Articles are the basic communication unit in Hail and the building block of publications like newsletters and websites. So the first thing to get to grips with is creating an article…

• Head to the Articles section- click Create in the main menu on the left-hand side. Once you click on create, some content creation options will appear. You have 2 options here, either click on create again or click on Articles. Here you’re presented with the Article Browser which defaults to listing your created articles, with the latest at the top and oldest at the bottom.

• We’ll explore the article browser in a later section. For now simply click on ‘+ Create new article’ at the top.

• You’ll find yourself on a blank Draft article and all you need to do is start filling it in. For now we’ll ignore the large image/video placeholder at the top labelled Select Existing... and concentrate on adding our story’s text.

• Under Select Existing Image/Video is the first empty text block for the article’s Headline. As indicated by the large placeholder text the headline is ’used to quickly and briefly draw attention to the article’. Simply click into this section and begin typing. For example, Get Ready for the School Camp, then click the Save button.
• Next click into and type your article’s Lead. This is the article's first, or leading, sentence. As explained in the placeholder: an effective lead is a brief, sharp statement of the article's essential facts and is ideally 20–25 words in length. For example, Read all about next week’s school camp and what your child should be bringing with them. Just to be safe, click Save again.
• Now the main section of your story should be added to the Body section. For the above school camp example this is where you’d add all the details such as: leaving and returning dates, emergency contacts, wet weather/postponement arrangements and the list of items for students to pack. In the Body section you can format the text with bold, italics, links, headers, quotes and lists by simply highlighting the text you wish to format and clicking on the green buttons that appear.
• Great! Now your story has been correctly entered into the 3 text sections: Headline, Lead and Body. Getting used to dividing your text into these sections will make all the difference later and means your article is correctly formatted for all future uses and will display beautifully wherever it’s published.

Need some help creating an article or getting it started? Check out Hail assist!