How to Use Columns

How to Set Up the Employee News Page

How to set up the New Additions/Baby News page

How to Change the Order of Sections in the Menu

What Block/Pattern to Use Where

Employee News	Pattern: Employee News
Baby News	Pattern: Columns with Slider and Text
Atta Boy/Atta Girl	Pattern: Paragraph and Quote
Caught on Camera	Blocks: Gallery or Image Slider, Paragraph, Header

Important content entry note! Don’t copy and paste text from Word or another program directly into the WYSIWYG. You have to “clean” the formatting off first by copy/pasting it into a text program, like Notepad, then copy/pasting it into the WYSIWYG. If you don’t, Word can carry over its own inline styles that will override our CSS stylesheets and make the text look weird (wrong color, wrong font, wrong size, etc.).

How to Write User-Friendly Content

• Use pronouns. The user is “you.” Your organization is “we.” This creates cleaner sentence structure and more approachable, conversational content.
• Use active voice. “The board proposed the regulation” not “The regulation was proposed by the board.”
• Use common words. By using keywords that your users use, you will help them understand the copy and will help optimize it for search engines.
• Chunk your content. Chunking makes your content more scannable by breaking it into manageable sections.
• Front-load the important information. Use the journalism model of the “inverted pyramid.” Start with the content that is most important to your audience, and then provide additional details.
• Use short sentences and paragraphs. The ideal standard is no more than 20 words per sentence, five sentences per paragraph. Use dashes instead of semi-colons or, better yet, break the sentence into two. It is ok to start a sentence with “and,” “but,” or “or” if it makes things clear and brief.
• Use bullets and numbered lists. Don’t limit yourself to using this for long lists—one sentence and two bullets is easier to read than three sentences.
• Use clear headlines and subheads. Questions, especially those with pronouns, are particularly effective.
• Use images, diagrams, or multimedia to visually represent ideas in the content. Videos and images should reinforce the text on your page.

Headings

Please use H2 as the main heading style for your content. You can use as many H2s on a page as you want. Use the other styles (H3, H4, H5, H6) as subheadings as needed.

This is a Heading 2

This is a Heading 3

This is a Heading 4

This is a Heading 5

This is Normal

---

Other Formatting Options

Italics – Use italics sparingly, as it is difficult to read long passages online that are italicized.

Table – Tables are normally used to show things like schedules or fees.

Image Size Reference Guide

Photos should always be jpg or webp format.
Logo and illustration type image should be png or webp.

Content Type	Minimum Dimensions	Max File Size
Hero/Header Images (Home/Sub)	2400 x 1600 pixels	2 MB
General Content Images	~2000 pixels on longest edge	2 MB
Blog/News/Post Featured Image	1200 x 900	2 MB

Bulleted List (sometimes called an “unordered list” in programming lingo)—Use when the order of the items doesn’t matter:

• Ensure Fair Voting
• Fill the Pipeline
• Reduce Polarization

Numbered list (sometimes called an “ordered list”)—Use when putting things into a hierarchy.

1. Donate
2. Volunteer
3. Apply for an internship
4. Host a fundraiser

Use the Quote button in the editor to create a blockquote. Use this style for quotes and other information that you want offset from the regular paragraph text like this:
We cannot predict the new forces, powers, and discoveries that will be disclosed to us when we reach the other planets and set up new laboratories in space. They are as much beyond our vision today as fire or electricity would be beyond the imagination of a fish.

Arthur C. Clarke

This is a horizontal line. Use sparingly to separate elements of the page.

---

Links

Using descriptive link text improves accessibility for disabled users. Blind users navigate by having links read aloud to them, so using descriptive links helps them understand where they are going when they don’t have the context of the surrounding words.

No: Visit the Beam & Hinge website here.

No: Click here to visit the Beam & Hinge website.

Yes: Visit the Beam & Hinge website.

Buttons

What is the difference between a button and a link? As a rule of thumb, buttons indicate that you want the user to do something, while links usually just mean they are being directed to another page. For example, you might want to use a button for “Give” or “Volunteer.” To add a button link, highlight the text and create the link using the editor, as you normally would. Then select from the “Styles” dropdown menu to choose the button style you want.

Anchor Links

Anchor links are helpful for directing users to specific content on a page. When content within the WYSIWYG gets lengthy, an anchor link can be created and a button style applied to direct users back to the top of the page, as shown below.

Steps to create an anchor link in the WYSIWYG:

1. Click where you want to anchor to (ie: before the first letter of the WYSIWYG content, if you want to anchor to the top of the page.)
2. Navigate to the toolbar on the far right of the page and choose “Advanced”
3. Add your anchor point word (ie: top), and save
4. Create a hyperlink/button that goes to your anchor by entering the # symbol before your anchor text in the URL field: #top and save.
5. Test your new anchor link. It is recommended you test in an Incognito window, or while logged out of the CMS to accurately see the behavior

Hero Block

Call To Action

[To make this pattern sync across pages, choose ‘Create Pattern’, name it something new, and choose ‘synced’]

Side By Side Block

Launchpads Pattern

Image Slider Block