Welcome to TownNews.com's customer community! Connect with other TownNews.com customers and with us to suggest features, share best practices and ask questions.

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.
+2
Under review

Calendar events with multiple times don't show details

Nick 9 years ago in BLOX CMS updated by Phil Pracht (Product Manager) 9 years ago 3

The BLOX calendar needs more details for events with multiple times/mini events that make up a bigger event. For instance the Elvis tribute artists are coming to our town this weekend. They have a bunch of events throughout the weekend. Here's what the back-end looks like...


Image 125


Each one of those times has a "Schedule name" with it because I assumed the schedule name would differentiate it on the front-end. Not so. Notice how it looks on the front-end.


Image 126


And the calendar widget block doesn't even display the times but I have no idea why. The ESL event and the conversational Spanish class show their times. And it isn't because Elvis doesn't have times. Just look at all of those times I filled in!


Image 128


I don't want to have to go in and create new mini-events when there's a big event like the Elvis Festival but as the system is now it seems like I would have to in order to get the front-end look I'm wanting.


So....

1. Is there any way TownNews can have "Schedule name" or a similar field display on the front-end?

2. Can we get the calendar widget block to show time details on ALL events?


All of that complaining aside I feel the need to sing the praises of TownNews for a minute. Y'all have an outstanding product and we love using BLOX. So in all of these posts that we flood community.townnews with I don't want your hard work and accomplishments to go unappreciated. What is SO great about TN is that I know y'all listen to our input and there's never a "We've arrived!" mentality. There's always work to be done and improvements to be made. So thanks guys! You make our jobs fun!

Answer

Thanks, Nick. I'm sure you've already considered this but you'd be sacrificing the ability to edit each event. For instance, the "Opening Ceremony" may have information particular to that event - guest speakers, acts/lineup, prices, ticket links, 18 and Over flag - all of which would then have to be included in the body of the single event. The "Gospel Concert" may be a 21+ event.

For a weekend-long event consisting of several different schedules and details you can imagine that single event could get awfully long.

0

Section tag order

Greg Wood 9 years ago 0

No big deal, but would it be possible to get the option to have the most recently added section tags appear at the top of the list? This would ensure that the wire stories are opening in the local site sections we apply instead of our "ap" section, where we are not really targeting ads. I know it's easy to drag it to the top, but people don't seem to be getting the message...

0
Under review

Improve "asset author display" option for "byline"

Jacki Gray 9 years ago in BLOX CMS updated by anonymous 9 years ago 7

In Flex (or even Zen) it would be great if the "asset author display" was enhanced and recognized the "byline" as it does the "author."


I had to change the page customization setting for "asset author display" on our Flex build to just "byline." We have admins (editors) that are set as the author for assets -- but the content they are managing is not their byline. The byline is for the reporter. Now a reader no longer has the option to directly email the reporter by clicking the name in the byline. Nor can they now choose to "follow" the reporter in the byline.


Having admins identified as authors is most useful within the database for search and tracking content. But the frontend recognizing the byline would be more useful in our situation.


I'm curious how other newspaper clients are using the byline and author fields?


See notes in red:


Image 130


+1

Periscope

Greg Wood 9 years ago in BLOX CMS 0

I wonder how many newsrooms are using Periscope. Hutch News has started a bit. Any chance we could get Periscope added to the Utility: Social links Flex block template?

Thanks!

Greg

0
Answered

Can I change the default font site-wide without CSS?

Nick 9 years ago in BLOX CMS updated by Christine Masters 9 years ago 1

I have CSS access but there are several places where font is being called within the CSS. Does Zen or Flex allow the default font to be changed somewhere in the site customizations, url customizations or page customizations?

Answer
Christine Masters 9 years ago

On Zen it is difficult to do because when we built Zen, we didn't really have a unifying CSS framework, so there are many different classes with different styles. So you have to get a list of all the classes to hit with CSS, and even then you'd probably miss some.


You should be able to hit the article page headline, or perhaps the titles or headline on the front page, which will give you a different look and feel, but it won't be the equivalent of changing the font everywhere.


On Flex we do have site styles which usually change your font. In addition, since we use Bootstrap, it is much easier to just change the Bootstrap defaults in order to make big changes on your site with very little code! =)

+2

Kindle and Nook support of e-Editions

BismarckTribune 9 years ago in BLOX CMS 0

1)What problem(s) does this idea solve?

The current Flex template of the e-Edition does not support Kindles or Nooks.

2) Why do you need this idea implemented? We have had multiple calls from customers who used to be able to read the e-Edition on their devices who now cannot. Kindle and Nook makes up about 2% of our users. Which is about 300 users per day.

3) How often would you use this feature?

Our customers would use this feature everyday.

4) How many people in your organization would use this feature? 300 customers , minimum, per day.


It would be nice to tell our customers that we care about them and that we value them as customers, rather than telling them that since they're a minority we don't care and they should buy a different device. At which point I'm sure they'd tell us they'll save their money and just stop subscribing. 300 customers unsubscribing is not a small issue for us, we do value them and would prefer not to alienate people in our small community.


Thanks.


Jason Heupel

Online Producer

Bismarck Tribune

jason.heupel@bismarcktribune.com

701-250-8291

+5

Title option in batch edit

Lindy 9 years ago updated by Nick 9 years ago 1

Is there a plan to add a title field in the batch edit window?

Example: 100 photos get batch uploaded but have incorrect filenames. Each one has to be edited individually to fix the naming convention or title.

0

Webinar recording: Introducing TownNews.com iQ Standard

anonymous 9 years ago 0

At our March webinar, Wesley Farris (TownNews.com iQ program manager) introduced the all-new iQ Standard tier, designed to help sites of all sizes use data to extract superior results from their programmatic and remnant advertising campaigns.


For more information, the recorded webinar today!

0
Answered

Have form product selected by default?

Nick 9 years ago updated by Sean Bova | Web Developer 9 years ago 5

We're offering a product online with a BLOX form. We only have one product and want it to be selected by default. Is there a way to do this? Users can choose how many to purchase. But the only way I can get the radio selection to go away is to remove the ability to purchase multiple copies.

0

calendar events displaying in AP Style

Jennifer Perkins 9 years ago in BLOX CMS 0

This is a feature request made by a newsroom editor for the display of events from the calendar component. She refers to the Summer Camp Fair item at the bottom of the screenshot below:


"AP Style specifies months and states of five or fewer letters should be spelled out. So in the calendar it should be March, June and July, NOT Mar, Jun and Jul.


When event occurs on the hour should be 1 p.m. Not 1:00 pm.
Only use : in time when there are minutes involved, i.e. 10:45 a.m., 2:30 p.m.
Dates are simply month followed by day: Nov. 4 or Jan. 22. Not Nov. 4th or Jan. 22nd.
Month and day should be set off from year with a comma.
So the entry I was attempting to fix would read:
Occurs from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. on March 13, 2016."


Image 123


+2

Anyone successfully using push notifications with BLOX?

Nick 9 years ago in BLOX CMS updated by anonymous 9 years ago 3

Like the subject suggests, we're interested in push notifications. Do any of y'all use them with BLOX and are you pleased with the functionality? Is the service through a 3rd party?

+1

Email Reach: Limited Access

Kevin M. Cox 9 years ago in BLOX CMS 0

This doesn’t appear to be possible with the current BLOX setup, but I’d love it if there was a way to allow certain employees to send a breaking news email alert without giving them access to the entire Email Reach area of BLOX.


I like to operate on the principle of least privilege whenever possible. So while I’m not worried about an editor purposefully messing with our other email lists, preventing them from having the access means they can’t accidentally break something either. They also don’t need to be messing with the Contacts list or anything else, simply sending the email.


In our specific case with breaking news, we have a list setup and always trigger it using the Single Run function. To make things even simpler, it is always the exact same URL we enter every single time.


As such all we really need is a “Send Email” button that an authenticated editor could press to fire it off.


Like I said I don’t think anything like this is possible, since the only option for granting someone Email Reach privileges is Full Access. But I wanted to get everyone’s thoughts.


Thanks.

0

Webinar: Introducing TownNews.com iQ Standard

anonymous 9 years ago updated by Kevin M. Cox 9 years ago 1

Webinar: Introducing TownNews.com iQ Standard

Image 122

At our March webinar, Wesley Farris, TownNews.com iQ program manager, will introduce the all-new iQ Standard tier, designed to help sites of all sizes use data to extract superior results from their programmatic and remnant advertising campaigns.


We'll cover:

  • Trends in programmatic--where the market stands, and where it's going.
  • How to instantly boost CPMs on your unsold inventory--using the data you already have on hand.
  • How TownNews.com iQ Standard makes programmatic advertising easy and affordable--and how you can get started!

Join us on Thursday, March 3rd at 10:30 AM CST.

+1
Under review

Hard returns in assets

Craig V 10 years ago in BLOX CMS updated by Nick 9 years ago 5
Why are hard returns turned into paragraphs when an asset is saved. Is there a way around this? Even if I add <br /> in html view it is still converted to a <p></p>
0

Facebook Instant Articles

Kevin M. Cox 9 years ago in BLOX CMS updated by Nick 9 years ago 1

Just wanted to open this topic up for discussion:


Facebook will open Instant Articles to all publishers on April 12


I'm skeptical on the value of this to publishers. What do y'all think?