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Create an Announcement

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OpenCities Product Team

Last updated

Announcements are used to communicate critical or emergency information to your community. They can be about emergencies, disruptions, policies, and more and are visible across your site.

We have created the OC Announcement content type to create announcements most easily and efficiently. It's also best practice to create all your announcements into one folder. 

Announcements are not always necessary or the best choice to impart information. Before you start, check out our handy list of when you should or should not use an announcement. 

How to Create an OC Announcement

Here's how to create an announcement page, but first, we'll take you through creating a single folder for all your announcements.

Site tree with the announcements folder under the home page, with announcements in it

  1. Right-click on your homepage in the site tree. 
  2. Select Create Page, and choose OC Folder as the content type.
  3. Name the folder something indicative like "Announcements," and Publish the folder.
  4. To create the announcement itself, right-click on your "Announcements" folder.
  5. Select Create Page.
  6. Choose OC Announcement as the content type.
  7. Fill in the necessary fields.
    Note: If you hide your OC Announcement from search, it will not appear on your site. To ensure that it is not hidden, go to the Settings tab of your announcement page and ensure the Hide this page from search box is unchecked.
  8. Publish your page.

What to Include on Your OC Announcement Page

Use the following information to fill out the fields of your announcement page:

Field Function
Page name Completes the unique page URL
Announcement title The title displayed at the top of the announcement block
Level of importance (determines order and styling)

Determines the order in which announcements appear if you have more than one – high ones show at the top, then medium ones, then low ones.

  • High: use for emergencies
  • Medium: use for disruptions
  • Low: use for everything else

This also determines the announcements' color, which is configured in your theme.

Short description of announcement

A brief overview of the announcement. This displays inside the announcement block below the title.

Note: although there is a character limit of 400, keep this description as concise as possible. On mobile devices, announcements that are too long take up most of the screen. We recommend keeping your announcements to approximately 150 characters.

Link to more information about this announcement A link which appears below the short description inside the announcement block.
Can site visitors dismiss this announcement?

Determines how the user can interact with the announcement.

  • Yes, can minimize it: The user will be able to minimize the announcement, but won't be able to get rid of it completely—it will always be accessible at the top of the page.
  • Yes, can completely remove it: The user will be able to get rid of the announcement completely.
  • No: The user won't be able to minimize the announcement or get rid of it completely.

Unless the topic relates to an emergency or is relevant to everyone, it's polite to let your visitors dismiss the announcement.

If you publish a new version of an announcement that someone has dismissed in the past, it will come out of their dismissed announcement list and appear as a new announcement.

Custom dismiss button text (leave empty for close icon)

If you need users to acknowledge your announcement (for example, to accept your terms and conditions), enter text here that will appear on a button. If you leave the field empty, a close icon will appear at the top right instead (assuming you allow users to either minimize or completely remove the announcement).

An announcement with a text button to close it

Show in banner at bottom of page (e.g. for cookies announcements) Choose whether to make the announcement appear in a "sticky" banner at the bottom of the page – it will stay visible as users scroll. You might want to use this for information about site cookies.

We also recommend keeping your announcements as concise as possible. It's always best to look at your announcements on a mobile device to ensure they don't take up the entire screen.
An example of an announcement on a mobile device which is too long

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