News CMS

Adding Images

Images are optional for news items. There are three types of images:

• Images appear in the body text of the news item. A news item can have multiple images. While images for news items most often are photos, images also can be graphics, such as a map. Images can be inserted or uploaded.
• A headline thumbnail is a smaller version of an image that appears beside the headline, when the item appears in a headline group or in search results. A news item cannot have more than one headline thumbnail.
• A feature image appears on your site's homepage if your homepage template has been configured to display a feature image. A news item cannot have more than one feature image. Note: Feature images are available only for specific departments.

File Formats

File formats are limited to JPG, GIF, and PNG. For publishing photos on the BU Web, NIS recommends that you use the JPG format, because its compression algorithm is designed for photos (unlike GIF) and it is supported by most all web browsers (unlike PNG).

Guidelines

Images for news items have the following guidelines:

• Formatting, such as cropping or color adjustments, should be done before you insert or upload the image.
• Images should be no wider than 300 pixels, so that they fit into the news content. If you upload an image wider than 300 pixels, the image is resized automatically. If you insert an image larger than 300 pixels, it will not be resized.
• Headline photos can be uploaded at any size; they are resized automatically to thumbnail dimensions.
• Feature images wider than 386 pixels are resized to be 386 pixels wide, keeping the height proportional.

Inserting vs. Uploading

With the formatting buttons above the Body field, you can insert an image directly into your news story. The advantage to inserting the image is that it gives you more control over where and how the image appears. If you do not want to think about placing images, you can upload the image using the Add Image button. The image will be placed in the news story according to your department's template.

Note: While you can both insert and upload images in the same news story, it is not recommended because you may get unexpected results.

Inserting Images

To insert an image, follow these steps:

1. Click in the story where you want the image to appear.
2. Click one of the following buttons:
   • inserts a left-aligned image
   • inserts a right-aligned image
3. A placeholder image with a placeholder caption appears in the news story and the Image Properties window appears.
   
   Note: If the Image Properties window does not appear, it may have been blocked by a pop-up blocker. Change your blocker to allow pop-ups from the News CMS site.
   
   
4. In the Image Properties window, enter information in the following fields:
   • In the URL field, change the default text to the URL for the image. If you need to upload an image from your computer, follow these steps:
     1. Click the Upload tab.
     2. Click Browse to find and select the image.
     3. Click Send it to the Server to upload the file.
   • In the Alternative Text field, enter a description of the image that will be useful to site visitors with visual disabilities.
   • Click the rounded arrow to the right of the Width and Height fields. The width and height will be entered automatically, which helps decrease the time it takes pages to load in your visitors' browsers. Note: You can adjust an image size by changing the width and height manually, but this will result in poor image quality. You should resize images in a graphics program outside of the News CMS before inserting them.
   • The other fields in the Image Properties window contain additional image properties for users with knowledge of HTML. You do not have to enter information in the other fields.
5. Click OK to close the Image Properties window. The image appears in the news story.
   
   Note: The formatting of the image border and caption in the published news story will depend on your department's template. In the editing window, the formatting may appear slightly different. Be sure to preview your story before submitting it.
   
   
6. Double-click the placeholder caption to edit it or delete it.

To edit the image after you have inserted it, select the image and click the Insert Image button or right-click the image and choose Image Properties. The Image Properties window opens and you can change the image.

Note: There is a known issue in Internet Explorer that when you select an image or a table and part of the image or table lies outside the editing area, the selection corners will appear outside the editing area. This will not affect any changes that you make.

Uploading Images

To upload an image, follow these steps:

1. Click the Add Image button, Add Headline Thumbnail button, or Add Feature Image button. The Upload Image window opens.
2. Click Browse to locate the image on your computer. The File Upload window opens.
3. Select the file and click Open. The File Upload window closes.
4. Click the Upload button. The image appears in the Upload Image window. Note: Images may be resized; see the guidelines above.
5. If you want, enter a caption for the image. Captions may appear beneath images in news items and as alt text for images, depending on your site's templates are configured. This field is optional.
6. Click Submit. The Upload Image window closes and the photo appears in the Add News Item window.

Note: On the Add News Item page, all images appear as thumbnails, to conserve screen space. When a news item is published, images appear at their regular size.

Removing Images

To remove an inserted image, follow these steps:

1. Open the news item.
2. In the Body field, select the image.
3. Press Delete.
   
   Note: You must you the Delete key to remove images or tables. The Backspace key will not remove images or tables. On a Macintosh, use the Del key just above the arrow keys.

To remove an uploaded image, follow these steps:

1. Open the news item.
2. Click the Remove Image button next to the image, headline thumbnail, or feature image.