News articles are a great way to share important company updates. They are easy to find and engage with in the Content Applet, and can be resurfaced in the Site Search, including Aria.
In this guide, you'll learn how to create and publish a news article, along with some top tips to help you get the most out of it.
Before you start:
- You’ll need the Content Contributor permission for the area where you’re creating the news article.
- Check your organisation’s guidance on standard formatting, such as whether a specific template is required. Fonts, styles and colours are usually set by site admins, but it’s always worth checking before you get started.
Creating a news article
-
Navigate to the Actions button and then Create. Select News.
Doesn’t feel like news? Try creating a Blank Page instead. While there are fewer templates to choose from, you can get creative with the Page Designer Applets to build the right experience for your content.
-
Oak will automatically create the news article in the area where you opened the Create Menu. To change this location, select the location at the top of the menu and choose another area from the picker. Confirm to save the change.
For more information on the picker, check out our handy guide.
-
After selecting News, you'll land on a blank draft. By default, the template last used will be displayed. To choose another layout, go to Change Template in the bottom-left corner and choose a new template.
This template can be updated at any time; before, during or after creating and publishing the news article, without affecting the content, ratings, or publish options.
-
Add the mandatory title at the top of the template.
-
If your chosen template includes a banner image, update the image by hovering over the banner and clicking the three dots. Select Pick a new image and upload/find your image in the media picker.
-
After choosing a banner image, click OK within the media picker. You will then be able to crop, rotate, or adjust the image. Once you're happy with the image, click Save to view in the template.
-
To begin writing your news article, click into the Page content text box. The content editor toolbar will appear, providing formatting and styling options, in addition to inserting images and videos.
Top tip: You can embed videos from YouTube and Vimeo using just the link. Even better, Oak automatically removes pre-roll adverts from YouTube videos, so your content starts playing straight away. Select the video icon within the toolbar to get started.
-
We recommend adding page designer applets to break up the text, making it easier for employees to read. By default, the pencil toolbox sits in the bottom-right corner.
Click the pencil to reveal the different page designer applets you can drag and drop onto the article where a blue line appears.
-
To configure an applet, hover over it and select the three dots in the top-right corner. Set up the applet and enter your news article text where required.
Click the applet's bin icon to remove it from the article.
-
Continue to build your news article and explore the page designer applets available within the pencil toolbox. Once finished and you're ready to publish, go to the bottom bar and select Continue.
✨ Looking to create something different? Add your own creative flair with HTML code in Page Content. For Oak-safe code, try the Oak AI Intranet Designer. You can create news banners, information cards and add background colours without needing any coding knowledge.
-
You'll land on the publishing options page, also known as the meta-data page. Complete each publishing option and ensure you have chosen a suitable preview image or image thumbnail for the Content Applet layouts. To share with content viewers, select Publish.