articles that, while they are being developed, should only be accessed by a select few (eg: only the author and a managing editor).


3) We would use it any time there are stories or large features that require confidentiality until publication. Especially articles that have a lot of fact-based research that needs to be vetted, or allegations that need to be confirmed.


4) All users would benefit from this feature. Our head editors and those with more independent and investigative privileges would benefit most from it, while allowing our managing editors access to their articles.

0

New feature idea: "Make Siblings" button

Michael Becker 8 years ago in BLOX CMS 0

Let me know what you think of this idea, folks:


Imagine you're in the asset editor with multiple assets selected. You then hit a button in the toolbar and all those assets are made siblings to each other in one click. (Each one has all the others added as siblings.)


I think it would make establishing related articles easier in bulk.