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Creating a Channels Event or News item

Site Administrators and Site Managers can create Channels Events and News on their sites. They may also give Channels Events editor or Channels News editor status to other users; this status also allows users to create items.

To create a channel item:

1. Go to My Workbench
2. Click the Create content tab.
3. Under Create Content, click Channels Event (Channels News for a news item).
4. Complete the Channels information fields:

• Title: Enter a descriptive title for your event/news item.
• Dates (for events only)
  

  NOTE:

  The time is formatted based on the 24-hour military time (e.g., 1:00 pm is 13:00).

  You can check the box labeled All Day for events that last all day or span multiple days; in this case time fields do not display.

• Content: Enter the main message (e.g., describe the event and who should attend).
• Location (for events only): Choose an existing McGill location by typing the first few letters of the building name in the Official Location field or expand CUSTOM LOCATION to add a new location. The Extended Address is used to specify the room number or other details
• Price: If there is an admission fee to attend, enter it here.
• Language: English will be displayed if you are creating an item in the English interface and vice-versa in French.
• Category: Start typing the first few letters of the category name and auto-suggestions will populate. Select the appropriate category for your item. You can choose multiple categories by separating each one with a comma. A complete list of categories can be viewed at https://www.mcgill.ca/channels.
• Vocabularies: In this section you will further classify your event or news item:
  
  • Audience: You must select one or more target audiences. Use the Shift and Ctrl keys on your keyboard to select multiple audiences.
  • Tags: Here you can add as many descriptive terms as you like, each separated by a comma. Tags can be used to filter which Channels items are displayed in blocks within your site and across the WMS. For more information on tagging see Tagging content in the WMS.
• Related Links:  Here you can add links to related websites within the WMS. Enter a Title and the URL
• Contact Enter any contact information you wish to display with the item.
• Publishing options:
  
  

  NOTE:

  The Promoted to front page option appears by default but is non-functional for Channels items, therefore it is not listed in the instructions below.

  
  
  • Published is checked by default so that your Event is posted immediately, but you can choose to deselect this option and publish at a later date. You can also schedule your item to be posted at a future date using the Scheduling options in this section of the page.
  • Distributed is also checked by default. It means that your posted item will be available to be imported by other sites within the WMS. Deselect this option to prevent other sites from displaying your item.
  • Sticky at top of lists is used for promoting an event or news item to the top of a Channels Events or News block. For more information, see Pinning Channels Events and News.
• URL path settings:By default the URL of your item is automatically assigned based on the words in its title. It can be set to a custom alias instead. 
• Under Scheduling options, enter specific dates for when to publish and unpublish your item. For more information about scheduling, see Scheduling in the WMS.

5. 5. Under Images and files, add a primary image to appear at the top of your event/news page and can be displayed in blocks:
      
      1. Click Select... to select an image of file type .PNG, .GIF, .JPG or JPEG from your local computer or network file locations.
      2. Click Next.
      3. Click Edit to add alternate text and other information:
         
         • Alternate text: The text that screen readers read aloud. It also appears onscreen if the image cannot be displayed. For more information see Accessibility and usability standards in the Web Management System.
         • Title: This text appears when the user hovers over the image.
         • Caption: Not used currently.
         • Credit 
   6. Click Save. If your news or event item is set to Published and Distributed, it should appear within an hour on any Channels blocks on your local site that are set to display content corresponding to the Category and Source Site of the posted item and also forwarded to the channel hub to allow other sites to import it.

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Updating a Channels Event or News item

To change the details of an event or news item, it must be edited on the source site.

If the item was distributed to the Channels hub, once the item has been updated and saved, it will also be updated on the hub and on other sites where it was imported.

To update a Channels item in the WMS:

5. 5. 1. Go to the item. If you don't know the URL, locate it from My Workbench. See Managing content via My Workbench in the WMS.
      2. Click Edit and make the changes.
      3. Click Save.

Note: If you have updated the Category field of an item with an associated translation, avoid having items with mismatched categories by making sure to update the Category field in both the English and French versions. 

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