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.
Feature Request : Amazon Payment Handler
Our Publisher for NUVO.net would like to request the ability to use Amazon as a payment handler. Reasoning Outlined Below:
1) What problem(s) does this idea solve?
Frictionless payment without releasing data or filling out forms. Universal, unlike Apple Wallet, etc…2) Why do you need this idea implemented? Provide as many problems or use cases as possible.
When we ask for money to read an article the user already only has an 8 second attention span and they don’t like to part with their money. Make it safe and easy.
3) How often would you use this feature?
Permanently
4) How many people in your organization would use this feature?
Everyone and all readers
Thank you,
Caitlin
Consider lengthening revision history in BLOX?
Right now, BLOX only stores versions of the 10 most recent revisions made, correct? Is there anyway to expand that to 30 or even more? We change assets so often now that we lose the ability to track story versions to serve as teaching points for reporters/editors and for gathering versions for contest entries. Is this something that's technically possible to accomplish?
Y'all aware that your latest update broke template editing capability on Safari?
Just wondering. Can't select any of the drop downs or expand windows anymore since around Tuesday.
Feature Suggestion: URL display in asset creation window
I was thinking that it would be beneficial to have a box within the asset creation window where once an asset has been saved, the asset's URL is displayed for easy copy/paste. My coworkers and I are frequently (at least once a day) creating assets which we then email out to our subscribers using Constant Contact. It would be nice to have the URL easily copyable from the asset creation screen, rather than opening a new tab or waiting for the asset appears on the front-end. If the URL were displayed in the asset window, it would save a click!
Feature request: Ability to add text overlay to parallax or full bleed images
I'm often using parallax photos to separate sections in a long story. With the new cover art ability to have the headline overlay, I was thinking that it would be really neat if we could put text on top of these parallax or full-bleed photos. We could put subheads or really impressive pull quotes, etc.
Here are a couple examples of how I've used them as a way to separate pieces of a project:
We would like the ability to have live video stream on our site ala facebook.
By time we record/edit/post video it is old news. We'd like to be able to create live on the fly and have the system automatically share it to fb and twitter if possible. Perhaps treat it like 'breaking News' and It only appears on the page if we are 'live'. Once we are done , we can go in and add story and move to a section.
Is there a way to get rid of the mobile anchor from Outbrain?
We've had Outbrain for a while now but I just noticed there's an anchor that takes up most of the screen. I don't have a problem with native ads but I don't want something that intrusive.
Feature request: Default presentation styles for users
If we could set a user's default presentation style (just like we can set that their assets always get them listed as the author) for article assets, that would be very helpful.
Is there a way to have a word limit on free calendar submissions, but offer more words for paid submissions using the Upsell Manager?
Is there a way to have a word limit on free calendar submissions, but offer more words for paid submissions using the Upsell Manager?
In our small/medium market community, we're using the online calendar feature and we allow even businesses to post events at their stores or locations. Events which are submitted online are also included in our print edition, but we limit certain free submissions to just 15 words. Currently, I can't find a way to put a word limit on calendar submissions. And if there is a way to do this, is there also way to make a rule which prompts users to purchase an enhanced listing if they exceed the word limit in the description? Could the photo in the calendar submission also be set up as an option only available to enhanced listings?
We currently have enhanced calendar listings with a few options (one week, one month, etc.). Since we implemented these features a few months ago, we've only had one business pay for an actual enhanced listing and it was at an introductory rate to test out the new feature.
Our calendar page is at www.sewardindependent.com/calendar
Pat Checketts
Advertising Manager
Seward County Independent
Seward, NE
Hi Pat -
Upsell Manager cannot restrict the number of words or photos for an event.
The self-service tool is designed to automatically apply properties (keywords, sections, priorities) to an event for purposes of prime placement throughout your site or print edition - homepage, newsletters, entertainment page, search results, etc.
The value of the upsell is the promotion of a user's event your site rather than the number of words or photos a user is able to apply.
Blocks don't display assets beyond 150
I set up a page for just Hurricane Irma assets since we got some significant damage. We have much more than 150 assets but when I try to set up the query size I can get it to display assets until 150. Beyond 150 the system changes the query size back to the first asset being 101. For instance... I change the "First item" to 151 to pull the next 50 assets but when I save the block it defaults back to 101.
I want to have a page for our comprehensive Irma coverage that people can look back through for months to come but the block settings aren't letting me. Is there a way to get around this?
I would create a URL for that topic, and then design a section around it. You can have groups of photos by date or by topic (before, during, after the storm, or by location, etc.).
Also, depending on the scenario, you could also keyword tag all of the assets, and then link to a search of those assets. That way, it is automatically paged and can go on forever.
I hope Kevin doesn't mind me pointing to this... but during Hurricane Harvey, galvnews.com had the same issue, and I helped them start this page: http://www.galvnews.com/harvey/ You could add to it by having more galleries, or lists of stories, ads, info boxes, etc.
inline video ads
Anyone know of a way to activate inline video ads — say, a player that pops up as a reader scrolls past the 8th paragraph, plays a 15-second ad, then collapses?
I'm very interested in the products Teads InRead, though I've seen countless copycats. Here's a video of exactly what I'm looking for:
Anyone know how to make that work in Blox and target ads at it?
Hi Graham!
It is very easy to implement this kind of technology into BLOX CMS. We've had several partners do this sort of thing.
I would ask for the implementation documentation from the vendor you want to use, and then provide it to our Customer Support team. Usually this will just require a small JavaScript tag added to the head and / or somewhere in the story. Using custom optional points and in-story Utility Regions, this can usually be done with no (or very little) custom coding.
Flex Feature Request: Restore Staff indicator on comments from Zen
Ticket # 617487 is already open on this request from our Zen to Flex transition, but posting here in addition per normal feature request protocol.
In Zen, when a staff/admin user leaves a comment on an article, it is indicated as such with a little flag as seen here.
Apparently this functionality wasn't carried over to the Flex templates and we would like to see it brought back. Right now there is nothing other than name recognition to help identify that one of our staff members is participating in a discussion with readers.
Having this identifier goes a long way to establishing that a response could be considered official or is coming from something with authority at the newspapers.
What do y'all think?
Hi Kevin!
This should be very easy to add. Just to make sure - is "Staff" the right verbiage? Maybe, "admin"? It would have to be the same always, though.
Content expiration in a block
Hey all, trying to find a way to have a block show a story for 7 days, then have that content disappear from that block (but not expire off the site, for instance). It should always be looking back a rolling 7 days. Is this possible?
Just add a query rule Start date/time set to no earlier than "7 days ago."
Trying to add dfp ad unit to top of main container
I have created two dfp (simple) blox for a desktop and mobile pencil pushdown. I tested both of these yesterday in the global-container-top-fullscreen region, but I really want them at the top of the page. I took them out of that region, and it shows that they've been added to the top of main container in the utility regions pullout bar. I have saved the layout, however even the placeholder for the blox is not showing up when I preview the site. I also have the Google Publisher Toolbar extension installed, and the ad unit overlay is not showing up there in the live site either. Do I have to enable this utility region somehow before the changes take effect?
Feature Request: API interface for Calendar system
What I would like to see is an API (like user, subscription, assets, etc) for the Calendar system.
It would allow 3rd partysoftware the ability to directly interface the calendar system from Townnews without having to resort to FTP'd files
We currently have an in-house calendar that we use for print. Currently we have to manually export each of the calendar items from the townnews hosted management system, and enter it into our system by hand. Using an exported .CSV file will work, but we would then have to create an import system for it.
- The API would allow any 3rd party program a way to interface directly, in nearly real time, with your calendar system.
- For us, this would allow us to Add/Remove/Edit entries on-the-fly without having to wait for a batched upload and download to take place. It would give a much finer control to managing the entries in the calendar without having to 'translate' them into files for processing. Also much less change of any errors creeping into the individual entries.
- For a large company such as The New York Times, it would mean faster processing, less chances of failure, and more real-time processing instead of batches.
- For Townnews it would mean a lot less proccesing power would be needed at any given time to process the batch. Spreading this load out over a longer time would reduce any bottlenecks in the work flow that might be created with a large 'batch' being processed.
Customer support service by UserEcho