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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.
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+4
Under review
Mobile-friendly display for Election platform assets
I've been setting up our election coverage for the 2014 cycle, and as best I can tell, the assets within the Election Stats platform do not display in a mobile-friendly fashion when viewed on a mobile device, like an article would. I've been able to pull them in to Touch 5 blocks, but when you click on them on a mobile device, they just go straight to the desktop version of the page. This is particularly inconvenient for a phone display.
With the huge growth in mobile traffic and the way voters are consuming content now, it would seem to be an absolute must that these election assets get a mobile-friendly display in the future.
Thanks very much.
With the huge growth in mobile traffic and the way voters are consuming content now, it would seem to be an absolute must that these election assets get a mobile-friendly display in the future.
Thanks very much.
0
Answered
Google news images/links are not ours
If I search our stories in google news we get the correct text but sometimes images are not ours. Search "site:buckscountycouriertimes.com" in google news. Has anyone found a workaround to tell google news to use a default image and not someone else's?
Answer
Christine Masters
11 years ago
Hi Craig!
Here is the Google News help page, which says that if you don't have a related image (that meets their requirements) they will sometimes help you out by adding one from somewhere else:
https://support.google.com/news/publisher/answer/1...
"Please keep in mind that in order to show as many different sources to our users as possible, we sometimes pair relevant images with articles from different sources."
So, it doesn't look like much can be done other than to try to have images with all of your main stories.
I had thought that setting an og_image setting would help, but you have that already, so clearly Google News won't use that.
Here is the Google News help page, which says that if you don't have a related image (that meets their requirements) they will sometimes help you out by adding one from somewhere else:
https://support.google.com/news/publisher/answer/1...
"Please keep in mind that in order to show as many different sources to our users as possible, we sometimes pair relevant images with articles from different sources."
So, it doesn't look like much can be done other than to try to have images with all of your main stories.
I had thought that setting an og_image setting would help, but you have that already, so clearly Google News won't use that.
+3
Under review
Real-time Sports Scoreboard
I want the ability on a section front to create a real-time sports scoreboard, then when the game is complete, display the results. I don't see a sports stats block for this. Has anyone ever done this before?
0
Under review
Trouble with bots and crawlers
Mike Stickler 11 years ago
in BLOX CMS
•
updated by Patrick O'Lone (Director of Software Development) 11 years ago •
6
Is anyone having bandwith overages and when they try to track them back discover msnbot is accounting for 24%-33% of total page views. I am loathe to block them completely but changing the crawl delay had no effect?
By way of comparison googlebot, yahoo(slurp), and bingbot all seem to account for about 6% of our pageviews.
How are you dealing with the issue?
By way of comparison googlebot, yahoo(slurp), and bingbot all seem to account for about 6% of our pageviews.
How are you dealing with the issue?
0
Completed
Broadcast Idea
One of the big issues with Facebook is that when you broadcast and the asset has no image attached that FB will pull a random image. Unfortunately this includes ads or business logos.
Can a prompt be added to broadcast that notifies the person broadcasting that there is no image attached and makes them choose to continue.
Can a prompt be added to broadcast that notifies the person broadcasting that there is no image attached and makes them choose to continue.
Answer
Christine Masters
11 years ago
Hi Jason!
We have a feature that, when you do not have a related image on the page, will send FB a "default" og_image to use. Most newspapers will use a logo or something similar.
Here is the documentation:
http://docs.townnews.com/kbpublisher/OpenGraph-Tag...
Also, note that these can be set on the URL, so you could theoretically have a different og_image per section.
We have a feature that, when you do not have a related image on the page, will send FB a "default" og_image to use. Most newspapers will use a logo or something similar.
Here is the documentation:
http://docs.townnews.com/kbpublisher/OpenGraph-Tag...
Also, note that these can be set on the URL, so you could theoretically have a different og_image per section.
0
New tool consolidates paywall rules for easy maintenance
Our new rule profiles feature makes managing your subscription rules a breeze, even if you offer tons of packages. Read more »
+1
Started
Business Directory
Can Google+ be added to the social media (second tab) for the business directory listings.
0
Completed
Ability to test forms with payment information before going live
We'd like to be able to test forms that include payment information before pushing them live to the public. If that's already possible, we haven't found it in the documentation, but it would be a great feature. We've had several cases where forms went live, but there were errors in the form that we were unaware of because we could not process them without it charging a card.
Answer
Christine Masters
11 years ago
Hi Sam!
Pretty much any of our products (Forms, Ad Owl, Upsell Manager, etc.) will utilize the test Visa number:
Any name
Any address
acct: 4111111111111111 (a 4 and 15 ones)
expiration: Any future date
CSC code: 123 (I think it can be any three-digit number)
For this to work, you have to be viewing the form in PREVIEW mode (not live).
Try this out and let me know how it works for you.
Christine
Pretty much any of our products (Forms, Ad Owl, Upsell Manager, etc.) will utilize the test Visa number:
Any name
Any address
acct: 4111111111111111 (a 4 and 15 ones)
expiration: Any future date
CSC code: 123 (I think it can be any three-digit number)
For this to work, you have to be viewing the form in PREVIEW mode (not live).
Try this out and let me know how it works for you.
Christine
+2
Under review
Universal Analytics Upgrade (GA)
Apparently Google is now offering improved analytics via a "Universal Analytics Upgrade" however the upgrade will require some tracking code changes. Here is a link to some detailed info on what is to gain and what changes are involved. https://developers.google.com/analytics/devguides/collection/upgrade/?hl=en_US Since Town News pretty much controls the GA tracking snippet for us, was wondering what, if any, changes are on the horizon to accommodate the new analtyics.js snippet over the current ga.js. Might you have an ETA as well?
Google says you can go thru the upgrade process in GA and continue to get your stats as normal, however, the benefits of the Universal upgrade won't be seen until the tracking code is updated. I'd be willing to beta if you need a volunteer.
Thanks
Google says you can go thru the upgrade process in GA and continue to get your stats as normal, however, the benefits of the Universal upgrade won't be seen until the tracking code is updated. I'd be willing to beta if you need a volunteer.
Thanks
+1
Started
We have a customer who insists that we publish our e-edition as a single PDF. Although we had done this for a few months, we are told by Customer Service that for the e-edition to work optimally we need to upload as individual pages, which we are doing no
This is Tim Howsare at The Pampa News.
+1
Under review
Remove breadcrumbs from page
Is there an easy way to remove breadcrumbs from a specific page. I still want them for the majority of them, but would like to remove them on pages I scrape to get the "site template" (i.e. for things like e-mail templates and uPickEm contests). I know I can hide this in CSS, but would like to do it in BLOX
0
Under review
Has anyone experienced content going live BEFORE their publish date?
Has anyone experienced content going live BEFORE their set publish date? We experienced a mess of content going live well before their intended publish date, and set off a bit of a firestorm in our newsroom. I have heard of this happening once at yet one other property, but I thought I'd ask around as I'm submitting a help ticket. It's a somewhat sketchy idea of a bug, especially considering embargoed content. We're going to attempt to test it again to recreate it.
0
Email Weather Newsletter
Hi! We've been making a big email push lately and really want to create a morning weather newsletter that would include the day's forecast, then ideally link off to the weather page on our website. Are there any tools available for this in the current BLOX system, or has anybody come across a solution that works with the CMS?
0
Secrets to social networking success with BLOX CMS
With approximately 1.317 billion users on Facebook, it’s clear that social media is here to stay. Growing your social network should be a key component of your marketing strategy, but it isn’t easy. You need publishing tools that make it simpler to post, share and create a community. Learn more »
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