Welcome to the Sitefinity - News portal introduction session

To commence the creation of your article, please ensure that you are signed in to your Sitefinity Dashboard. 

Content	Select Content from the Dashboard menu item.
Article	From the drop down window, select Articles.
Create an Article	Select Create an Article.

To create your article there are a few formatting tools. The following is a description of the relevant tools and their capabilities.

Headline	The Headline is the title of your article. This should be a brief title that will grab the audiences attention and encourage them to read the article. The headline should be no more than 255 characters, including spaces.
Subheading	This is a brief description of your article. Generally we use the subheading to further encourage the reader to read your article. The subheading should be no more than 55 words.
Content block	This is the main copy of an article. Anything that is in the content block will display as your article.

Formatting options

This is a drop-down selection of the basic formatting options available for use in the content block. They have been created for the ease of formatting your article, they also ensure your article adheres to the formatting governance.

Thumbnail image

The thumbnail image is used to encourage the reader to view your article. The thumbnail image appears as the main image on the list of articles available in the news portal, as well as the image that will appear in a search request. Please ensure you follow the Imagery styles and Imagery sizing for your thumbnail images.

Feature image

The feature image is used to provide context for your article. The image appears at the top of your article when displayed on the screen. Please ensure you follow the Imagery styles and Imagery sizing for your feature image.

Long form promotional call to action

This call to action is used to add a promotional call to action box at the end of the article content. This call to action, if used, must be bold text and generally include a link to related material.

Search engine optimisation

Search Engine Optimisation or SEO is the process of increasing the quantity of web traffic to web pages, by enhancing the visibility of web pages to web search engines. e.g. Google search.

Keywords

The use of keywords or highlighting key points in the SEO field, increases the chance that your article will be pointed to from a search request.
Enter a description of less than 120 characters into this field. This does not appear in the article itself and is only used for search engine optimisation. If this field is left blank then the subheading is used for search engine optimisation instead.

Headings

Headings must include their appropriate formatting type: H1, H2, H3 as per the 'Ease of Accessibility tips' in the Accessibility and inclusivity guidelines.

Links

Links also contribute to SEO optimisation. When linking to Murdoch University content, or a reputable external source, please follow the 'How to use links and quotes' guidelines included in the 'How to format content' drop-down of the Sitefinity communication section of this page.

Publishing options

There are four publishing options for your article:

Featured story	By selecting this option, this will ensure that your article will appear on the main page of the news portal.
Hide from trending	By selecting this option, your article will not appear in the 'Trending' articles listing.
Include in sitemap	The sitemap is a list of pages that appear on a website. Always select 'Include in sitemap', as this will enhance the searchability of your article, as well as increase accessibility for those who use screen reading technologies.
URL	This is an additional accessibility feature for your article. The URL should be an easily followed description of your page. e.g. sitefinity-cms-news-introduction-to-new-users.

Categorisation options

The categorisation options allow you to add topics and related tags to your article. This allows a user to search for specific articles they may be interested in. If you do not select the correct topic or tag, your audience may miss out on your article.

There are three article types to choose from when creating your article:

News	This is a factual article that is based on the who, what, where, when and how. When writing a News article, stick to the facts and withhold your opinions e.g. 'The apple is in the basket'.
Opinion	This is the writers opinion, in which they are trying to communicate how they feel or attempt to persuade the reader how to think. e.g. 'The apple tastes good'.
Blog	A blog is a platform where a writer or group of writers share their views on an individual subject.

Where you have a professional link to your authors biography, please include it in the About the Author section.

If you leave the About the Author section blank, it will not appear in your article.

An example of About the Author:

Publish

Once you have completed your article. By selecting 'Publish', your article will be ready for syncing to the live site. You must follow your internal sign-off review and syncing process, prior to issuing a request to the Digital Experience and Solutions team for syncing to the live site.

Save as draft

Select 'Save as draft' if you wish to continue working on your article. It is also a good idea to select this on a regular basis, so that you don't lose any unsaved portions of your work.

Preview

You must always 'Preview' your article. By previewing your article, you are given a view of how your article will look on the website. This may highlight any issues with formatting or governance errors. 

An author is the creator of or the source of the information referred to in your article.

If you have the authors biographical information, including a link to their professional profile and related image, then the 'Create an Author' option should be used if you wish to display this information in your article. 

Audience engagement

To enhance your readers experience, follow our guidelines on writing for our audience and the elements of web writing. Ensure that your readers experience is tailored to them and engages their interest.

Know your audience

Plan articles based on broad appeal	The most popular articles are those that have broader appeal to the external (non-Murdoch) audiences and third parties.
Give influencers a reason to promote or link to your article	Direct links from third party websites, search engines and social networks are key. Give other websites or organisations a reason to promote the article or link to us.
Spark interest with your headlines	The article needs to be appealing enough for third parties or social influencers to promote the article or link to us. Interestingly, quality images will also catch the readers attention.
Use keywords and links in your content	Content needs to contain keywords that are relevant to popular searches in search engines. Place outbound links within your content using keywords, and do not add 'click here' statements.
Tell the whole story in your article, or create a series	Articles need to be written as individual stories within themselves.

Elements of web writing

Audience first	Who is your audience and what are their interests? Speak to your audience, not at them and use an active voice.
Use clear and basic language	Content should be written at a level that can be understood by 12 to 14 year olds. Avoid 'uni-speak' and spell out acronyms in the first instance. e.g. Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS) can then be referred to as RFDS as you have clarified what RFDS is.
Structure your copy	Lay content out logically, with the most relevant information at the top. Keep sentencesand paragraphs succinct and distinct. Use headings and sub-headings to guide the reader and make the information easier to navigate.
Be inclusive	Inclusive communication puts people first. People should not be defined by their race, religion, gender or disability. A persons race, religion, gender or disability should not be mentioned unless relevant.
Optimise your content	Use keywords and user-friendly words in metadata. Write links and Calls to Action with short, clear, customer friendly prompts. Analyse your metrics and continuously improve.

The Murdoch University website communicates with a wide range of people – from prospective students, parents, teachers and influencers, to current students, staff, researchers and Alumni.

Every page needs to communicate in a way that is easy to understand. This helps them find the information they need while also building trust with the Murdoch University brand.

Generally, your tone of voice should change according to what you need to say and to whom you're saying it. It is, however, important to establish a set of characteristics which define how we, as a brand, respond and communicate internally and externally.

Please refer to Style and tone design for the current guidelines.

The Murdoch website communicates with a wide range of people - from prospective students, parents, teachers and influencers, to current students, staff, researchers and Alumni.

The Murdoch Design Systems includes guidance on Murdoch University's style and tone. 

A consistent writing style and accurate spelling ensures our message is clearly understood.

Please refer to the Writing conventions for the current guidelines.

These guidelines are the best practices for ensuring your content is correctly formatted. Correctly formatted content is able to be published, without the need for follow-ups or formatting corrections requiring to be made.

Title

The title of your article must be descriptive and entice our audience to read further. The title may also used for Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) purposes, so the use of acronyms and jargon must not be used, as these tend not to be keywords.

Headings

A heading is a short phrase which describes the content that immediately follows it. The correct use of headings on your page is critical to its success.

Please refer to the Heading structure for the current guidelines.

How to use links and quotes

Links should be incorporated into existing text, rather than using words such as 'here' or 'click here'.

Link text should be descriptive, so someone using a screen reader will understand what the link is for, e.g. 'email Joe Bloggs' rather than just 'Joe Bloggs' or their email address.

Avoid using the same link text for links that will lead to different locations.

If the content you wish to link to is an internal page within the Sitefinity platform, please use the internal link facility. In the event that a page link is changed, by using the internal link you will ensure that your link will not break unnecessarily.

If a link will open a document, you must indicate that the link will open a separate document. Advise the reader by adding text such as '(opens PDF or WORD document)'.

An example of links incorporated into existing text:

"Outcomes of this research were published in the prestigious journal Scientific Reports on 25 January, co-authored by an international team of scientists led by Professor Bejder, now at the University of Hawaii at Manoa's Marine Mammal Research Program, and Professor Peter T. Madsen from Aarhus University in Denmark."

An example of an email address incorporated in to existing text:

"If you would like to know more about Sitefinity CMS training, contact Craig Jackson for more information."

Links to sites other than Murdoch.edu.au/news should open in a new window. Select the checkbox in the 'More options' field when you create the link.

Best practice for formatting sentences that include hyperlinks

Avoid: You can share your thoughts and solutions with us by enrolling in a focus group here.
Better: You can share your thoughts and solutions with us by enrolling in a focus group.
Best: Enrol in a focus group to share your thoughts and solutions with us.

Block quotes

Block quotes highlight the most important or impactful point made by the speaker. Please use no more than 30 words in a block quote. Longer quotes should be broken up, with the most impactful part as a block quote and everything else as a standard quotation or content.

To create a block quote:

1. Select the text.
2. In the Styles drop down, select 'blockquote'.

This is how a block quote will look.

Coffee is the key to productivity

Feature text

Feature text has similar functionality to block quotes, in that it highlights a key point or message, however it is for standard content rather than quotes. So if you have a piece of information that you want to catch the reader’s eye when scrolling, Feature Text would be ideal. Also keep these to no more than 30 words.

To create feature text:

1. Select paragraph to be featured.

2. In the Styles drop down select 'Feature Text'.

Standard quotes

Introduce the speaker before their first quote and ensure quotes are correctly attributed in articles with multiple interviewees. Try to keep a standard quote to 30 words or less and ensure that you are completing a standard paragraph with 'Normal' formatting.

An example of a standard quote:

Jennifer Stringer, Community Chair of the Harvey River Restoration Taskforce said the Harvey River was highly valued by the local community for its ecological, economic, social, recreational and cultural services.

“We hope through this project to engage the local community with activities to improve habitat within the river system to ensure this water resource is available to future generations to enjoy,” Ms Stringer said.

Web accessibility means making your website available to as many people as possible. In other words, removing barriers that stop users with a disability from using your website.

Please refer to Accessibility and inclusivity for the current guidelines.

The principles of WCAG 2.0

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), are a series of guidelines to make your website useful to all of your users. We adhere to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 (WCAG 2.0). 

Please refer to Accessibility and inclusivity for the current guidelines.

When your content is ready for publishing, and you have previewed to see what your content will look like when it is published, you are ready to sync your content.

Please ensure that you have followed your internal sign off procedure and that you are absolutely sure the content should be published.

You are responsible for the accuracy of your content, including the adherence to governance.

Any error correction requests will be issued to you, and will result in delays to the publication of your content.

Updating content

• Content updates are always made in the Publishing 002 environment

• Content that is not ready for publishing should be left in a Draft (unpublished) state until ready to go live

• Content owners should determine if an approval workflow is required. 

Publishing content

• Content needs to be approved and in publishable state in the Publishing 002 environment

• Request that the Digital Experience and Solutions team perform a site sync (process below) or utilise the Sync button. 

Site sync requests

Once you have followed your internal review process, please submit a site sync request.

To request a site sync, send an email to Vrushali Pancholi, Christine Feary or Justin Cawthorne. 

To avoid sync request delays, be as specific as possible in your email instructions. Always provide a link the target page, include clear instructions and provide an example of how your content should look.

When requesting to replace a PDF document, you must advise each individual page of where that document is located. Failure to do so will not update the document on all pages.

Include the below table with all sync requests and amend instructions as required.

Content Type	Title	Image Title
Page	Headline of article	This should be the title of the image, NOT the filename.
News article	Title of page	List all images that are associated with the article (thumbnail, feature, content) or all images that have been placed on the page.
Series article	Name of document	Include the Library name of where the image is located.
'In the news' article
Author
Document

For all queries regarding site sync requests, please contact the Digital Experience and Solutions team.

The Sync button - for news articles only

For articles in the News Portal, a feature has been added which allows authors to sync an article, without having to submit a sync request to the Digital Experience and Solutions team.

The sync button is active on the Sitefinity Production environment and gives the article author permission to sync directly to the live site.

The Sync button is intended only for articles that do not contain content images; however, the articles must have a Thumbnail and Feature image to sync successfully.

Once you have published your article, the Sync button will appear in the Articles list of the Content section as below.



To activate the Sync button, select the check box beside the article which is to be synced to the live site then select Sync.



The following message box will appear, indicating that the target server has been found. The correct server is Server 1: https://murdoch-website-001.azurewebsites.net? 

Select OK.

If any other server is indicated, select Cancel and attempt again, prior to raising an error with the Digital Experience and Solutions team.



The below Sync message box below will appear, indicating that the Sync request is progressing correctly. Select Close to remove the message box.



If the sync request has been successful, the below message box will appear. Select Close to remove the message box.



The synchronisation will take approximately five minutes to be reflected on the live site. Please allow fifteen minutes, before reporting the error to the Digital Experience and Solutions team.

Sitefinity will not allow multiple sync's to occur at the same time. If two or more users attempt to sync whilst a sync is in progress, the subsequent sync's will not proceed. Try to sync your article again after fifteen minutes. If not successful after fifteen minutes, contact the Digital Experience and Solutions team.

Series articles

You must update the the original publish date of the series, if not, only the series article will sync and will not reflect accurately within the series.

Scheduled articles

Do not attempt to sync scheduled articles, please send a sync request via ServiceNow - as per the Site Sync request process.

Sync button will sync

Author profile
Thumbnail image
Feature image
Embedded video
Article content.

Sync button will not sync

Updates to the initial publication date of a Series
'In the news' articles
Content images
Documents and files
Images in Image galleries - you must replace an image as per the replacing an image process, you will need to re-sync the article if you replace an image.
Any content on The Free-Thinking website.

If any errors occur, or you have any questions, please contact the Digital Experience and Solutions team.

Please refer to the Glossary for a comprehensive listing of Murdoch University and writing convention terminology.

Governance is the established policies and processes used to monitor and enhance Murdoch University's online communication strategies. 

Sitefinity governance ensures that the multiple user groups using Sitefinity adhere to a basic standard, ensuring our customers have the same experience regardless of which user group created the article.

The guidelines on this page are considered the benchmark for news article formatting. By following these guidelines, you will ensure that your article is published correctly and in a timely manner.

With a familiar tone, clear language and a solid understanding of our audience, we can craft messages that help users find what they are looking for.

The Murdoch Design System (MDS) provides the styles, components, layouts and advice that will help you develop online content that's consistent with Murdoch University's visual identity.

Consideration of font type and style is important to ensure your content is easy to read and understand.

Please refer to the Typography styles for the current guidelines.

The use of colour is critical to successful web design.

Please refer to the Colour palette for the current guidelines.

Imagery can both enhance user experience and express a brand’s visual language. Images can help tell a story, clarify complex messages that are difficult to express with words and show users how to perform an action.

Please refer to the Imagery styles for the current guidelines.

Uploading images to Sitefinity:

Sign in to the Sitefinity Dashboard

Select CONTENT

Select UPLOAD IMAGES

Choose SELECT IMAGE FROM YOUR COMPUTER

Locate the image you need to upload from its location on your computer

Choose the correct IMAGE LIBRARY

Select PUBLISH

Your image has now uploaded to the correct image library.

To ensure that your article images adhere to the Sitefinity image standards, please refer to the imagery guidelines.

Image optimisation

All images should be optimised before you upload them to Sitefinity. We recommend 80% image compression for the best results.

To ensure that you do not accidentally upload an oversized image, SItefinity will automatically reduce an oversized image to 900px in width.

Naming and captioning an image

An image’s Name, Title and Alt Text should be descriptive, and not include any irrelevant content e.g. don't use v2, rszd, thumbnail or 600x600.

 

Field	Action
File name	Save the file as a .jpg, e.g. 'description-of-image.jpg'. This file name will appear in the URL.
Title	Enter the context of the image into Sitefinity, e.g. 'Image used in this article'. This title appears when you roll over the image.
Alt text	Enter the content of the image into Sitefinity e.g. 'Description of what is in the image'. This text is used for Accessibility screen readers or if the image fails to load.

 

An example of Title, and Alt Text:

Content image captions

For content images, the caption should appear immediately below the image in italics.

An example of a content image caption:

Bush Court 2018 Open Day

Feature image captions

For feature images, the caption should be placed at the end of the article, in italics, with the words 'Image caption' at the start in bold.

An example of an image caption:

Image caption: It's a match: Dr Matthew Thompson's research will help develop Australia's next generation of fingerprint experts.

Image attribution

Images can be attributed to someone i.e. photographer or artist, using small text. If all images are being attributed to one person, place the attribution at the bottom of the article.

If only one image is to be attributed, or all images attributed to different people, place the attribution under each content image, or, for the feature image, at the bottom of the article.

Note: Thumbnail images do not have caption capabilities. If you wish to have a caption or attribution for a thumbnail image, use the same image for both the thumbnail and feature image and caption or attribute as normal.

If you would like to include an infographic, any information provided in the infographic must have a text equivalent. In other words, if your infographic illustrates an application process, you also need to provide those instructions as standard text. 

The same rules regarding image size, title and alt text need to be adhered to, and be appropriately descriptive.

A Call to Action (CTA) is a selectable link which directs the reader to a related topic, item or contact and must always describe where the link will direct the reader.

Calls to action should be bolded and formatted 1pt larger than the rest of the body copy of an article.

At the end of your article you may like to include a paragraph with a link that acts as a Call to action. This can be differentiated from standard content using bold and italicised text. This type of call to action should be limited to one per article, at the end of the article.

If you have multiple calls to action throughout an article, these should be incorporated into your standard content, with Normal formatting.

Contact information relating to the article should be placed in the Get in touch field.

If you do not require the Get in touch field, delete all content from that content box so it will not appear.

• Headline – up to 55 characters long, including spaces.
• Subheading – up to 255 characters long, including spaces.
• Content subheadings formatted as Heading 2 (or Heading 3 or 4 thereafter)
• CMS features only used once e.g. Feature Text, BlockQuote
• Spacing is appropriate between paragraphs and features.
• CTA – bolded, 1pt larger than rest of body copy.
• Thumbnail image uploaded (compulsory). Specs: 600x400, 300KB; Saved into thumbnail images library on Sitefinity.
• Feature image uploaded (optional). Specs: 860x480, 300KB; Saved into feature images library on Sitefinity.
• Topics have been selected.
• Related tags have been selected.
• Article type has been selected – News/Blog/Opinion.
• Author bio completed OR if not being used, text has been deleted from both the Design and HTML tabs.

• Headline – up to 55 characters long, including spaces.
• Subheading – up to 255 characters long, including spaces.
• Content subheadings formatted as Heading 2 (or Heading 3 or 4 thereafter).
• CMS features only used once e.g. Feature Text, BlockQuote.
• Spacing is appropriate between paragraphs and features.
• CTA – bolded, 1pt larger than rest of body copy.
• Thumbnail image uploaded (compulsory). Specs: 600x400, 300KB; Saved into thumbnail images library.
• Feature Video uploaded – embed code has been added into Feature Video box.
• Length in minutes has been added.
• Length in seconds has been added.
• Topics have been selected.
• Related tags have been selected.
• Type has been selected – News/Blog/Opinion.
• Author bio completed OR if not being used, text has been deleted from both the Design and HTML tabs.

• Headline – up to 55 characters long, including spaces.
• Subheading – up to 255 characters long, including spaces.
• Content subheadings formatted as Heading 2 (or Heading 3 or 4 thereafter).
• CMS features only used once e.g. Feature Text, BlockQuote
• Spacing is appropriate between paragraphs and features.
• CTA – bolded, 1pt larger than rest of body copy.
• Thumbnail image uploaded (compulsory). Specs: 600x400, 300KB; Saved into thumbnail images library.
• Feature Podcast uploaded – embed code has been added into Feature Podcast box.
• Length in minutes has been added.
• Length in seconds has been added.
• Topics have been selected.
• Related tags have been selected.
• Article type has been selected – News/Blog/Opinion.
• Author bio completed OR if not being used, text has been deleted from both the Design and HTML tabs.

If any content is left in this section, even just a single space, the 'Get in Touch' section will display on the front end (Live). 

Make sure you completely remove all characters and spaces from the 'Get in Touch' section, so that it does not display.

If you are comfortable to do so, change from 'Design' mode to 'HTML' mode for a comprehensive coding view.

Ensure your images are saved in their appropriate library. 

Feature images should be saved in the Feature images folder, Thumbnail images should be saved in the Thumbnail folder and so on.

If you fail to amend the library from the default library, you run the risk of losing your content. 

Use the Blockquote style for quotations from the Formatting options tool. Do not use any other headings or formatting options for a block quote.

Block quotes are intended to be used as a secondary quotation, only after the candidate has been quoted and cited previously.

Use Block quotes only once and do not close the quote or include citation.

An example of a correct Block quote:

Do. Or do not. There is no try.

If you are referring to a third party website in your article, and are including a link to the website, only use the sources name in your content. 

For example: EDUCATIONTODAY.COM.AU should only be EDUCATION TODAY.

If your article is a video article, ensure you select 'Video Articles' from the 'Content' selection.

Please make sure you upload the correct embed iframe link. Vimeo or YouTube are the easiest way to obtain the correct embed code.

If your article will be a series of articles, including videos, ensure you select 'Series' content from the 'Content' selection to create your article.

Make sure you add the duration of the podcast, to ensure that the podcast icon will appear on the thumbnail image.

When using a temporary link from a third party news source, add an un-publish date which is 14 days from the original publication date of the article.

This ensures that the article is unpublished at an appropriate time and the link does not appear as broken.

To add an 'un-publish' date: Select 'More actions' in the Edit screen. Then select 'Publish/Un-publish on Specific Date'. Choose the date 14 days from the original publication date.

Please ensure that Heading 1 is only used for the title of your article.

All subsequent headings should flow numerically from Heading 2 to Heading 3 and so on.

You must not put a Heading 3 before a Heading 2.