Knowledgebase

Target audience: Administrators setting up news display sections

Once you've created news content, you need to display it on your website using news sections. This guide covers adding news sections to your pages and choosing the right layout.

Adding a News Section

1. Navigate to the page where you want to display news
2. Click Add Section
3. Select News from the section types
4. The news section editor opens

You can add news sections to any page on your site - homepage, dedicated news pages, ministry pages, or anywhere else news content would be relevant.

Selecting Categories to Display

The first step is choosing which news categories should appear in this section.

1. Check the boxes next to the categories you want to include
2. You can select one category or multiple categories
3. For each selected category, you can optionally configure filters:
   • Display: Choose current only, archive only, specific date range, or all items
   • Date range: Set start and finish dates for date-based filtering
   • Text filters: Include or exclude items containing specific words
   • Tags: Filter by specific tags
   • Media types: Show only certain types of content
   • Authors: Filter by author

Common scenarios:

• Single category, no filters: Show all current announcements
• Multiple categories, no filters: Combine different content types (events + announcements)
• Single category with date filter: Show a specific date range (all items from 2024)
• Tags filter: Show all content tagged "Great Lent" across categories

Leave filters blank if you want to show all current items from the selected categories.

Choosing a Layout

The layout determines how your news items appear visually. Choose based on:

• How much space you have on the page
• How many items you want to show
• Whether images are important to your content
• The overall design of your site

Layout Families

Carousels

Best for: Homepage banners, featured content, highlighting images

Carousels display one news item at a time with automatic rotation. They're excellent for:

• Making a strong visual impact
• Highlighting your most recent or important content
• Pages where you want one prominent news feature

Available in various aspect ratios from ultra-wide (4:1) to portrait (1:2).

When to use:

• You have high-quality featured images for all news items
• You want to draw attention to news without taking much vertical space
• You're featuring 3-10 items

Carousel Groups

Best for: Showing multiple items at once with horizontal scrolling

Displays several news items side-by-side with automatic scrolling. Good for:

• Modern, interactive presentation
• Showing variety without vertical scroll
• Mobile-friendly browsing

When to use:

• You want to show 5-20 items in a compact space
• Your audience expects an app-like browsing experience
• You have consistent, good-quality images

Masonry Grids

Best for: Pinterest-style layouts, large collections, visual browsing

Items arrange in a flexible grid with varying heights. Excellent for:

• Large numbers of items (20+)
• Image-heavy content
• Visitors who want to browse and filter

Includes built-in search and category filtering.

When to use:

• You have many items to display
• Visitors benefit from search and filtering
• Images are a key part of your content
• You want a modern, magazine-style layout

Timelines

Best for: Chronological content, historical archives, event sequences

Displays items vertically with dates prominently featured. Perfect for:

• Year-in-review content
• Historical articles
• Event chronologies
• Content where date/sequence matters

When to use:

• The chronological order is important to understanding
• You're displaying content over a span of time
• You want a unique, visually distinctive presentation

Standard Lists

Best for: Simple, traditional presentation, text-focused content

Traditional layouts that work well for:

• Straightforward news listings
• Text-heavy content
• Situations where you don't need visual flair
• Maximum compatibility and simplicity

Multiple variations available from full-featured to ultra-compact.

When to use:

• You prefer a traditional, straightforward approach
• Images aren't critical to your content
• You want to show many items without scrolling
• Page space is limited

Quick Layout Selection Guide

I want to...

• Feature 3-5 recent items prominently → Carousel or Featured Slider
• Show 10+ items in a modern grid → Masonry Grid
• Display items chronologically → Timeline
• Keep it simple and text-focused → Standard List (Full or Compact)
• Create an interactive browsing experience → Carousel Group

Basic Customization

After choosing a layout, configure these essential settings:

Display Order

• Most recent first (by current date) - standard for news
• Oldest first - for chronological reading
• Prioritized by category - manual ordering you set

Number to Display

• 1-100 items
• Unlimited (not recommended for carousels)

RSS Link

• Show a link to the RSS feed for this category
• Options: with image and text, image only, text only, or no link

Field Visibility Control which information appears:

• Title, description, image (usually keep these ON)
• Date, category, tags, authors
• Source attribution
• "More Info" link

Enabling Search and Filtering

For masonry grids and some other layouts, you can enable visitor-facing search:

Show Search
Displays a search box above the news section.

Advanced Options Visible by Default
Shows filtering controls (categories, tags, dates) immediately rather than hiding them in a dropdown.

Available Filters:

• Exclude text
• Categories
• Tags
• Media types
• Authors
• Date ranges

Enable only the filters that are useful for your visitors. Too many options can be overwhelming.

Common Display Scenarios

Homepage News Highlights

Goal: Feature 3-5 recent parish announcements

Setup:

• Layout: Carousel (16:9 or 2:1)
• Categories: Parish Announcements
• Number to display: 5
• Display order: Most recent first

Full News Archive Page

Goal: Browsable collection of all news

Setup:

• Layout: Masonry Grid
• Categories: All categories selected
• Number to display: Unlimited
• Enable search: Yes
• Show category filter: Yes

Ministry-Specific News

Goal: Show youth ministry updates on youth page

Setup:

• Layout: Standard List (Full narrow)
• Categories: Youth Ministry
• Number to display: 10
• Display order: Most recent first

Historical Timeline

Goal: Parish history articles in chronological order

Setup:

• Layout: Timeline
• Categories: Parish History
• Display: Archive items
• Display order: Oldest first
• Number to display: Unlimited

Weekly Homilies

Goal: Current homily featured, previous homilies in list

Setup: Create two sections on the same page

1. Section 1: Carousel, Homilies category, Number: 1, Most recent
2. Section 2: Standard List (Compact), Homilies category, Number: 10, Most recent

Testing Your Display

After configuring a news section:

1. Click Save Changes
2. Click View Page to see how it appears on your site
3. Check how it looks on:
   • Desktop computers
   • Tablets
   • Mobile phones (most visitors)
4. Test any search or filtering features
5. Verify images display properly
6. Confirm links work correctly

If the layout doesn't work well, go back and try a different option. Most layouts have additional customization options covered in the Layout Reference article.