Choosing front page and section features

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Setting Features on your site might seem a little confusing. So many articles, but only 3 big Feature spots on the Front page.

The problem is usually "what should I feature? What qualifies an article as 'feature' material?"

The information below should help you narrow your options.

Obviously, any extremely important news item or article qualifies as feature material. If a tornado destroyed a large factory just outside of your city, you'd probably want to display it prominently on the site.

 Another thing to consider is whether or not an image is involved. On the Front page, the Main feature and two sub-features will display Image1 if there is an Image1 in the featured articles

Sections can also have featured articles. Like Front page features, section features also display Image1 (if there is an Image1).  Deciding which article to feature comes down to importance and whether there's an image or not.

 There is another question that arises concerning features: "When should I change features?"

If you publish new content daily then you should be changing your features daily as well. By doing this, visitors can see when you have new content up on your site. If you publish weekly, or throughout the week, you could simply feature new articles as they go live, thus 'highlighting' the newest content on your site.

If you don't update the content on your site all that often, you might just change features every week or two, just to keep the site looking fresh. If your site has more static content than dynamic content you may wish to feature information about your organization, rather than news. For example, you could feature your mission statement. Also, you may feel you do not need three feature positions in this case. You can contact Support to set your site to have one or two features instead of three. 

One thing to watch out for is an expired article that is a Front page or section feature. Featured articles always display, even when expired.

In conclusion, follow these simple rules when setting features:

1. Try to pick articles with an image
2. Pick articles which are interesting or 'breaking news'
3. Always change features whenever you have new content

If you are looking for information regarding how to change the Features on your site, please refer to the Help Center on your SOCS Toolbar for the Training Guides.