How to add an article to Leeds Now

Logging in

Type: leedsnow.co.uk/admin in your browser URL bar and log in using your username and password.

Forgotten your password? Hit Lost your password? and wait til a reset email appears. It might go to your junk mail.

Dashboard

The first thing you’ll see is the dashboard.

Dashboard: Jetpack

If you log in to a wordpress.com account here, you should be able to see stats for your posts and also use the Jetpack app on your phone to access Leeds Now.

Dashboard: Author Profile

Add a bio and avatar (profile picture) here, to make your Author Page more professional.

Dashboard: Top Bar

In the top bar of the dashboard, you’ll find the guides for publishing to Leeds Now and the News Diary, where your tutors will add story ideas.

Add a new post

There are a couple of ways to add a new post.

1. Hover over the ‘+ New‘ option at the top of the page and choose ‘Post‘.
2. Hover over ‘Posts‘ in the left-hand menu and choose ‘Add new‘.

Welcome guide

You may get a pop-up that says ‘Welcome to the block editor’.

This is a mini-tutorial.

You should read it as WordPress gets frequent updates, so the pop-up could introduce new tools not mentioned in this guide.

Or you can take a look at WordPress’ own detailed guide to the block editor.

Add a title

The first thing to do is add a draft headline.

It doesn’t have to be perfect and you will change it once you’ve finished writing your story in the sub-editing process.

Add a featured image

Follow the instructions on this page:

Using Images on Leeds Now

Categories

Add the relevant categories for your story in the ‘Categories’ section in the right-hand column.

Most stories should be in just one of the main categories. You should also add a tag identifying your module, e.g. Digital Newsdays, or Broadcast Newsdays.

Excerpt

The excerpt is the summary of your story that appears beneath the featured image – the strap – and on the homepage of Leeds Now.

Add it in the right-hand column beneath the Featured image section.

The excerpt (strap) is really important. It works with the headline to get people to click on your story. It’s what appears in Google search results, and when you share your post on social media.

Keep saving

Make sure you save your work regularly.

This is a good time to click ‘Save draft‘.

Write your article

Now write your story.

Understanding blocks

WordPress lets you add content using different types of blocks.

The default block is Paragraph, which is for general writing. This is what you’ll use to write your copy.

Click the + symbol on a new line to add a different type of block.

The most common ones will appear, but click ‘Browse all’ to see what’s available.

Here you will find all sorts of content types, including:

• Heading (use this for sub-headings)
• Image (remember to add a caption, alt-text and credit)
• Pullquote
• Map
• Embeds for lots of different media

Hover over a block type and it’ll give you a brief description so you can see if it’s what you need.

You can also search for the block you need.

Type in ‘Soundcloud’ to embed audio from Soundcloud, for example.

Preview

You should preview your work regularly so you can see what it’ll look like when it’s published.

Click ‘Preview‘ then ‘Preview in a new tab‘.

Final checks

When your final draft is ready you need to do several checks before publishing.

1. Preview it and read it through.
2. Sub-edit it. Do all six sub-editing passes thoroughly.
3. Get someone else to read it – they will spot things you’ve missed.
4. Make sure you’ve got a featured image, excerpt/strap, at least one category, tags, and all your images have the right credit and alt text.
5. Make sure you’ve done everything in the checklist – the site will automatically block you from publishing if you haven’t.
6. Save it as Pending Review.
7. Fill out the Submission and Reflection form.