Linking to iMags#

Prerequisites: This tutorial assumes the iMag has been created and published to the iMag server and that you have the URL for it in your hands. It also assumes that you have ready a JPEG image of the magazine cover, at least 640 pixels wide, at web resolution of 72 or 96 dpi.

This process adds a magazine cover and its respective URL to the slider near the bottom of the home page theday.com and adds the image and URL to the magazines page section front.

What else this does: Publishes the magazine image and link to the website in the above-mentioned 2 places for 125 days from publication date (a little more than 4 months). If a magazine disappears from either slot and needs to stay up longer, you can always edit the publication date on that issue.

LINKING TO IMAGS: THE PROCESS

Log in to the NCS Digital admin UI (hereinafter referred to as the "editUI") at edit.theday.com/edit.

From the black menu bar atop the page, click "Editorial > New story", as shown in Fig. 1.

FIG. 1 -- Create a new story, via 'Editorial > New story' menu. FIG. 1 -- Create a new story, via 'Editorial > New story' menu.

You'll find yourself in the 'Properties' tab of the story edit/creation interface.

As shown in Fig. 2, below, do the following: 1. Set the publication date; you can set it for any date in the future. 2. Uncheck the box labeled "Teaser" 3. Uncheck the box labeled "Kicker" 4. Set the "Forum" dropdown to "Off" 5. Select "Magazines" from the "Categories" dropdown

FIG. 2 -- The 'Edit' tab of the story edit/creation interface. FIG. 2 -- The 'Edit' tab of the story edit/creation interface.

Next, move to the "Edit" tab (Fig. 3, below):

  1. Enter the title of the magazine into the "Title" field
  2. Re-enter the title into the "Net title" field
  3. Enter the title and publication date/timeframe into the "Summary" field
  4. Under the "Main photo" section, enter the title once again into the "Title" field
  5. Enter the publication date/timeframe into the "Caption" field
  6. Click the "Choose File" button to upload the magazine cover image

FIG. 3 -- The 'Edit' tab of the story edit/creation interface, showing the title and image options and fields. FIG. 3 -- The 'Edit' tab of the story edit/creation interface, showing the title and image options and fields.

After the image is uploaded, your screen should now show the image, as in Fig. 4, below:

FIG. 4 -- The 'Edit' tab of the story edit/creation interface, showing magazine cover image uploaded. FIG. 4 -- The 'Edit' tab of the story edit/creation interface, showing magazine cover image uploaded.

Scroll down within the 'Edit' tab until you see a field titled "Customexternalurl"; here is where you will place the full click-through link for the ad. It should have the full protocol (http or https). The URL should look like:

http://www.clickthroughlink.here

See Fig. 5, below.

FIG. 5 -- The 'Edit' tab of the story edit/creation interface, showing the 'Customexternalurl' field, used to store the click-thru link for the iMag. FIG. 5 -- The 'Edit' tab of the story edit/creation interface, showing the 'Customexternalurl' field, used to store the click-thru link for the iMag.

Last step is to add taxonomy. Go to the tab labeled "Keywords," scoll down to the section labeled "Taxonomy" and click "Search".

A new window will open; Use the word "imag" as you search term; you should see "Custom > Day iMag Magazines" returned; click it and then click "add" at the botton of the screen. See Fig. 6, below.

FIG. 6 -- The 'Keywords' tab of the story edit/creation interface, showing the 'Taxonomy' field. FIG. 6 -- The 'Keywords' tab of the story edit/creation interface, showing the 'Taxonomy' field.

You should go back through the 'Edit' and 'Properties' tabs to double-check everything. You can now closes and save the story/ad, by clicking "Save & Close" at the top right, as shown in Fig. 7, below.

FIG. 7 -- When done with everything in the story edit/creation interface, click "Save & Close" to save the story/ad. FIG. 7 -- When done with everything in the story edit/creation interface, click 'Save & Close' to save the story/ad.

If you've published something that needs to start showing up immediately in the home page magazines slider, there's one more thing you need to do: re-cache the home page to load new or reload updated content.

You can re-cache the home page via this URL: https://www.theday.com/&nocache=1

The magazines page can be recached via this URL: https://www.theday.com/section/magazines/&nocache=1

NOTE: Please don't overuse the recache link, as it can bog down the web server. If you find you have to recache several times to correct mistakes, please wait at least 5 minutes between recaches; and never do more than 2 recaches within 10 minutes.

The system is designed to recache most pages on its own every 30 to 90 minutes (depending on page type), so if it's not crucial, leave it alone!

LINKING TO IMAGS: FINDING PAST ISSUES, REORDERING, ETC.

To find past published iMags for the purposes of editing or updating them, log into the editUI. From the main screen, choose the menu item "Editorial > Stories".

Change the Category in the dropdown to "Magazines" and choose a date range that corresponds to what you're looking for. Then click the "Filter" button.

To edit an item, click the left-most icon corresponding to the item you want to edit. From this point on, editing is exactly the same as story creation; fields are the same. (Here is where you can, for instance, change the publication date so a magazine stays in rotation for more than the default 4 months.)

The image below, Fig. 8, shows a listing of Magazine stories published in the last 3 months.

FIG. 8 -- A screenshot of the editUI, showing a list of all magazines published in the last 3 months. FIG. 8 -- A screenshot of the editUI, showing a list of all magazines published in the last 3 months.