Editor Guide: Compose, Format and Export a News Story

Follow the guidance below to compose, format, and export a Content Central News Story that meets digital accessibility standards and is optimized for search engine and AI interpretation.

Compose the News Story

Webpage text content should be drafted in a word processor then scrubbed of hidden formatting before being pasted into a body or text block for formatting. 

Please follow the steps in the Best Practice: Composing and Formatting Text Content article to remove unwanted markup inclusions and AI tracking tags that may cause common page display issues.

Core News Story Components

Every News Story consists of four core elements, or fields. These fields are on the News Story’s Edit Settings screen:

• Headline: Enter a clear, engaging title that encourages readers to stop, stay, and scroll. The headline becomes the page title and appears automatically in news lists and social media shares.

   
• Thumbnail image: Upload a featured image that displays on filtered news lists and in social media posts when the article is shared. Some search engines may also include the image in results.

   
• Summary: Add a concise, descriptive summary. The text entered in this field populates the page’s meta description, which appears as the snippet in search results.

  
   

The Body Block

The fourth core News Story element is the Body block. 'Scrubbed' and unformatted article text content is pasted into the Body block, then formatted using WYSIWYG formatting toolbar options. Images and videos can be embedded into the text for visual interest. 

To enhance readability and engagement, add the following elements in the Body block:


• Intro text: Begin the story with one or two sentences summarizing the article’s key takeaways. Apply the Intro Text style to this opening paragraph to make it stand out.
   
• Section headings: Use H2, H3, or H4 headings to break up long text blocks and organize information logically. Begin with H2 headings, as the page title automatically uses H1. 
  
  Correct heading order improves digital accessibility and helps readers, screen readers, search and AI crawlers more easily understand and navigate page content.
   
• Images: Add one or two related images within the article. Always include descriptive alt text to ensure accessibility.
   
• Highlights: Use the block quote style to emphasize key information or statistics. These visual elements help readers scan and retain important details.
   

Login to Content Central
 

• Navigate to the Content Central Login Screen
   
• Click the green ‘Login with your Mason Credentials’ button
   
• Enter your NetID and password at the GMU Sign In Services screen

Create the News Story Content Item  

• In the top admin/editor bar, click on the ’Content’ navigation item
   
• From the content list screen, click the blue ‘Add content’ button 
   
• From the ‘Add content’ screen, select the ’News Story’ option

Build the News Story Page

Once on the 'Edit Settings' screen, fill out all required fields: 

• Headline: Enter title text
   
• Author or Byline: Optional, use the field's lookup tool to select an author
   
• Summary: Text in the summary field displays as the search result snippet.
   
• Thumbnail Image: Displays in search result snippets, page and social media previews. Upload a 1:1 (square) thumbnail image using the ‘Thumbnail’ selector field. 
  
  Thumbnail image format, dimension, and size requirements:
   
  • PNG, JPEG, GIF
  • Minimum dimensions of 300x300 pixels
  • Maximum dimension of 600x600 pixels 
  • File size under 1MB.
     
• Body: Copy clean', unformatted text into the ‘Body’ text area. Use the WYSIWYG toolbar options to format text and incorporate images and videos into the news story.
   
• Topics: Use the ‘Topics’ look-up field to search for and select subject topics relating to the news story's content. Use a comma to separate multiple topic tags. Topic tags are used to both categorize and group news items, helping readers find related content. 
   
• Share to These Sites: Use the ‘Share to These Sites’ lookup field to search for and select at least one site to export the news story to. Use a comma to separate multiple subscribing site names. 
   

A subscribing site is a site hosted on the SiteMasonry CMS platform configured to receive news story, profiles, or program information pages exported from the Content Central website.

Preview the News Story

Please preview the news story before exporting or 'pushing', it a subscribing site.

Save and Preview:

At the bottom of the 'Edit Settings' screen:

• If the 'Current State' of the page is 'Draft', select 'Published' from the 'Change To:' drop down menu.
   
• Click the blue 'Save' button to save the News Item to Content Central content list
   
• Click the grey 'Preview' button, review the content, make changes, and re-save as needed
   

Export the News Story

After completing final edits, the news story is ready to be exported, or 'pushed' to subscribing sites. To export, or 'push' a news story to a subscribing site:

• Click the blue 'Save and Push' button at the bottom of the 'Edit Settings' screen
   
• On the 'Please Confirm' screen, check the box next to the site title 
   
• Click the blue 'Push Changes'

Track Export Progress

During the page export process, a black 'Status Message' will appear at the top of the content list screen. Once the export completes, click the 'View Progress' link in the Status Message, or on the 'Sync Status' tab for additional export details.