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+3
Auto expire an asset flag
We have a problem here internally where someone will set the Breaking flag on a story and then we'll forget to remove it for hours. Obviously this could be solved by us doing a better job of remembering to check and remove the flag sooner.
That said, I'm wondering if a technical solution could be implemented. Would it be possible to have certain asset Flags set to auto-expire, or un-check themselves, after a set period of time? This would remove some of the need to babysit the site and allow editors to move on to other things.
Let me know what y'all think.
That said, I'm wondering if a technical solution could be implemented. Would it be possible to have certain asset Flags set to auto-expire, or un-check themselves, after a set period of time? This would remove some of the need to babysit the site and allow editors to move on to other things.
Let me know what y'all think.
0
Answered
Section tags not showing up in Total CMS
We're adding several different columnist pages for a couple of different sections. Everything is showing up okay on the front end, but we can't add the new section tags to the article assets from within Total CMS, only when we're in CMS (the new section tags aren't even showing up as options in TCMS). I've never done this before, so I might be missing a step. Is there any way to add the tags to TCMS so we can put them on from there instead of having to go into CMS?
0
Foreign Language Wire in Uncategorized
Does anyone else have a ton of foreign language wire content moving through their Uncategorized Section within BLOX? In our case it appears to all be Spanish but there are thousands of assets.
Now I realize it isn’t really a problem from the perspective that it’ll display on our public website. It will also delete itself according to a schedule so there isn’t a storage concern I hope.
However it does create a problem in that it makes it nearly impossible to check and make sure our own local content hasn’t accidentally been published without being assigned to a Section (and hence not showing up on the public site).
Now I realize it isn’t really a problem from the perspective that it’ll display on our public website. It will also delete itself according to a schedule so there isn’t a storage concern I hope.
However it does create a problem in that it makes it nearly impossible to check and make sure our own local content hasn’t accidentally been published without being assigned to a Section (and hence not showing up on the public site).
+1
Answered
Permalinks?
Is there any way to know what the permanent link/slug of a particular story will be before it is published?
Answer
Christine Masters
9 years ago
Social broadcast is a great way to handle social posts, because they will go online nearly instantly and automatically link to your content - but also you can click on the "live" link at any time after save to get the live URL.
+2
Answered
TownNews feature request: Generate an RSS/Atom feed for Apple News publishing platform
Hi there, I'm trying to figure out how to create a feed from our Blox site to test with the new Apple News Publishing platform.
Essentially, the feeds the Missourian now has are formatted as a search, not really a feed per se (that is, the feed url doesn’t end in .xml or similar) — the url looks like this: feed://www.columbiamissourian.com/search/?q=&nsa=eedition&nfl=advertorial&t=article&l=20&s=start_time&sd=desc&f=rss
That works fine in the feed readers I tested it in, but for the Apple Publishing Platform feed we need an Atom or RSS feed in .xml or .rss format.
I went through Town News support and it's apparently not something that is currently generate-able there.
The Apple feed specification is here, if it's useful: https://developer.apple.com/library/prerelease/ios/documentation/General/Conceptual/News_Publishing_Guide/RSSBestPractices.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP40015407-CH13-SW1
The reason we want to generate that RSS/Atom feed is to test with the Apple Publishing Platform beta. There's a roundup of the new News app in this Nieman post: http://www.niemanlab.org/2015/06/for-news-organizations-this-was-the-most-important-set-of-apple-announcements-in-years/
If others are interested, please note and it will help bump up priority.
Thanks!
Essentially, the feeds the Missourian now has are formatted as a search, not really a feed per se (that is, the feed url doesn’t end in .xml or similar) — the url looks like this: feed://www.columbiamissourian.com/search/?q=&nsa=eedition&nfl=advertorial&t=article&l=20&s=start_time&sd=desc&f=rss
That works fine in the feed readers I tested it in, but for the Apple Publishing Platform feed we need an Atom or RSS feed in .xml or .rss format.
I went through Town News support and it's apparently not something that is currently generate-able there.
The Apple feed specification is here, if it's useful: https://developer.apple.com/library/prerelease/ios/documentation/General/Conceptual/News_Publishing_Guide/RSSBestPractices.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP40015407-CH13-SW1
The reason we want to generate that RSS/Atom feed is to test with the Apple Publishing Platform beta. There's a roundup of the new News app in this Nieman post: http://www.niemanlab.org/2015/06/for-news-organizations-this-was-the-most-important-set-of-apple-announcements-in-years/
If others are interested, please note and it will help bump up priority.
Thanks!
Answer
Christine Masters
9 years ago
Hi Rob!
The search link that you referenced above (http://www.columbiamissourian.com/search/?q=&nsa=eedition&nfl=advertorial&t=article&l=20&s=start_time&sd=desc&f=rss) is still a valid RSS 2.0 feed, even though it doesn't end in an .xml. From what I can tell, Apple does not appear to require a specific extension... only a valid feed.
I personally set up another site as a News Channel on the Apple News Publisher platform, and my RSS feed was domain.com/rss (with no specific extension, though it is a valid feed) - and it appeared that it was accepted. That being said, I haven't been notified that my channel is live yet.
In other words, I think it will work if you try it. There may be additional tweaks we have to make to optimize things going forward, so let us know how it goes.
Here is some more information about generating MRSS, RSS and ATOM feeds from BLOX using search: http://docs.townnews.com/kbpublisher/How-to-Generate-RSS-ATOM-or-iATOM-feeds-from-BLOX_5941.html
And, if you want to create specific channels based on certain sections in your BLOX site (for example, a specific channel for a columnist or a sports team), here are details on how to create search queries (which can then create feeds): http://docs.townnews.com/kbpublisher/Search-Queries_5555.html
Let me know if you have more information about this, or if you've confirmed something different. It's a new thing so we're trying to stay on top of it! =)
Christine
The search link that you referenced above (http://www.columbiamissourian.com/search/?q=&nsa=eedition&nfl=advertorial&t=article&l=20&s=start_time&sd=desc&f=rss) is still a valid RSS 2.0 feed, even though it doesn't end in an .xml. From what I can tell, Apple does not appear to require a specific extension... only a valid feed.
I personally set up another site as a News Channel on the Apple News Publisher platform, and my RSS feed was domain.com/rss (with no specific extension, though it is a valid feed) - and it appeared that it was accepted. That being said, I haven't been notified that my channel is live yet.
In other words, I think it will work if you try it. There may be additional tweaks we have to make to optimize things going forward, so let us know how it goes.
Here is some more information about generating MRSS, RSS and ATOM feeds from BLOX using search: http://docs.townnews.com/kbpublisher/How-to-Generate-RSS-ATOM-or-iATOM-feeds-from-BLOX_5941.html
And, if you want to create specific channels based on certain sections in your BLOX site (for example, a specific channel for a columnist or a sports team), here are details on how to create search queries (which can then create feeds): http://docs.townnews.com/kbpublisher/Search-Queries_5555.html
Let me know if you have more information about this, or if you've confirmed something different. It's a new thing so we're trying to stay on top of it! =)
Christine
0
Under review
Prevent asset edits if comments not entered
We have enabled the “Allow update comments” option for Editorial Assets. However only certain users ever remember to enter comments making it difficult to track changes, especially when they are minor ones.
I’d love to see an option that would make comments mandatory; BLOX would prevent an asset from being saved unless something had been entered in the comments box.
Maybe it could be only enforced if it has been X minutes since the last update so that someone could easily fix a small typo right away.
Any thoughts?
I’d love to see an option that would make comments mandatory; BLOX would prevent an asset from being saved unless something had been entered in the comments box.
Maybe it could be only enforced if it has been X minutes since the last update so that someone could easily fix a small typo right away.
Any thoughts?
0
More views for images/collectiong
Hi all, wondering if there's advice on how to generate more views for our photos and collections? We have photographers using cryptic naming devices for archive purposes and wondering if giving them matching headlines would help with views as well? Trying to sell the point to stubborn journalists. Any advice is welcomed.
0
First Thursday Webinar
At this month's webinar, we'll show you how to save money and streamline your workflow by building your Live e-Edition with BLOX Total CMS — as you create your print edition!
Topics will include:
- Saving time and money by simultaneously creating your Live e-Edition and print edition using BLOX Total CMS.
- Updating your Live e-Edition as a story develops to keep your readers informed and engaged.
- Enhancing your Live e-Edition with video, images and more.
Want to see Live e-Editions and BLOX Total CMS in action? Join us on Thursday, June 4th at 10:30 AM CDT. Sign up today!
0
I'd like to import an article asset and make it a child of another article
We have a series of articles about cooks, with related articles (2-4, usually) containing recipes which were contributed by the cook profiled. I'd like to import the recipes from NITF, but don't see a way to say "this article is a child of article {ID}". Is there a way to do that, which I'm missing? If not could, could a way be added? Thanks!
0
Keyboard shortcut for inline notes
In switching from Django to Blox, I've noticed that while both CMS have an in-text notes feature, Blox doesn't have a keyboard shortcut for inline notes (Ctrl+Shift+N in Django). Having this keyboard shortcut would be very helpful, especially in longer assets that require numerous brief notes relating to facts and proper names. Is there any way a similar set of keystrokes could activate inline notes mode in a future Blox release?
Thanks,
Will
Thanks,
Will
0
Answered
Set up Flex on a url with a custom application skin
Is it possible to set up a custom application skin with Flex so we can use it based off of the url?
Answer
Christine Masters
10 years ago
Hi Craig!
A few issues with this:
1. You can only have one active global folder at a time so that could potentially cause problems. Technically Flex doesn't have dependencies on global, but I'm not sure if there would be conflicts. You definitely wouldn't get customizations and code from that global.
2. Your header and footer from Zen would not work on Flex. Flex would not ask for those files.
3. Any variables set on Zen would not work on Flex (we have purposefully namespaced them) and vise versa.
It MAY be theoretically possible (I haven't tried it) to have a Zen site running a non-standard Flex skin such as Live e-Edition (which has no header and footer or theme options like the rest of the site). However, since Zen and Flex Live e-Editions are very similar, I'm not sure why you'd want to.
A few issues with this:
1. You can only have one active global folder at a time so that could potentially cause problems. Technically Flex doesn't have dependencies on global, but I'm not sure if there would be conflicts. You definitely wouldn't get customizations and code from that global.
2. Your header and footer from Zen would not work on Flex. Flex would not ask for those files.
3. Any variables set on Zen would not work on Flex (we have purposefully namespaced them) and vise versa.
It MAY be theoretically possible (I haven't tried it) to have a Zen site running a non-standard Flex skin such as Live e-Edition (which has no header and footer or theme options like the rest of the site). However, since Zen and Flex Live e-Editions are very similar, I'm not sure why you'd want to.
0
Completed
Did you miss this month's First Thursday webinar?
At our May 2015 customer webinar Christine Masters (director of product management) discussed exciting new features, updates and helpful tips. Topics included reformatting your front page for breaking news, new and improved workflow features and much more!
Don't miss it again - click here to watch it today!
Don't miss it again - click here to watch it today!
+3
Under review
Support for Disqus commenting
Blox already has an option to turn on Facebook commenting. Now how about including the option for Disqus, which is an incredibly popular commenting system.
Moreover, Disqus has built a single sign-on solution into its API that, though it's a bit complicated, could be integrated with Blox logins, making the experience seamless for users.
At the very least, the option to use the free Disqus commenting should be one that's included.
Moreover, Disqus has built a single sign-on solution into its API that, though it's a bit complicated, could be integrated with Blox logins, making the experience seamless for users.
At the very least, the option to use the free Disqus commenting should be one that's included.
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