Overview for Early Adopters

This page describes changes to the way news articles are created and displayed using the news syndication system, News Hub. 

These instructions are specific to early adopters. After the pilot process is over, new pages will be published with general instructions at cms.ku.edu/news. 

Changes to News Articles

Previously, articles were created and displayed on your site using News Article sections within CMS Sunflower. A new process is in place with two primary changes:

1. News Hub is a new system outside of the CMS to create, manage, and submit articles to KU News for syndication.
2. The use of Bodies 18, 19, and 20 to display articles on your CMS Sunflower site has changed to News 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5.

Video Instructions

View the following links for video instruction for each of these changes or go to the written instructions below.

• How to use News Hub (video)
• How to Replace Sections on your website (video)
• How to add other users to News Hub (video)

Quick Facts

• All articles in your News Hub can be sent to KU News for syndication with a click of a button.
• Once you send news articles to KU News, they are owned by KU News and will disappear from your published area.
• By default, KU News shares articles they receive and are available to you to display on your site.
• Articles in your News Hub account are displayed on a default news page, but can be displayed on other web pages using the new News sections.

Off-campus VPN

Just like editing your website, if you are working off-campus, you will need to be logged in to the VPN to use News Hub. Learn more about the KU Anywhere VPN. 

Permission Levels in the News Hub

There are three permission levels in the News Hub: Writer, Editor, and Manager. The person requesting access will be given the manager role and can add others to their account.

Manager/ Editor

Managers have access to everything, while editors have access to everything except adding or editing users in your News Hub and publishing Archived articles. 

Writer

Writers can only create and edit news articles. They can add pre-existing tags and media contacts already created by an editor or manager.

Site admins can request users be added to their account. 

Getting Started

The migration process and what to expect.

• Web Services has created an account in the  new News Hub that is associated with the website(s) you manage, and assigned you the role of Manager. 
• Use the Add Users request form to request others be added to your account, if applicable. 
• The replacement News sections have been installed in your CMS and should replace the Body (18, 19, 20) sections that currently display your articles on your website. 

Replacing Body sections with News sections:

1. Add the new News sections to page(s) and remove old Body sections.
2. Save the page(s) as a draft, then notify web services they are ready to be published.
3. Web services will migrate your articles from CMS to News Hub and publish the page(s) where articles are being displayed.

This notification to Web Services will only need to be done the first time. Once your articles have been migrated to News Hub, you may create and publish sections at will.

Create Articles in News Hub

1. Go to News Hub and use your KU credentials to log in. If you are working off-campus, you must be logged in to the VPN.
2. Select the news account you want to work in. 
3. Select the Create article link at the top-right menu. 
4. Complete the information for the article.
   • If adding images, review important information below about image quality and alt text. 
5. Optional: Select Media Contacts.
   • Only managers and editors can create media contacts to be displayed for selection. Writers cannot create new media contacts, but they can select contacts that have already been created by managers and editors.
   • Select the link in paragraph below Media Contacts field to create new media contact.
     View Screenshot
6. Optional: Designate as a Featured article and create a tag(s).
   • Only managers and editors can create tags simply by typing the tag word in the Tag field.
   • Writers cannot create tags, but pre-existing tags will come up when typed into the Tags field.
   • To view all tags, managers and editors can select the Tags option at the top-right in their dashboard. 
   • If you send the article to KU News, all tags are replaced by those used by KU News. 
7. Upload a Featured Image. Review the mimimum specifications and recommendations, as well as important information below about image quality and alt text. Your Featured image will also serve as your social media image.
8. Optional: Include Social Media Metadata, if applicable.
9. Select the Save button at the bottom of the interface, which will save the article as unpublished.

Screenshot of Edit Summary link location

Adding Images

• If you are using your article in social media, your featured image will be used as the social media image. 
• If you are adding images to the articles, you must consider descriptive alternative text and the image quality.

Alternative Text

Alternative text, or alt text, is read aloud to users of assistive technology, and it is indexed by search engines. Alt text is meant to be descriptive that conveys the meaning and context of a visual item in a digital setting. Learn more about how to write alternative text:

• Missing alt text (video)
• Alt text needs improvement (video)
• Alternative text written instructions

Image Quality

Three primary considerations when uploading images: 

1. Images must be high quality: recommended dimensions/ratios: 1200 x 628 pixels.
2. Do not use images with text. Some of the text may be cropped out and it creates potential issues for accessibility. 
3. Use images that are landscape orientation. Posters or images in portrait orientation will not match the landscape orientation of the News Hub template and will cut off much of the image. 

Publish, Archive, Submit to KU News

You can Unpublish, Archive or Submit to KU News by selecting the down arrow next to Publish/Unpublish button and make your selection.
View Screenshot

Managers have access to republish archived articles. 

1. Select the Archived tab. 
2. Select the Publish button at the bottom-right of the article. 
3. Choose a date: Existing (original) published date, Current date, or select the calendar icon below Set a date to select a date of your choosing.
   View Screenshot
4. Publish.

Send to KU News

1. Select the down arrow at the bottom-left corner of article.
2. Send to KU News.

Once you send your articles to KU News for campus-wide syndication, KU News will become the owner of the articles.

• The articles will disappear from your account.
• All your tags will be removed. 
• If you shared the articles before sending to KU News, these articles will no longer be shared after they are sent.
• Your articles are automatically shared by KU News, so if you want to display them on your account, you can select them in the Shared article area of you account.  

Share Articles for Display

Articles in your published tab will automatically be displayed on the news view of your site. The URL for that page is your site's URL plus /news. For example, cms.ku.edu/news. 

You can display news articles on other pages by using News sections. 

After Sending to KU News

KU News will automatically share the article once they receive it and can be retrieved by you in the Select article link. 

1. Click on Select article from the top-right options (managers and editors only).
   View Screenshot
2. Choose Select from the list of shared articles.
   View Screenshot

• When the article shows in your published area, you can add tags, if applicable.
• Articles will show on the news view page [/news] and you can add sections to display them on other pages. 

Not Sending to KU News: Display Article Only on Your Site

If you are not sending articles to KU News and want to display your them on your site, you can simply publish the articles and they will be displayed on /news  and you can display them using the News sections in your CMS. 

Not Sending to KU News: Display Articles on Multiple Websites

1. Click the Share button in the lower right area of the published article. 
   View Screenshot
2. Retrieve your article by clicking on Select article from the top-right options (managers and editors only).
   View Screenshot
3. Choose Select from the list of shared articles.
   View Screenshot

Display Other Department's Articles 

To display a news article shared by other departments:

1. Click on Select article from the top-right options (managers and editors only).
   View Screenshot
2. Choose Select from the list of shared articles.
   View Screenshot

This process will add the article to the Published area of your News Hub, which will display with the other articles on your site.

Display Articles on Your Site

Body sections and News sections comparison.

Replacing Body Sections with News Sections

1. Open the page where the article is currently displayed and click Edit from the top menu in the grey bar.
2. Select the Add Body Section button.
3. From the section interface, scroll down to the News category or select News from the filter at the top-left.
   View Screenshot
4. Select the News section you want to add.
5. Check the Style Options tab for additional style features, if applicable.
   View Screenshot
6. Remove the old Body section (Body 18, 19, or 20) by clicking the vertical ellipsis (3 dots) to the right of the section you want to remove, then select Remove.
   View Screenshot
7. Save as Draft.
8. Contact web services so they can migrate your articles to the News Hub, then publish your pages for you. Moving forward, you can simply add the News sections and publish on your own. 

Add Other Users

Managers can use the form below to request that others be added to your list of users in the system. Once the users have been added by Web Services, you will need to assign them a role before they can access your account. 

1. Log in to your News Hub. 
2. Select the Users button at the top-right of your dashboard. 
3. Select the Add User button from the User screen. 
4. Select the checkbox next to the name of the user you want to add.
5. Assign the user a role by selecting the drop down under Role.
   View Screenshot
6. Save.

Support

Technical Support: itcsc@ku.edu  |  785-864-8080

Training Support: training@ku.edu  |  785-864-5155