Creating a News Article in the Cascade CMS

Create Your News Article 

1. Log in to Cascade and navigate to your site’s news folder, then to the appropriate year, then to the current month folder.
   /your-site/news/2026/05

2. Click on the View Folder arrow > to the right of the month folder to enter that folder.
   This sets the Placement Folder correctly. 

3. At the top of the window, click the pink +Add Content button.
   

4. Choose the News folder, then News Article. 

5. Page Name: Copy your news post’s full headline and paste it into the Page Name field, replacing “news-article.” When the red formatting warning appears, click on Use the suggested name.

6. Verify the Placement folder is correct. /your-site/news/2026/05

7. Add a brief summary in the Summary field.

8. Don’t change the Start Date.* The Start Date is the date that the news post is published.

9. Select one or more from the Category/Subject list. Learn more about Categories and Subjects.

10. Add the news text (and any images) in the Content Row.

11. Preview the post. If it looks good, submit the new post. Or continue editing.

Quick Explanation of Fields

• Page Name: This must be changed (see above).

• Placement Folder: If this is not your site’s news/year/month folder, change the selection so it’s in the right place. For example, a Digital Team news post made in May 2026 would be in /digital/news/2026/05.

• Display Name: The actual headline of your news article. Use title case, but do not use all-caps. 

• Description (summary): Always include a short summary of the news post (don’t simply repeat the title). This text only appears on your main News page and in search results. It does not appear when viewing the news post itself.

• *Start Date: This defaults to the current date and time. It’s best to leave it alone (unless you need the news to only go live on a particular day and time).

• Category/Subject: At least one must be selected, but multiple categories can be chosen.  

Page Element Details

Page Name

Replace the default “news-article” with the full headline of your news article. Then click outside of the field. When you do, Cascade will alert you that it does not meet the requirements—click on Use the suggested name.

• The Page Name becomes part of the news item’s URL. Using the full headline is great for keywords and increases the post’s ranking in search results. (Neglecting this step leaves your only keywords as “news” and “article,” which won’t be much help at all.)

Placement Folder

The location of your news item on the site. When creating news items, be sure you place them in the correct folder location: within your site, and in the year and month that the post is published. Cascade defaults to your current folder location, so double-check that it’s correct.

• Tip: Navigate to the correct Placement Folder before you click the “Add Content” button to take care of this step.

Display Name

The news item’s headline (appears at the very top of the article).

Title

Optional. Use it only if you want the headline to read differently when the article is being viewed. Anything in the Title field overrides the news item’s headline when reading the page. If there is no difference, leave the field blank.

Description (summary)

This is not for the article’s full text.

Always include a short summary of the story, expanding upon the headline without repeating it. This appears on your site’s main News page, in search results, and for social media shares. This text does not appear in the news post, but it will appear on your main News page. More about writing a summary.

Author

Optional; displays the name of the author of the news item.

Start Date

It’s best to leave this alone. This defaults to the date you are creating the news item. But if you want to create something to be published in the future, you can adjust the date accordingly. The news item will need to be submitted into workflow and published before the listed Start Date.

Category

Select one or more categories for the news item. The categories are universal across all news feeds on our site. They create a filtered list of news, either from a single news feed or from across the site. For example, if your news item is about Homecoming, add the “Homecoming” category to have it included in a custom filtered list with news about Homecoming. If none of the existing categories apply, choose None. Learn more about how to use news categories. 

Top Content

Optional: This section is for adding a full-width image, carousel, or video across the top of your page or news item. 

Content Row, News Item

This is the body of your news item. You can include rich text, images, links, styled content, and more.

There is an additional row option to “Add a Right Column Callout.” This adds a pre-formatted callout box to the right of your news item. This field accepts rich text or images, but keep in mind it is a one-third-width box in most views and full-width on small and mobile devices.

If needed, you can also click the green plus sign to the right to add a new content row.

Other optional areas

Thumbnail Image

Each news item can have a custom thumbnail image that will appear with the title and summary in the news listing and when shared on social media. If your news item does not have an accompanying image, the system will use the default image (the IUP logo).

Social Media Sharing Metadata

News articles and pages include the ability to have custom social sharing information added to the page. That means that if someone shares your page or news item on Facebook, Twitter, or other social platforms, it will use that information in the post. (Each platform is a little different, and if an image or other selection does not meet their criteria, it may not use your selected options and default to something else.)

Custom Image (for social media)

If your page or news item has an image in it, you can just select that image by checking the box for Custom Image. Browse to the image you uploaded and/or used in your page or news item. You can also opt to use a different image for social. The recommended size for social sharing varies by platform, but generally is 1200px wide by about 630px tall. (Note: our recommended in-page image size is 737 or 750 pixels wide.) It is suggested you add the 1200px size for a social sharing image. If you don’t have that available, you can use the smaller image. But that may result in a platform not using the designated image you selected. Be sure to add the alt text for the image as well.

Custom Description (for social media)

By default, the page or news item’s summary will be included in the social sharing code. But you can choose to use a different one for social media. Check the box for Custom Description and add a short, custom description.

Twitter Card Type

You can designate what kind of Twitter Card to use when your page or news item is shared to X (formerly Twitter).

• Summary: You only need to add the appropriate X username. Unless you have a separate account, you should use “iupedu”.

• Summary Card with Large Image: Adds the image you designated in Custom Image. Add the X username. Unless you have a separate account, you should use “iupedu”.

• Player Card: For use when designating a video. Reach out to the Digital Team if you are interested in using this feature.

Full Width Banner

This is an admin section and can be ignored.

ShareThis Buttons

This is an admin section and can be ignored.