To highlight specific stories- the way that print issues do by placing them on the cover of a magazine or “above the fold” in a newspaper- it is best to display them in a widget area at the top of your homepage with an eye-catching widget. We have three widgets that we recommend - the grid, the carousel, and the story list. All of those widgets can be customized to display multiple stories in that area. You can also set those widgets to display the most recent stories, if you just want the newest content at the top of your page, or you can create a Showcase category to give yourself additional control over which stories will be placed in that area.
Create a Showcase/Featured Widget Area
To begin, create a wide widget area at the top of your homepage widget areas section of the Site Designer to display the grid or carousel widget. We recommend an area that is either full width (the only area in its row) or at least 66% wide. For more information about setting up and customizing Widget Areas please refer to this support article.
Add the Display Widget
-
You can then go to the Widget Control Panel and place a SNO Carousel, SNO Grid, or SNO Story List widget in the top wide area that you created. Here is a breakdown of how each of those widgets function:
- SNO Carousel - This is a rotating carousel that can display up to 25 stories (although we recommend 5-10). In the settings you can customize whether or not the carousel will cycle/animate automatically, how often it will cycle, and customize the design settings.
- SNO Grid - This will display a set of mixed size or equal size panels to display 1-100 stories (we would recommend no more than six stories with the grid display). In the settings you can adjust the panel configuration and design options.
- SNO Story List- This is our most robust widget with the greatest number of design options. It is likely the widget that you are using to display your other categories on the homepage as well. For the showcase area we recommend using only the primary area and setting up multiple columns to make the best use of the wide area where you have placed the widget.