USER GUIDE

News Posts

Share announcements, press releases, and updates with your community — each one grouped into a News Category so it shows up in the right place on your site.

Please consider the environment before printing.

Before you begin

A News Post always belongs to at least one News Category — the category is what controls where the post appears on your site (for example a "Press Releases" page or a "Parks & Rec" section). On a brand-new site there are no categories yet, so create a category first, then add posts to it.

News Posts share the same Page Editor used across the site for writing the body of the post, and news images come from the Media Library.

Everything lives under Left menu › News Posts. The main screen shows your News Categories; from there you can add posts and open individual posts to edit them.

1 Create a News Category (do this first)

From Left menu › News Posts you will see your list of categories. Click Add to create one (or click an existing category to edit it). Give it a Name, such as "Press Releases" or "Public Notices", and click Save.

The category's list view also shows how many posts are in each category, so you can see at a glance where your content is going.

Tip: Keep categories broad and reusable. You can put a single post into more than one category, so you do not need a separate category for every topic.

2 Add a News Post

Go to Left menu › News Posts › Add News Post. Fill in:

Title — the headline of the announcement.
Subtitle (optional) — a short second line shown under the headline.
Categories — check one or more categories the post should appear in. At least one must be checked or the post will not show up anywhere on the public site.
Main Image — the photo shown with the post in news lists and widgets. See the next step for the image, its alt text, and the focal point.
Post Content — the main text, written in the Page Editor. Add formatting, links, and images just like any other page.
Date Publish — defaults to today, so a new post goes live as soon as you publish. Set a future date (and time) to schedule it.
Date Expires (optional) — automatically stops showing the post after this date. Usually leave it blank so older posts stay in the category archive instead of disappearing.

Click Save Post when you are done.

Note: The publish date must be reached before a post shows publicly. A post set to publish tomorrow simply will not appear until tomorrow.

3 Add the Main Image (photo, alt text, and focal point)

The Main Image is the photo your visitors see next to the post in news lists, homepage news widgets, and at the top of the post itself. Three controls work together here:

Main Image — click the field and the Media Library pops up. Browse to the image you want, or drag a new image from your computer into the popup to upload it on the spot. A typical news image is about 300px wide by 200px tall; larger photos are fine — the site scales and crops them for you.
Alt Text — a short description of the image for screen readers and ADA scans, for example "Firefighters standing in front of the new Station 2 engine". If you leave it blank, the image's filename is used automatically — but a real description is much better for accessibility, so take the few seconds to write one.
Image preview with centering control (focal point) — once an image is chosen, a preview appears with a draggable dot on it. Different news widgets crop the photo to different shapes, so drag the dot onto the most important part of the picture (a face, a sign, the ribbon being cut) to mark what stays in frame across those crops. Click Reset to Center to put the dot back in the middle.

Tip: Checking Featured makes some news widgets show this post at the top of the list with a bigger area and a larger photo. Save it for the posts you really want to emphasize — and give those posts a strong Main Image with a well-placed focal point, since the photo shows extra large.

Note: The Main Image is separate from any pictures you insert into the Post Content. The Main Image is what news lists and widgets display; content images only appear inside the body of the post.

4 Set the post's status (publishing)

Every post has a Publication Status that decides whether the public can see it:

Published — live on the site (once the publish date has arrived). Published posts appear in news listings, the RSS feed, and homepage news widgets.
Draft — a work in progress; hidden from the public.
Pending Approval — submitted for a reviewer to check before it goes live; hidden from the public.
Unpublished — hidden from the public, but the post stays in your dashboard list.
Archived — hidden from the public and from the default dashboard list. Use the "Show archived" filter on the manage screen to find archived posts again.

Set the status to Published when you are ready for people to see the post, then Save Post.

Heads up: Depending on your role, some status choices may be locked. If you cannot choose Published, choose Pending Approval instead and a reviewer will publish it for you.

5 Manage News Posts

Go to Left menu › News Posts › Manage News Posts to see your posts, newest first. The list shows each post's title, which categories it is "Posted To", its publish date, its expiration date, and its current status.

You can filter to view archived posts, and you can select several posts to archive or delete them together in one action.

The Manage News Posts screen. An active-posts filter sits above a table of posts with columns for News Post Title, Posted To, Publish Date, Expire Date, Status, and ID. Each row shows a green Published badge. Below the table are bulk action controls and an Add Post button appears at the top right. — The Manage News Posts list. Every post shows its categories, dates, and status at a glance.

6 Edit, archive, or delete a post

Click a post's title to open and edit it, then Save. To take a post off the site without losing it, set its status to Archived (or use the bulk archive action on the manage screen). To remove a post entirely, use Delete — you will be asked to confirm.

Careful: If a post is currently Published, editing it may require reviewer privileges. If you are blocked, ask a Content Admin to make the change.

News Post field reference

Field	What it does
Title	The headline shown in lists and at the top of the post.
Subtitle	Optional short second line shown under the headline.
Featured	Optional checkbox. Some news widgets put featured posts at the top of the list with a bigger area and a larger photo. Use it sparingly — only for the posts you want to emphasize.
Main Image	The photo shown with the post in news lists and widgets. Click the field to pick (or drag-and-drop upload) an image from the Media Library. About 300px wide by 200px tall is typical.
Alt Text	A short description of the Main Image for screen readers and ADA scans. Left blank, the image's filename is used automatically — writing a real description is strongly recommended.
Image preview / centering control	A preview of the Main Image with a draggable dot. Drag the dot to mark the part of the photo that must stay in frame when widgets crop it to different shapes; Reset to Center puts it back in the middle.
Post Content	The main text of the post, written in the Page Editor.
Alternate URL	Optional. Bypasses the news detail page: clicking the post opens this link directly instead (handy for linking straight to a PDF from your home page).
Date Publish	The date (and time) the post becomes visible. Defaults to today; set a future date to schedule it.
Date Expires	Optional. The post is no longer visible after this date. Usually leave it blank so older posts stay archived in their category instead of disappearing entirely.
Publication Status	Published, Unpublished, Draft, Pending Approval, or Archived — controls public visibility. See Publishing and status.
Categories	Which News Categories the post appears in. Pick one or more — a post with no category will not show anywhere on the public site.
Mass Email to Topics	If your site has email newsletters configured, your newsletter topics are listed here so you can email the post to subscribers as you create it. See the Newsletter Builder guide.
Template / Global Template	Which page template the post's detail page uses. Leave both on Default unless your site's designer tells you otherwise.

Note: If you do not see newsletter topics under Mass Email to Topics, your site's email newsletters may not be set up yet. Contact EvoGov support if you want that feature configured.

Next steps

Add a link to a News Category in your site navigation using the Menus guide, learn to upload and organize images in the Media Library guide, and get comfortable with the shared editor in the Page Editor guide.

Need a hand? Contact EvoGov support or visit help.evogov.com.