Guide

CREATING A POST

Directions for the Classic Editor:

1) Go to Posts > Add New

2) Add a title using sentence case, capitalizing the first word.

3) Paste text from the story into the text window. If you have problems with odd formatting, it may be extra code carried over from Microsoft Word. You can click into the “Text” mode and delete the code. Spaces will look like this   Or you can just do this manually in Visual mode.

For the most part you will be using the “Visual” mode of the post unless you want to add embed code or clean up formatting.

Add Images

1) Images should be sized to around 1200 pixels wide. The reason is that they may be displayed in different places. The height can vary but generally horizontal images look best. If you have a vertical image, it should be no more than 450 pixels wide or the text on your post will be crammed into a tiny space. For galleries, make all the images 1200×800 pixels for uniformity.

2) Fill in the Text, Caption and Alt boxes in the image pop-up window. The Title will show up if someone mouses over the image so it should be meaningful. It can also help with SEO, so don’t use meaningless file titles.  Add a caption and then copy it and paste that into the Alt box, which is for the visually impaired.

3) Make sure you are inserting the Full Size image into the post. (You should have sized it to 1200 pixels unless it is a vertical.) If it is a thumbnail size you can click on it in visual mode, select the pencil and make sure to select Full Size.

4) Select one of your images as a featured image for the home page tout.

Home Top Page Slider

1) Select one of your images as a featured image. It should be a horizontal image 1200 pixels wide.

2) To have a post show up in the top slider, make sure you checked Featured in the categories.

Author Box

Select the author from the right-hand navigation. Rollover the editor name and click on the trash can to delete. If there is more than one author, input those manually and select citynewsroomcj. You may choose to hide the author box by selecting Hide under Display.

Post Types

The theme has different types of posts.

Standard

This is for text stories with photos.

Video

1) For Video, check off the “Video” in the Format box on the right hand side of the post.

2) Scroll down to the Video Player Settings. Look for this:

3) You will need to use a screen grab — or photo — for the featured image.

Slideshow Gallery

If you want to create a top gallery instead of an image or video, select Gallery type. Then upload the images to the media library (don’t insert). Then, you can chose for narrow or full width using the Gallery Settings module beneath the post.

Headline, Home Page & Section Page Excerpt, SEO description

1) Long headlines can get a little clunky on the site. Aim for brevity if possible.

This is about perfect: Bronx fire ignites a shared call to action (42 characters with spaces)

2) Add a summary sentence in the “Excerpt” box. This will appear beneath the title and image in all places except for the top carousels. Be careful that you don’t repeat elements in the title. The goal is to convey the most information with the fewest words. If you skip this step, random text or code will appear instead of the excerpt.

This is about perfect: Two gatherings across the Bronx decry years of indifference. (61 characters with spaces)

Note: if you don’t see the Excerpt box, go the very top of the WordPress window, upper righthand side and select Screen Options, and check the Excerpt box.

3) Paste the same excerpt into the Meta Description box in the Yoast SEO module.

Categories 

1) Select the category that best fits your story. Avoid checking more than 2, ideally just check 1 when it is in the home page carousel or it will look repetitive when it shows up in multiple places.

2) Uncheck “uncategorized.”

3) For images to be featured on the home page in the video slider, check ‘Featured’

Global Menu

To add or subtract anything from the top menu.

1) Go to Appearance > Menus.
2) Select a menu to edit: Select Global Menu (Main Navigation)
3) Under Add Menu Items, find the item you want — most likely it will be under Categories. Check the box of the category you want and click the button Add to Menu. Drag it to the spot you want it. Click Save. Important: note the location says Main Navigation. If you ever want a different main menu, this is how you change it.

HOME PAGE BLOCKS

The home page is built using the Elementor block builder.

Top Slider



You can modify this by scrolling down to Header Slider Settings. Right now we are using Slider #4. There are various ways it can be modified.

Home Page Elements

Click on the blue box at the top that says Edit with Elementor. (Note: you may want to make a backup by scrolling down to the lower left hand corner and click on the arrow next to the Update, “Save as a Template, label it with Home and date.)

All elements will show a pencil when you rollover them and this is how you can edit.

Image Carousel

This feature includes a text widget title, a gallery and a text widget caption. To edit text, click on the pencil and the text will appear in the left hand navigation. To edit the photos, click on the pencil, clear the photos and upload new ones, adding a caption when you upload. For the text below, click on the pencil of the lower text widget and edit.

Latest News

When you click on the pencil of this module, you can modify the title Latest News and the categories of the posts to show and the number of posts, among other things.