Post a story

• Story templates
• Headlines
• Images
• Story Elements
• Multimedia
• Categories
• Tags
• Text Adjustments

1. Write and edit your story in a word processing program like Google Docs or MS Word. Use keyboard shortcuts. Paste your completed and approved copy in a new WordPress post.
   • Use the “Paste as Text” button in the WordPress toolbar to bring in clean, unformatted text.
2. Choose a story template:
   1. 1. News [example] – used mostly in the News Reporting Workshop
      2. News Feature [example]
      3. Feature [example]
      4. Feature Package [example] – create one
         On either the Feature or Feature Package template you can control the treatment of the Featured Image at top:
         • Parallax : Image is fixed as you scroll [example]
           • Note: iOS doesn’t support parallax functionality so it is disabled at mobile views
         • Disable Parallax  : Image moves as you scroll (on all platforms) [example]
         • Split [example]
         • Text-width [example].
           • A second “no-crop” option maintains the full image width [example]
         • Separated : Headline is outside of the image area [example]
         • No Image [example]
         • Featured Video : Use a featured video in place of a featured image at the top of a story. Works with a YouTube or Vimeo link [example]
           • Please note: you must also add the Vimeo video link from the embed section (usually looks like this: https://player.vimeo.com/video/333347559).
             To make the video autoplay in the background with no sound, add “?background=1” to the link.
           • You must still add a featured image to display on index pages.
3. Write your headlines. [Length]:
   • First field: The (required) headline that appears on the story page (WordPress calls this the post Title). It should contain keywords.
     • Your initial title you save is repeated in the story (URL) permalink. If you change the title before you publish, you should change the permalink.
   • Second field: An invitational, plain-language version of the headline that appears on home pages (index, category & author pages) and in social shares. Examples:
     • CBC (Feb. 3, 2016): Here’s the index headline; here’s the SEO story headline
     • Toronto Star (Jan. 26, 2016): Here’s the index headline; here’s the SEO story headline
     • Leave this field empty on hard news stories (crime, death, etc., where casual language can appear flippant/insensitive)
   • Third field: The headline deck (some media outlets call this a subhead). A sub-headline further explaining the story. This appears underneath the main headline. Also used in SEO.
   • Headline kicker: An optional word or two-word term that appears before the SEO or index headline. It can be a topic or issue, title of an ongoing series, or type of multimedia. It is not the Category. Avoid using the same word as in the headline(s). Use sparingly.
4. Upload image(s)
   • Every story must have at least one image.
     • At minimum, it is the Featured Image. This image appears only on index pages (home, category, author & search pages). Add it in the Featured Image field at the right of the WordPress post page.
   • You need to reduce the size of images before you upload them. See the style guide for the size. The Signal server will not allow uploaded images larger than 1 MB.
   • You must insert a photo into your story where you want it to go.
   • Remember to add captions and image credits. Captions should be short like this.
   • On a Feature story template, the default width for images is text-wide. To make an image expand to the margins, add “margin-width” to the field “Image CSS Class” on the WordPress edit-image screen.
     • For these images, a short but wide image is better. Crop the image to 16:9 before you upload it.
     • When you do, be sure it’s a large, high-resolution image — usually 2000px wide
5. Fill out (optional) story elements:
   • Story sidebar (NOTE: this appears at the bottom of the piece)
   • Related websites
   • Related stories — link stories together. Relating one story to another will insert the headline on both stories
   • <head> Elements: Code here will appear inside the HTML <head> tag. Some embeds supply code to be placed in this location.
6. Add multimedia. Use only tools that scale for mobile. Some popular options:
   • Create a slideshow using the Ideal Image Slider (in the WordPress left-hand sidebar). NOTE: must have approval of instructor to use this
   • Refer to the latest list of recommended multimedia tools.
7. Select a category for the story. But only one.
8. Add tags. See the style guide section for tag guidelines
9. Make any needed text adjustments:
   • Make a pull-quote & attribute it:
     • In the Visual editor, click the blockquote icon in the toolbar (it looks like a quotation mark)
     • In the Text editor, make the citation :
       <blockquote>Quote goes here.<cite>Name goes here</cite></blockquote>
   • In the Text editor, make the first paragraph the same size as the rest of the body:
     <p class="body-size">First paragraph text here</p>
   • In the Text editor, remove the drop-cap in the first paragraph:
     <p class="no-drop-cap">First paragraph text here</p>
10. Save your story as a Draft and let an editor know it’s ready for them.

Check:

• Is the photo credit accurate? You may see the editor’s name there instead of the reporter’s. To fix, click the pencil icon on the photo and look under Advanced to make the change.
• Have you narrowed the browser window on your desktop computer to make sure the story renders correctly for mobile?

Last Updated: November 6, 2020, 8:44 am AST