From the Admin Panel, click on All Tasks and navigate to Articles by the path shown below.  

All Tasks > Article Module > Articles

Creating a New Article

When you click on Articles, the List View will appear.  Every article on your website is displayed here, as will the new one you are about to create.  You will see this menu in a gray box beneath the Admin Menu. 

Notice the items circled in red.  They are the same sections of the Article Module as those listed in the All Tasks Menu.   

 When you click Add New Article, a new window will open and you can begin creating your article.

 

 

Across the top you will see the four buttons shown below: When you click Save, your changes are saved and the Create Article screen remains open in the current article.  Save & Return will save the changes you have made and return you to the list view.  

Anytime you click Cancel, the changes made since your last save will be erased.  You can choose to Return to list view or Reload the Create article page for your current article when cancelling your changes.  

Now to begin your article.  The basic steps are included below.  

Active
Select to display article to the public, or deselect to hide.  If you aren’t ready to publish the article yet, you can de-select the box and activate it later.

Name 
You can give your article an internal name if you like.  The name should not contain spaces.

URL
If you wish to directly link to this article from a menu bar or another place on your website, you can create a short, descriptive URL containing keywords. If you sell candles, the URL introduce-fragrance-free-candles will yield better results than new-products in search engines. We will discuss this topic in   Lesson 2 - SEO & Meta Tags  

Each article will have it’s own, unique URL.  Words should be separated by hyphens and contain no spaces.  

EXAMPLE:  article-level-seo

NOTE: If you do not create a URL, as shown in the example above, the system will automatically generate one based on the headline of your article.  The url will look something like this: 

http://www.yourwebsite.com/article?articleTitle=article-level-seo--1395925642--12139--

As you can see, the url is much more complicated and less concise than if you create it.

By entering yourwebsite.com/article-level-seo, you will be directed to this specific article.  You can also use the URL to link to this article from other locations on your website.

The essential tab for creating your article is the Content Tab.  The remaining tabs (Meta Tags, Media, Quick Facts, Dates, Map, Options, Scripts, Submit Info & Notes) will be covered in subsequent lessons. 

Article Editor Fields

Content Tab - Active when yellow
  Published Use the format mm/dd-yyyy to show the publication date of the article.  You can backdate, use the current date or use a date in the future    
  Hide Date If you do not want the publication date to display with the article, click this box.    
  Private You can make an article private so only members who are logged in can view it. Click this box to make it private.    
  Featured If selected, you cannot re-order this article within a category. This article will always appear at the top of the list.    For more information see:  Lesson 4:  Creating & Managing Categories    
  Author You can create profiles for the authors of articles on your site.  See Authors    
  Headline Title that appears on the website. All article types  YES
  Hide Headline NOT RECOMMENDED - In some cases you may want to use Heading 1 (H-1) in the article body and ignore the headline on web pages.  If so, click the box.     
  Summary This short summary of your article will appear in search results or compact views    
  Body This is the written body content of your article. Primary formatting is controlled by the website’s style sheets, but other formatting options will be discussed in Lesson 2 - The WYSIWYG Editor All article types  YES
  Category

Create and select categories to assign your article to. Pages on your website can be set up to display articles from a specific category.

For more information see: Lesson 4:  Creating & Managing Categories.		 All article types  
  Tag Cloud

Tags allow you to create a relationship between articles, products, events and business listings.  When directed by a template, items sharing the same tag can be displayed as Related items on your website.  See an example below.   Read more about tag clouds here.

    
  Kicker Enter an optional sub title for your article exactly how you would like it to appear.      
Media Tab
  Media

Add images and videos to enhance your article. This will be covered in Lesson 2  and Lesson 3  

 All article types  

Preview your Article

You can preview your article at any time by clicking on the Preview button.  It is not necessary to Save before using Preview.  

In Preview mode, a new tab will open and this orange box will appear at the top.  You cannot edit the article from this view, but you will be able to see how the article looks, even if it is not Active.

After you view your preview, close the tab and click back to the article edit screen to make revisions.  NOTE:  If you edit the article, close the Preview tab and click Preview again.  You cannot refresh Preview Mode. 

Create an Article by Cloning  - Two Ways

The Clone (Copy) feature offers a quick way to create a new article with attributes similar to an existing article.

  1. In the List Screen, find the item you want to clone  and click the article’s Clone button.
     
  2. Open the article you want to clone.  After the editor screen screen opens,  click the Clone button in the toolbar.

Once the new cloned article editor opens you will need to  make the following modifications:

    • Name – Enter a new name. The system defaults to the original name, and adds “copy 1" at the end.
    • URL - You must change the URL. The system will allow duplicates and the oldest article will display.
    • Change body text, meta tags, images, etc. as needed.
    • Under options, reset the View Count to 0.  
    • Save.

All Tasks > Articles > Authors

Authors

You can create profiles for the authors of your articles.  Click to add a new author.  You can also set up all of your authors at one time by clicking on Article Module < Authors

Active - Select to make author visible

Name - for internal use

Content Tab
The template will direct where these elements appear when viewing the article:  

Title - Name of the author

By Line - Signature you want to display with the name

Phone - Optional

Email -  If the author is inviting feedback or suggestions

Author Bio -  Background information 

Media Tab

Photos -  Add pictures or other media pertaining to the author. The first photo will appear when a list of authors displays.  See 1 - Adding Images & Attaching them to Items