Announcements are placed on the homepage of InsideLaw by creating a post in the category "Announcements"
To create
On the dashboard admin menu, Posts / Add New - enter a concise title, content in the editor, and select "Announcements" and other relevant categories in the Categories select box. The listing of announcements will include an excerpt from the beginning of the content unless an excerpt is provided. It is highly recommend that an excerpt be provided.
Limit who can see
To control who sees the announcement, use the "Access Restrictions" (upper-right of edit screen) to select only the groups to see the announcement (Students, Faculty, Staff). Note that we do not usually use the "Content Permissions" meta box at the bottom of the edit page.
Limiting time of display
To control how long the announcement is shown, use the "Post Expirator" in the lower-right of the edit screen. Generally, you would just want to use the "How to expire" to remove the category "Announcements" to remove it from the home page. If other categories have been selected, the post will continue to show on other lists of posts (currently on the "Students" and "Faculty" pages).
If the announcement needs to display other information, such as an already-existing page, video or document, you can avoid the awkward second click link to the final destination by setting up a redirect shortcode: [redirect to=http://address.of.page]
To be effective, announcements should...
- ...only be visible to audience to whom it is relevant (Students, faculty, etc)
- ...display for a limited time (a week or so).
- ...have a concise title
- ...use an excerpt for a more concise summary in the list
Tech "stuff":
The lists are generated with the "Advanced Post List" plugin via admin menu / Settings / Advanced Post List - this makes the shortcode: [post_list name="announcement_posts"]
To modify a list of posts, go to the control page, click the "Load" button next to the list to modify, and exit/re-save.