Configuring the page

The Cast of Characters framework is flexible, with lots of options to handle just about any project. Most — not all — of these choices are made in the top spreadsheet tab and can be used to customize the appearance, performance and functionality of your cast of characters.

Page metadata

This stuff is mostly for Google and anyone who might also use Bing.

Key Purpose Default Required
title The page <title>. This is for Google and should be filled with keywords - Yes
description A short, concise page description. This will be used by Google and social media (i.e. Facebook). Keywords are important here. This is like Presto's promo brief. - Yes
ssts The desired ssts, in a slash-seperated list. e.g. sports/nfl/packers news Yes
cst The desired cst the ssts value no

The first item on the page is a headline and other top-of-article stuff such as introduction and a lede photo.

Key Purpose Default Required
headline The page headline, written for humans. title No
subheadline A subheadline, underneath the main page headline. - No
byline This text will be in bold, under the headline. If you want it to say "By ..." then write "By ..." in this spreadsheet cell. - No
organiztion The second part of the byline. What's the property/newsroom to be credited. USA TODAY NETWORK No
published The date and time of publish. - Yes
updated The date and time of the most recent update. Google and readers both pay attention to this. The current time No
intro The short introduction at the top of the page. This text should provide a brief context of the broad story for the readers. Google also reads this closely, so keywords are highlight recommended. Formatting is possible with markdown. - No.

Caution

The dates should be set using the Google Spreadsheet date picker. It's pretty good at recognizing dates and automatically formatting them. Still, if you click on the spreadsheet cell with a data and a little calendar doesn't popup, then it's not a date.

A cast doesn't necessarily need a lead visual, but sometimes it can enhance the experience by setting the scene or tone of what's to come. Images and Presto videos are supported here.

Key Purpose Default Required
intro_image The URL or Presto ID of a lead photo. Videos from Presto also are supported with Presto IDs - No.
intro_image_alt_text Good, descriptive alt text for the image. - Yes
intro_image_caption An alternate caption, if the Presto one will not suffice - Yes, if using an image URL
intro_image_hide_caption If yes, then caption will not display. This is good for art illustrations. no No
intro_image_credit An alternate credit, if the Presto one will not suffice - Yes, if using an image URL
intro_image_hide_credit If yes, the credit will not display. Perhaps for videos where the credit is contained therein. no No
intro_image_position Moves the position of the featured visual. Can be top, under_headline or bottom. bottom No.

A series of links back to key project installments can be included with the following values. More than one link can be included by incrementing the number: i.e. related_link_2, related_link_3, etc.

Key Purpose Default Required
related_links_label The bold header label for the links "More to this story" No
related_link_1 The link to the story/interactive.content. Can be provided as a complete url, beginning with https:// or as a Presto ID. - Yes
related_link_1_text The link text for the story. This value can be used to write or rewrite any headline from Presto. Presto headline Yes, but not for Presto IDs

Next Story

Key Purpose Default Required
next_story_id Optional Presto ID of an In-Depth story to load in after the story when user scrolls to the bottom of the page. - No

Sharing

Key Purpose Default Required
share_description An alternate page description for use with Twitter, Facebook and other share descriptions description No
share_label The text label with the share buttons "Share" No
share_image The main page image for social networks. Can be image URL or a Presto ID - Yes

Advertisements

Advertisements are enabled by default. Sponsored pages are supported. When ads are enabled, you will see:

Key Purpose Default Required
display_ads Enable (yes) or disable (no) the display of ads. yes No.
brand_lock Enable (yes) or disable (no) the display of a sponsored logo in the header, above the headline. no No.
top_ad The first ad on the page is the largest, and has options, mostly to accomadate sponsorships. Can be set to default, for a leaderboard, or paramount. default No.
ad_topic Sometimes, ads need to be targeted to pages. Setting this to the value given by ad ops helps with that. None. No.

Caution

For sponsored Casts of Characters, be sure both the ad folks and the Storytelling Studio have enough time to confirm ads are functioning as expected. There's money at stake. Let's be sure it all works at least a week ahead of time.

Call to action

Aside from the related links, the cast of characters also supports a single call to action, for very important links. They should be used very sparingly. Calls to action can be shown to all readers or only subscribers (for premium content). CTAs do not support text formatting.

A screenshot example of a CTA in Cast of Characters

Key Purpose Default Required
cta_headline The large bold text. - Yes
cta_button_text The text on the button. "More" No
cta_link Where does the reader go when clicked? - Yes
cta_helper_text A small, italic line of text next to the button. - No
cta_match_premium_state When set to "yes"/true, the CTA will only be displayed to people who meet the required status (i.e. only subscribers for premium pages). This has no effect for free pages. no No

Other bits of text

It's possible to customize various labels and other bits of text throughout the page, to make the reader experience more relevant and helpful.

Key Purpose Supports formatting Default Required
category_nav_label The text label above the category outline/navigation No "Sections" No
labels_label The text label above the labels outline/filters No "Filters" No
labels_instructions The secondary text with the labels_labels. No "Show only these entities" No
contributing A line of text underneath the page's content. This is a good place to put secondary contributors. Yes - No
default_category_name When not using categories, this can be used to put a subheadline label above the cast. This helps with screen-reader readability No - No
default_category_description A related description for the default_category_name No - No
label_text_search Set the label instructions for the text search box Start typing to search No
none_message If a user has searched in a way that yields no results, this message appears. There are no matches. Try a different search. No

Visual settings

Some basic visual choices to create a unified look and feel with related articles. All colors should be provided as valid CSS colors, such as hex values. To enable a dark-themed display, set the background_color to a darker color. The various text colors throughout the page will be set accordingly.

Key Purpose Default Required
theme_color An accent color, used sparingly, to splash color throughout. Is analgous to themeColor in In-Depth. At present, the theme_color is not used for text anywhere, so it doesn't need to be "fully accessible." #009bff No
theme_color_text The appropriate, readable color for text using the theme_color as a background. It is best to leave this out of your configuration and let the Cast of Characters automatically select the better color of black or white. white No
background_color The page background color white No
serif If yes, then the display type will be in the usual serif font. Currently, this only includes the headline no No
image_ratio If using images, they can be uniformly cropped for a clean, orderly appearance. It's WIDTHxHEIGHT. Examples: 16x9 or 4x3 bestCrop/no cropping No
thumbnail_image_ratio If using thumbnails, they can be uniformly cropped for a clean, orderly appearance. It's WIDTHxHEIGHT. Examples: 16x9 or 4x3 4x3 No
character_layout Currently, only three layouts are supported: default, medium and wide. Setting the layout here will affect all characters. This also can be set per category in the categories tab. default No

Caution

Photos should be cropped to properly reflect the story's subjects before being added to the project. Cropping with image_ratio alone will result in strange, if not unusable, image crops.

Paywall/Premium content

Each cast of characters page can be set to premium (subscriber-only) and registered (registered users only). Metered usage is not supported. Readers who are not logged in and/or do not meet the page requirements, will be shown a roadblock and subscription CTA.

Key Purpose Default Required
required_status Can be subscriber, registered or any to set the premium status/content protection state any No
max_characters The number of characters/entities does a nonsubscriber/nonregistered reader see without logging in. 12 No
label_does_not_meet_requirements The main label of the login component See below. No
label_sign_up_button The label for the main button on the roadblock. Will beging the registration/subscription process Create account/Subscribe now TK
label_sign_in_button The label of the secondary link to let subscribers sign in to their account Sign in No
see_the_rest A secondary label for the bottom-of-page subscription/registration CTA Value of label_does_not_meet_requirements No

The default login labels are:

Premium casts of characters will get a kicker label above the main headline.

Key Purpose Default Required
headline_label_premium A small label reinforcing to subscribers that this is what they pay for. Subscriber exclusive No.
headline_label_preview We offer a preview of premium content to nonsubscribers. This kicker label variation points that fact out. A preview of a subscriber exclusive No.

Examples of premium casts