For the fastest response, please contact Engineering on the #engineering Slack channel. For non-urgent questions or suggestions, please email engineers@texastribune.org.
The Message Bar Configurator gives you the ability to create website banners. It puts your message as the highest priority content at that moment--it uses GA/GTM tags so you know if it's working.
(1) Which style of banner to use? Click through the template list to see all styles. Select one and then click PREVIEW to see a live example.
(2) What are the start and end dates and times for your banner? It's like setting an alarm; the message bar will start and stop showing up on the site when you tell it to. It will use timezones, unless you select SIMULCAST.
(3) Do I need SIMULCAST? For breaking news, yes; for other types of messages, probably not.
(4) Main text for your banner? Every word is important, make it concise.
(5) Button text and link are critical. Pick your button words to match your message. The tool will ive validate the URL(s) you enter.
The preview is built from the form settings. The MB appears here as it will appear on the site. You can't break anything with preview. It doesn't save anything to the CMS by itself. The tool is an isolated space, your own sandbox.
Please refer to the USER GUIDE.
To deploy the message bar, the copied block above should be pasted into the message-bar-here flat block. For details and help please see GET STARTED above and the USER GUIDE.