Stories Overview
Stories are pages with synopsis (list view) and full article views (detail view), or a story synopsis that links to a website page. The stories engine lets you publish any number of stories with the flexibility to add them anywhere in your website.
A story can be an article, case-study, recipe, video training, blog post, any kind of content where you want to use a synopsis (list view) and full article structure (detail view).
You can customize the design of your story experience and organize stories by categories. Stories are a great way to provide relevant, timely and evergreen content to your audience.
Anatomy of a Story
A story is made up of two parts: a synopsis and an article.
The synopsis (list view) includes a story cover image, title, and optional short description, category and story type.
The article (detail view) includes the story title and article content which includes text, images, video, audio, etc.
Each story is made up of five editable parts, Info, Categories, Canvases, Containers and Content, Preview being your final step. Similar to pages, see Editing Pages tutorial for more information.
Story Info is where you will create your story synopsis. This is where you will add the cover or thumbnail image for your story.
Story Categories is where you will assign your master category and any other category you want your story to appear.
Stories are displayed within a page, and in a chosen format, based on the story component added to the page.
Story Page
A story page is a page where story components have been added. Stories won’t display unless a component is added to a page. See the Adding Stories to a Page section below for more information.
Story Category Component
This component displays the story synopses from a chosen category. Any stories added to the category will appear in the component. The story category component should be added any page you want the story synopses to appear. Once you add the component to the page you will choose the category of stories you would like to appear.
Story Detail Component
This component displays the story article detail page. Once you add the component to the page you will choose the category of stories you would like to appear.
Story Carousel Component
This component displays the story synopses from a chosen category. The stories will display in a slide carousel. Any stories added to the category will appear in the component. The story category component should be added any page you want the story synopses to appear. Once you add the component to the page you will choose the category of stories you would like to appear.
Related Stories
Related stories will appear alongside other stories in your page, when activated in Story Settings. Related stories will display based on corresponding keyword tags at the bottom, left or right of your of your story component.
Accessing Stories
You can access stories in multiple ways.
From the Menu, click on STORIES
From the Story Bar, click on Edit, or another option from the bar.
Story Home Screen
The story home screen is where you create and organize stories and story categories.
The Story global navigation will allow you to access your story Settings, Story Categories, and Stories.
Use the search bar to locate stories. Create categories to organize stories by the category. Sort stories using the Story State tabs. Use the Story Bar to organize stories up and down within the category.
Story Search
Use the search bar to locate stories. Available in medium and higher Website Plans.
Story States
Stories will go through several published states while you work on them.
A Published story is the most current version of the page. A Published page will appear on your website and appear live to the web.
A Draft story has not been published. It is not live to the web.
A story marked Publishing, is scheduled to be published, but is not yet live.
A story marked Changed contains page changes that have not been published yet. You will see this designation only if you made an update to an existing published page that’s hasn’t been published again.
A story marked Link Only identifies a story that goes to a link rather than an article page.
Story Bar
Each story has a Story Bar.
Use the compass tool to rearrange the order of your stories within a category.
To edit the name synopsis of your story CLICK INFO.
To edit the categories of your story CLICK CATEGORIES.
To edit the layout containers or your story CLICK LAYOUT.
To edit the story content CLICK EDIT.
To preview the story CLICK PREVIEW.
To remove/delete a story CLICK REMOVE.
See the section on Editing Stories below for more information.
Story Categories
Organize your stories into categories. Your stories will have an ALL STORIES category by default. You can assign stories to any number of categories and one master category.
You can create new categories by clicking EDIT.
Editing Story Categories
To edit stories click on EDIT from the Story home screen.
Add Categories
To add categories drag the DRAG TO ADD CATEGORY button into the page. Then type in the name of the category and click anywhere on the page or hit return to save.
Rearrange Categories
Drag a category up or down to rearrange the category order. The category at the top of the list will be first.
Filter Categories
Drag a category underneath a category to create a filter category.
Edit Category Name
To edit a category name double-click the name of the category and retype the new name.
Assigning Story Categories
When a story is created for the first time, you will be required to select a master category in the INFO tab of the story.
If you navigate into a set of stories by clicking on the category title from the category list, this will become your default category.
Assigning Additional or Filter Categories
Click on the Categories tab of the story. Then check the Top Level and Filter Categories that you would like your story to appear.
Adding a Story to your Page
To add a story to a page drag one of the story components into your page. Then specify which story or stories you would like to appear.
Story Category or Story Carousel set-up
Add the Story Category or Story Carousel set-up component to your page and set it up.
Content
Choose All Stories or an individual Story Category from the content type toggle.
Story Category
If Story Category is selected, then choose a specific Story Category from the pulldown menu.
New Category
You can also select New Category. If you choose a new category you will need to Name your category. This will allow you to complete the page design and add stories later.
Desktop Layout
Choose the number of stories (1 through 4) you would like to show in a single row within your page for the desktop view. Stories will automatically scale in size based on the width of the column.
Tablet Layout
Choose the number of stories (1 through 4) you would like to show in a single row within your page for the Tablet View. Stories will automatically scale in size based on the width of the column.
Mobile Layout
Choose the number of stories (1 through 4) you would like to show in a single row within your page for the Tablet View. Stories will automatically scale in size based on the width of the column.
Open Detail
When a user clicks on your stories they will need to open the detail view in the current page or the story can open in a separate window. Select either ON SEPARATE PAGE or IN POPUP WINDOW for the how the story detail should open.
Use Layout Grid
Layout grid is set to YES as default. Layout grid uses JavaScript to position items in a grid without gaps. Only turn this off if all of your stories are the same size.
Story Detail set-up
Add the story detail component to your page and set it up.
Content
Choose All Stories or an individual Story Category from the content type toggle.
Story Category
If Story Category is selected, then choose a specific Story Category from the pulldown menu.
Show Default
If no specific Story Category is being viewed, set what the component should display: Nothing, the first story, the last story, random story, a specific story.
Specific Story
Choose the specific story you want to appear on the page.
Story Global Settings
The story settings are where you can change your story user experience and modify what is shown in your story synopses list view. The story design can also be customized in the Story Style Sheet.
Story User Experience
To change your story user experience click on the CHANGE STORY USER EXPERIENCE button and then select a new story experience.
Story Listview Settings
Each story your create will have a synopses. When place in a page the story synopses will appear in a listview, based on the category. The list view can be customised based on your website needs.
Masterpage
Each story has a masterpage assigned to it. With higher level Made Daily plans, you can have multiple master pages. See the Master Pages article for more information.
Title
This is the title of your story. Turn the toggle to YES to show the title, and OFF to hide the title.
Subtitle/Show Name
This is the subtitle of your story. Turn the toggle to YES to show the subtitle, and OFF to hide the subtitle.
Short Description
This is the short description of your story. Turn the toggle to YES to show the description, and OFF to hide the description.
Contact Info
This is the contact info for your story. Enabling this setting allows you to set a phone number and email address for the story. Turn the toggle to YES to show the contact info, and OFF to hide the contact info.
Source
This is the source media indicator for your story (text, video, photos). Turn the toggle to YES to activate, and OFF to disable.
Category
This is the category label for your story. Turn the toggle to YES to activate, and OFF to disable.
Episode Number
This is the episode number for your story. Turn the toggle to YES to activate, and OFF to disable.
Episode Label
This is the episode label for your story. The label can be a number or anything else. Turn the toggle to YES to activate, and OFF to disable.
Aspect Ratio
When turned off, your images will always scale to fit the column width, with the height being variable. When turned on, you can force the images of your story to all share the same aspect ratio width and height. Aspect ratios are 1:1, 4:3, 16:9 and Custom.
Turn the toggle to YES to activate, and OFF to disable.
Related Story Position
Choose the position of where you would like related stories to appear on the page:
Left, Right, Bottom.
Related Story Label
Set the related stories label name. The default name is Related Stories.
Share Button List
The share button will allow your visitors to share your stories on their own social media accounts. This setting affects only the story list view. Turn the toggle to YES to activate, and OFF to disable.
The default name is Related Stories.
Share Button Detail
The share button will allow your visitors to share your stories on their own social media accounts. This setting affects only the story detail view. Turn the toggle to YES to activate, and OFF to disable.
Editor Content Width
This setting with tell Made Daily to restrict the width of a story to the site content width.
Turn this off if your story detail is not inside a canvas. Turn the toggle to YES to activate, and OFF to disable.
Story Layouts
When you create a new story you will choose a starting story layout. Story Layouts are predetermined templates that come with your framework.
Story Layouts can be changed or created new in the Framework / Story Layout section of Made Daily. Framework access is restricted by user role and website plan.
See Stories for more information.
Creating a New Story
To create a new story:
Click the + NEW Story button.
Select a Layout
Your framework will come with a number of predefined story layouts. See Stories for more information.
Cover Image
Click the Change Image button to add your cover image.
Story Type
Select an optional story type, video, slideshow, or article. If selected a icon will appear on your story designating the type.
Master Category
Select the story master category.
Title
Add a story title. Keep story concise and as short as possible.
Short Description (optional)
Add an optional short story description or synopsis.
Keyword Tags
Add keyword tags to be used in website search and filtering.
When Clicked
Select whether you would like the story list to link to a detail page (open in story detail), or link to another page, either on your website or an external link.
Link to a Page
If link to a page is selected then enter the LINK URL and set the SHOW IN ALL switch to Yes or No. Switch to NO if you do not want this story to appear in the story lists set to All Stories.
Related Item Keywords
Add keywords that to determine related stories. Use multiple tags to restrict the selection. Use the same words continuously.
Editing Stories
Each story is made up of five editable parts, Info, Categories, Canvases, Containers and Content, Preview being your final step. Similar to pages, see the Editing Pages section in the Pages article for more information.
Cover Image
Click the Change Image button to change your cover image.
Click the Crop/Edit image button to crop your image. Slide or resize the crop area to reframe your image. Click Apply to save or the X to close and not save.
Story Type
Select an optional story type, video, slideshow, or article. If selected a icon will appear on your story designating the type.
Master Category
Add/Edit the story master category.
Title
Add/Edit the story title. Keep story concise and as short as possible.
Short Description (optional)
Add/Edit the short story description or synopsis.
Keyword Tags
Add/Edit keyword tags to be used in website search and filtering.
When Clicked
Edit whether you would like the story list to link to a detail page, or link to another page (either on your website or an external one).
Link to a Page
If link to a page is selected then enter the LINK URL and set the SHOW IN ALL switch to Yes or No. Switch to NO if you do not want this story to appear in the story lists set to All Stories.
Related Item Keywords
Add/Edit keywords that to determine related stories. Use multiple tags to restrict the selection. Use the same words continuously.
Categories
Add/Subtract the Top Level and Filter Categories you would like your story to appear.
Canvases
Edit your story canvases. See the section on Editing Page Canvases in the Pages article for more information.
Containers
Edit your story canvases. See the section on Editing Page Containers in the Pages article for more information.
Content
Edit your story content. See the section on Editing Page Containers in the Pages article for more information.
Preview
Preview your story content and publish when complete.
Story List View Component Properties
When placed in the page you can also add an additional Story Category property.
Creating Story Pages
Story components must be added to pages in order for them to appear.
A Story Category (list, synopsis) or Story Carousel (list, synopsis) component is required in the page. When a user clicks on a story synopsis the corresponding detail page will display.
A Story Detail component is optional. If no story detail component is added to the page, a story will appear in the website’s master page by default.
Adding Stories to your Pages
Follow these steps for adding stories to your page:
1. Create the Story Category page or Story Carousel page.
Create a new page. Name it Story Category or whatever you like. (e.g. work case studies, recipes, etc.)
Drag a Story Category or Story Carousel component into your page
Set up the Story Category. See the Story Category or Story Carousel set-up section above for more information.
2. Create the Story Detail page.
Create a new page. Name it Story Detail or whatever you like.
Drag a Story Detail component into the page
Set up the Story Detail. See the Story Detail set-up section above for more information.
Setting up a Single Story and Detail page
Create one page with a story category and set the Category Type to All Stories or a Category.
Create one page with a story detail and and set the Category Type to All Stories or a Matching Category.
For example: You want to use stories for your business case studies. Create a page called “Work” and add a Story Category component with the category set to “work” (or whatever you want to show). Then create another page called “Work detail” and add the Story Detail component with the category set to “work” (or whatever you want to show).