Introduction
The Alerts and Announcements feature allows you to add banners to your home page, with short messages attached. The banners are prominently displayed at or near the top of the page, with a large font size and high contrast background and text colors. This page explains how to determine which types of Alert or Announcement banners are available for your Web site, and how to create them.
Determine which Alerts/Announcements are Available
Alerts and Annoucenemts are not currently available for all sites. If you are unsure whether your site includes this functionality, this section will explain how to determine if it is available to you.
Banner messages are added by creating new "Featured" posts, with the corresponding Feature Group selected. To determine if the Alerts/Announcements feature is available for your site, follow the steps below.
1. Begin by clicking the "Posts" link, located in the menu at the top of your Digital Bell Dashboard. This will bring you to the "Posts" section.
2. From the "Posts" section, click the "Features" link, located under the "Posts" heading in the right margin. This will bring you to a list of existing Feature Groups.
3. The following Feature Groups are used to add Alert/Announcement banners:
- Alerts
- Announcements
- Urgent Alerts
If the groups listed above appear in this section, this feature is available to you. If these groups are not listed, contact support@gslsolutions.com to request this feature, before continuing this tutorial.
For Web sites that include any of the above groups, the "Description" column may also include additional information. For example, most descriptions will include the colors used for the banner and text, as well as the page placement for each type.
Additional Feature Groups for District-level Alerts may also appear in this section. These Feature Groups will include the "Schools/" prefix (ex. "Schools/Urgent Alerts"). The description for these groups will denote that they are used to display alerts for all schools. These Feature Groups can only be used by district-level administrators.
- Step 1 - Selecting the Appropriate Feature Group and Post Type
- Step 2 - Add a New Post
- Step 3 - Finish
- Step 1 - Selecting the Appropriate Feature Group and Post Type
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There are three Alert/Announcement types, each with their own priority and position on the home page. The types are:
- Announcement: Lowest priority. This banner will be displayed below the site's header - underneath the logo/name of the school/district/organization. The text of the announcement will also function as a link to the Post's content.
- Alert: Mid-High priority. This banner will be displayed at the top of the home page. Unlike the Announcement, the text of the Alert does not link to the content of the Post.
- Ugent Alert: Highest priority. This banner will be displayed at the top of the page, and above an existing "Alert" type banner, if both are added. Note that this banner type may not be available for all sites.
First, determine which of the above groups is most approprite for your banner. Next, before adding the post that will be used as the Alert/Announcement, you must determine which Post Type(s) can be used to create it.
Your site may include Post Types that do not have access to the above feature groups. To determine which Post Type(s) can be used, click the "Posts" link at the top of the page to view the "Posts" section. Next, click the "Features" link on the right of the page to view your Feature Groups. Click the "Edit" button (pencil icon) to the left of the Feature Group you will be using, as described in the list above. This will bring you to the "Edit Feature" form.
In the form, locate the "Post Types" section. Here, the titles of each Post Type on the site will be listed, and those that can be used with the Feature Group will be highlighed.
Optionally, to include additional Post Types, hold the "Control" key (Ctrl) and click to select the new title(s), then click the "Submit" button to update the Feature Group.
Note that the post you create for the banner will also be listed in any Post Browser set to display the selected Post Type. For example, if you are using the "School News" Post Type to add the Alert/Announcement, the post will also appear in any "School News" sections on the site, such as the home page or School News page.
Return to Top - Step 2 - Add a New Post
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Once you have determined which Feature Group and Post Type you will use, click the the "Posts" link, located in the menu at the top of the Digital Bell Dashboard. This will bring you to the "Posts" section, where each Post Type is displayed within it's own box. Locate the appropriate Post Type, then click the "Add a new post" link, below the Post Type's title. This will bring you to the "Add Post" form.
Here, use the "Title" field to add the message that will appear on the banner. Next, set the publication date, and, optionally, attach an image (the image will not appear in the banner, however).
If the Post Type you are using will display your Post in other sections of the site (such as "School News"), use the "Content" field to enter additonal information. However, if you choose to leave the this section blank, enter a single space in the "Content" field. You will be unable to create a post if the "Content" field is completely blank, but by adding a space you can circumvent this requirement.
Once the content has been added, locate the "Feature Groups" section. Here, you will check the box next to the appropriate Feature Group, and use the "From" and "To" fields to set the date range during which the banner will appear on the home page.
Note that while banners will appear on the selected dates, they can also be manually removed by visitors, by clicking the "Remove" button ("X" icon) in the upper right corner, once read. This feature prevents your home page from appearing cluttered to visitors, if multiple banners are set to be displayed at the same time.
Return to Top - Step 3 - Finish
- After selecting a Feature Group and setting the date range, the remaining fields and options can be left at their default settings. Scroll to the bottom of the page, and click the "Submit" button to create the post. The post's title should now be displayed as a banner on the site's home page. To change the banner message, the post can be edited just as any other existing post, if necessary. Return to Top