Below you will find an explanation for each of the fields found on the News Article page.
Or jump straight to details on the Metadata Tab | OpenGraph Tab | Search Properties Tab | Advanced Options Tab
Article Tab
- News Heading
This value is shown in article listings to represent this article, and may be used to determine the page URL as well. It is important to enter a short succinct News Heading that gives your users an accurate idea of what content the article contains, or simply grabs the user's attention.
- Page URL
This field cannot be edited, it simply shows what the URL of the article will be once it is saved.
- Category
If you have more than one category, then the category you choose determines where on your website the article will be listed. The category may also affect the URL.
Simply choose the category that is most related to your article content.
- Author
From this field you can select from a list of Mintox users, or if you have the Customers and Members component you can create authors with customised author profiles. If you have Mintox Customers and Members take a look at Authors for further information, otherwise contact support if you are interested in enabling Customers and Members.
Select the author of the article if you want this information displayed on your website, otherwise you can leave it blank.
- Display Date
This feature lets you enter a date and display it with your article on your website, generally implying the date the article was published online. If you want to record the date, but not have it appear on your website, simply leave the checkbox unchecked.
- Thumbnail Image
Select an image will result in that image being shown with your news article in the news listings on your website, this can liven up the page a bit especially if there are no other images. It's generally a good idea to ensure that either all or no articles have images, this will make the appearance of each article consistent.
- Article Introduction
The article introduction appears in news article lists, it's a preview of the article to get the users attention and make them interested in the main article.
- Complete Article
This is where you enter the full content of your article, this content is only visible after a user has clicked on your news article.
- Online
If this box is checked the article will be visible on your website, and if you are using the Schedule Article feature (below) it will only appear online after/between/before the specified dates.If the box is not checked, it will not be visible online at all.
- Schedule Article
This field allows you to control when an article becomes visible on the website, and when it disappears from the website. This option is generally used to make articles appear at a later date, the author could write up several articles when they have the time and then schedule them to come online daily or weekly in the future. Other articles that relate to sales or other short term opportunities can also be scheduled to come online at a certain date, and then to go offline once the opportunity deadline has passed.
You can leave this field blank if you wish, otherwise select when you would like the article to go online and/or go offline.
- Members
The Members field is used to specify who can view this article and requires the Customers & Members component to allow full functionality. Websites without Customers & Members can assign articles to Public access, meaning anyone can view the articles, but if you have Customers & Members and have setup a variety of membership groups and areas on your website, you can add articles that only specific member groups can view.
For more information on the Mintox Customers component and how it integrates with the News component, contact support.
Metadata Tab
These fields are related to various web marketing practices used to help your web pages appear in search engine results. For further information on such services, please refer to [Create an SEO related page for explanations and sales promotion].
- Page Title
The Page Title appears at the top of the the browser when viewing the page, like where your browser shows "News Article Field Overview" while viewing this page. Generally, the Page Title should match the News Heading, however it may vary between websites. Check some of your existing news articles pages to see how they are setup, or contact support for further information.
- Meta Keywords and Description
A meta keywords tag is supposed to be a brief and concise list of the most important themes of your page. Pick the 6 or 10 terms that most accurately describe the content of the page. If you can't narrow your keyword list down to 6 or 10 keywords, then the content on your page may be to broad.
Similar to the Meta Keywords the meta description tag is intended to be a brief and concise summary of your page's content. When you write a meta description tag, you should limit it to 170 characters or 200 characters at most.
These fields are related to various web marketing practices used to help your web pages appear in search engine results. For further information on such services, please click here.
Open Graph Tab
Open Graph fields affect how this page appears when shared on social media. For example, if someone shares this page and you have completed the fields below, then when the shared page appears on Facebook, for example, the Title, Description and Image shown will match what you enter into the fields below:
- Title
This should match the News Heading, however you can vary it if you feel a different name might suit social media better.
- Description
Similar to the title, the description entered into the Article Introduction field could be entered here. However, if you have a particularly long description all the text may not be visible, so writing a short succinct description here would be beneficial.
- Image
If you have an image which helps to communicate what this page is about, you should specify it here. Otherwise, you can consider other imagery that represents your branding.
Search Properties Tab
- Site Search Keyword
When your website is searched, the content of all your pages, news articles, etc. are searched and the content most appropriate to the search term is returned.
If you find that a certain article isn't appearing for search terms which the article ought to appear for, you can enter that term or phrase into the Site Search Keyworld field. It's a comma separated list of terms/phrases, so make sure you add a comma between each separate search term.
- Tags
You can assign various tags to your content, and when used in conjunction with the Mintox Tags component you will be able to display lists of tags, or tag clouds, on your website showing which tags are the most popular. When a user clicks on one of these tags they will be able to view all the related content.
For more information on the Mintox Tags component and how it integrates with the News component, contact support.
Advanced Options Tab
The options below are only used in websites with a focus on news articles, where there is always one main article on the home page accompanied by featured articles from each category of news.
- Category Feature Article
This box will mark the article as the featured article for the assigned category. In the case of a dedicated news website, this article would now appear on the home page as the featured article for that category.
- Feature Image
Select the image that should appear on the home page while this article is featured. This option is generally required as the standard thumbnail occupies a relatively small area, whereas the category featured articles have a bit more real estate on the home page and require a larger image.
- Master Article
This box will mark the article as the master article for the whole website. In the case of a dedicated news website, the most prominent article on the home page will be replaced by the current article.
- Master Image
Select the image that should appear on the home page while this article is the master article. This option is generally required as the standard thumbnail occupies a relatively small area, whereas the master article has a lot of real estate on the home page and needs a larger image.
Further Reading