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 own username and password.

The first time you log in after receiving the email with your credentials, you’ll be asked to set a new password.

Dashboard

The first thing you’ll see is the dashboard.

Here you’ll see recently published posts, comments, and site stats – that’s how many people are looking at your stories.

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‘.
3. Use the ‘Quick Draft‘ box on the dashboard – but this isn’t recommended as you will have very limited options.

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

All posts must have a featured image before they are published.

This should be a high-quality photograph that represents your story. It must be a photograph you have taken, or (as a last resort) from the Instant Images tab in the media library.

It must be in landscape orientation.

Add your featured image using the ‘Featured image‘ section in the right-hand column.

If you can’t see the right-hand column, click the settings cog icon next to ‘Publish’.

1. Click ‘Set featured image‘.
2. Click on ‘Upload files‘
3. Upload your image (cropped to the right orientation and saved with a descriptive filename)
4. Add ‘Alt text‘ – this should describe what’s in the image for someone who can’t see it.
5. Add ‘Credit‘ – this should be your name if you took the picture, or copy the detail from the Title field if it’s an Unsplash picture.
6. Copy Credit into ‘Title’ field – this is because of the way the credit appears on Featured Images.
7. Click ‘Set featured image‘

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.

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.

When your tutor gives you the go-ahead, click ‘Publish‘.