We have big plans to give you completely customizable featured sections. We want to allow our variety of customers, across all media types, to have take-over control of their app. As we rewrite the way our app works, we want to give a preview to the kind of functionality you can look forward to, allow time for feedback, and perfect the functionality as we roll out more sweeping changes.
App Version
First, we need to make sure you are running the latest version of the app.
- iOS - 4.34.38 or later
- Android - 4.35 or later
Let us know if you want the new functionality and we will get your app updated in the market.
Setup
At the moment, News Lists are only supported in the "Featured Stories" front page layout. This layout starts with a list of stories in the header.
Now that you are running the "Featured Stories" layout, you will see two open slots to add a "Content Block." They look like this:
Today, these slots are static. There is one just below the weather widget and another 2 content blocks down. Feel free to use both. Click the "+" button to configure a new content block.
Configure a "News List"
- Visibility - This is a toggle to make it easy to show and hide the content block from your users while having it configured and ready to go.
- Content Type - Today there is only one content type. You will want to select "News List."
- Subcategory - We look through your content and select content types that will work for the news list. That drop down will show anything backed by a feed and live in the app. Select the content section you want pull stories from.
- Display Title - Give it a name (usually the same as the subcategory name) and we will display it in the header of the content block.
- Max Articles to Display - Choose how many articles you want to display in this block.
- Show Hero - The hero is that big top image block. We recommend that you do not show the hero image inline.
Once you hit "Save Changes" the panel will close and News List will show on the front page.
Editing or Removing the Content Block
To edit the content or delete the block entirely - click "Edit" in the bottom right corner of the content block on the home page. This opens up the editor panel.
Change the content to highlight a news event, weather or sports topic of interest. The content in the block will update at a fresh app open for your users. You can also toggle the visibility of the content block to "OFF" if you want to keep the section settings but disable the visibility of it in app.
When it's time to remove the content block, open the editor panel and simply scroll down to the "Delete Block" button and click it.
As always, reach out if you have any questions or concerns.