Our end of February update focuses on the ability to add value propositions to a few key pages to encourage users to become subscribers, along with some new text-only block variations. 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.
Value Propositions
- You can now add a custom value proposition to your Login page, your Products page, and your Product Group page (if applicable) to encourage prospective subscribers to subscribe to your site.
- We recommend not adding links to these areas to encourage users to stay within the login or checkout flow as intended.
Lede Lite
- We have added text-only (Lede Lite) variations of three popular Homepage blocks:
- Featured Post
- Post Grid
- Post River
- Featured Post
- Post Grid
- Post River
- In your WordPress Homepage Editor, toggle the “Lede Lite” setting on any of these three blocks for a text-only view (no featured image thumbnail and no byline avatars).
- Consider adding a Lede Lite block to add some variation to your Homepage.
- Coming Soon: Lede Lite for the Featured Topics block!
UX Improvements
- Global Background Color: You can now set a background color across your site in Light Mode. The default color is white (no background color). If you set a background color, ensure it stands out against dark text to ensure readability for your users.
- To set a background color: WordPress Admin > Lede > Brand Appearance > Colors > Global Background Color Hex
- To set a background color: WordPress Admin > Lede > Brand Appearance > Colors > Global Background Color Hex
- Featured Topics Block: You can add a link to the optional Title in this block. Highlight the text and click the link icon in the formatting menu which appears.
- Registration Wall & Paywall: If you have set the Blocks to Preview for your registration wall and/or paywall to 0, an overlay will now appear when a user reaches the hard registration wall/paywall and the subtitle text will change to encourage the user to Register/Subscribe, along with the name of the article.
- Archive Pages: The number of posts can now be adjusted on various archive pages including /all, /author, /category, and /tag pages. The default number of posts is 10.
- To adjust the number of posts: WordPress Admin > Settings > Reading > Blog pages show at most: adjust the number here > Save Changes
- To adjust the number of posts: WordPress Admin > Settings > Reading > Blog pages show at most: adjust the number here > Save Changes
- Payment Flows: We’ve changed the text on buttons in all payment flows from “Check Out” to “Continue”.
- Note: We are monitoring the impact of this change on conversion rates over the next few weeks.
- Note: We are monitoring the impact of this change on conversion rates over the next few weeks.
Freshdesk Updates
- Converting User Emails to Paying Subscribers: Added suggestions for using coupon codes to drive conversions.
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.
- Long commenter names in minimized comments no longer run over the edge of the commenting box.
- Optional titles in the Featured Topics blocks no longer reappear after being deleted.
- The /all page on your site which contains your most recent posts, no longer has a “Previous” button displaying erroneously at the bottom of the first page.
- Twitter/X icon no longer displays on /author pages if no handle is present.