Newsroom Setup

Configuring the News Layout

To create or edit your newsroom's layout, navigate to:

Structure > News Layouts

Click the "Add News Layout" button to create your layout template.

Note: Only one News Layout can exist per site at a time. The "Add News Layout" button will disappear once a layout has been created.

News Layout Settings

The following are the global settings for a news layout:

• Layout Title: An internal administrative label.
• Path: The primary URL segment for the newsroom (e.g., /news). This prefix is automatically applied to every News page's URL.  The recommended Path:  /news
• Page Heading: An optional heading displayed at the top of the main listing page. If left blank, it defaults to the Layout Title.
  Tip:  Wrap words in <strong>...</strong> tags to apply accent color formatting to the heading. The standard is to accent the last few words in the title.
• Page Description: Optional introductory text displayed directly under the page heading.
• Limit Articles to One Appearance:  This option ensures that articles appear only once on the Newsroom page. Featured articles are given priority, and the order of the page sections determines where the remaining articles are displayed.
• Active Toggle: Enables or disables the entire newsroom. Inactive layouts will not display a public-facing page.

Managing Newsroom Sections and Display Settings

The primary newsroom page is built from an ordered list of Sections. Each section functions as its own block of news items with customizable settings.  Use the "Add Section" button to create the different areas of your newsroom.

Section Settings

• Section Label: The Label is for internal admin identification
• Section Heading:  The main headline for the section that displays publicly on the page (defaults to the Label if left blank).
• Section Text:  Optional body text shown below the heading and above the section's content
• Page Weight / Drag-and-Drop:  The weight value controls the vertical display order of sections on the page.  Section order can also be set using the drag-and-drop functionality in the main setup area.
• Active Toggle:  Unchecking this hides the section publicly without deleting its configuration.
• Type (Story Source):  Determines which news stories populate the section:
  • Latest:  Displays the newest News pages across all categories.
  • Featured:  Displays only pages with the Featured news toggle enabled.
  • Category:  Displays only pages tagged with a specific category.  Categories are set up in the taxonomy area of SUpal.
• Items to Show: Controls the total number of news items shown in the section.
• Component: Sets the type of presentation layout for news items (see the Component tab for a full listing). Available display options depend on the selected Component.
  • Display Options:  Various configurable layout settings such as Columns, Background Color, Image Position, or Image Size.

Specialized Layout Pages

There are two specialized layout pages that are automatically created in the newsroom.  Each of them can be configured in this area.  The settings for each type are the same across the type;  for example all category pages have the same layout and settings.

• Category Pages: Shared display settings (component, items per page, columns, background color, image position/size) applied across every auto-generated category listing page. Sections configured with a Category type automatically include a "View All" link pointing to these pages.
• Featured Items Page: Includes the shared set of display settings used by all "Featured" section "View All" links.

Managing News Categories

To add, edit, reorder, or nest categories, navigate to:

Structure > Taxonomy > News Categories

• Hierarchical Nesting:  The taxonomy listing can be reordered and nested via drag-and-drop on the news categories taxonomy page.  Child categories are supported. A sub-category’s URL is automatically nested under its parent (e.g., /news/biology-department/research).
• Automated Listing Pages: Each category automatically generates its own public listing page—no manual setup required. Visiting a category term page displays all news items tagged with that term, formatted using the global Category Pages layout settings.

Setting Up a Canvas Page as News Content

To convert a standard Canvas page into a News article:

1. Open the page settings and set Page Type to News.
2. This action reveals two additional controls in the Page Data tab:
   • Featured news (Toggle): Enable this to include the page in "Featured" sections and on the main Featured page.
   • News Categories: Opens a modal to assign one or more categories. (Note: A sub-category can only be selected after its parent category has been selected).
3. Publish the page for the new settings to show on the newsroom.

URL Path Behavior

Once a page's type is set to News and an alias is assigned, the site automatically prepends the News Layout path (e.g., /news/my-story) to all new news pages. You do not need to type the /news prefix manually. Reverting the page to a non-News page type automatically removes the prefix.

Card Data and Metadata Requirements

To ensure cards display properly across Newsroom components:

• Summary and Image:  Populate the Featured Image and Meta Description fields in the Page Data tab.
  Note:  If you are using a hero with a featured image, and wish to use that as the featured image, you do not need to add an image in the "featured image" area.  The system will automatically use the hero image.
• Publish Date:  Displays the original publish date of the page.  This cannot be changed.
• Byline:  Pulls the page Author assigned by Canvas based on the account that created/owns the page.

Note on Migrated Content: Pages migrated into SUpal from WordPress retain their original publish dates and author attributes.

Using the Canvas News Component

After defining news pages in the system, you can display newsroom content on any page using the dedicated Canvas News component. For configuration details, visit the Related News component documentation on the website.