Our end of April update focuses on ways to better highlight your content, including new featured image variants for articles and an enhanced view of the related posts block. Check out the full update below and reach out to us via Freshdesk if you have any questions or feedback. You can also check out past Lede platform updates.
Featured Image Variants for Articles
- There are four new featured image variants now available for articles:
- Full width with text above image
- Full width with text on image
- Full width with text under image
- Vertical with text to left of image
- Full width with text above image
- Full width with text on image
- Full width with text under image
- Vertical with text to left of image
Gift Articles
A new “Gift This Article” button is now available to paying subscribers when enabled. By default, this button will appear beneath the featured image (if present), inline with the Comment button (if available).
A new “Gift This Article” button is now available to paying subscribers when enabled. By default, this button will appear beneath the featured image (if present), inline with the Comment button (if available).
Beacon: Engagement by Device
- A new “Engagement by Device” report has been added to the Beacon Dashboard. This allows you to see a breakdown of what device users are viewing your site on – desktop, tablet, mobile. This also breaks out a separate category for “bots” (not real users), and this information will soon be removed from all reports by default to give a cleaner view of actual user engagement.
- To view this report, log into Beacon, navigate to the “Engagement” tab and click the “Devices” report in the left side menu.
- To view this report, log into Beacon, navigate to the “Engagement” tab and click the “Devices” report in the left side menu.
UX/General Improvements
- The top of articles have been revamped to better reflect common website practices that users have come to expect.
- By default, the byline & share buttons have been moved underneath the article title & before the featured image, if a featured image is present.
- If applicable, the Comment button has a new style and has been moved underneath the featured image (if present) instead of to the left of the post content.
- By default, the byline & share buttons have been moved underneath the article title & before the featured image, if a featured image is present.
- If applicable, the Comment button has a new style and has been moved underneath the featured image (if present) instead of to the left of the post content.
- The “dek” can now be hidden on post cards across the site so it only displays on single article pages. You can toggle this option on/off on a per post basis, using the checkbox underneath the Dek field in the Post Editor.
- The related post block is now more visually appealing and includes a thumbnail for the related post, in addition to the post’s headline.
- The Post Picker now includes Scheduled Posts so you can pre-curate a scheduled post into a particular post card on your homepage.
- Bluesky has been added as an option for social sharing on articles. To add this to your articles go to your WordPress Admin > Appearance > Customize > Social Profiles and Sharing > Social Sharing and select “Bluesky” from the list of options. You can reorder the social sharing buttons on articles by dragging and dropping them in the list. Click “Publish” at the top of the page when you’re done.
- Input fields (such as email, password, search) across the site have been standardized and now include clear placeholder text which switches to a label when text is entered to help guide the user to input the necessary information.
- Various behind-the-scenes plugins were updated on the platform and you may notice a bit of a facelift on many Lede Settings screens.
Bug Fixes
- Known Issues – Lede v2 is currently under regular development. This is a list of known issues and limitations of the platform, as of 2/13/24. If you encounter an issue not on the list, including any issues with individual subscribers, please contact us via Freshdesk.
- Copying gift link articles on iOS and Safari now works as expected.
- Google Ad Manager driven ads no longer appear on all account, login, and payment related pages.