Introduction

This guide is for administrators and editors of Digital Commons Journals that use the Modern Journal Design. The modern interface includes an easy-to-manage, customizable homepage that seamlessly displays content from your DC classic journal.

You can edit several aspects of how homepage sections appear to visitors. In addition, you can edit navigation menus and create custom pages to share information about the journal.

The homepage and any custom information pages you create will display the Modern Journal Design during this early design phase, with article pages to follow soon. In the meantime, links lead to article and issue pages in the DC classic journal.

How to Reach Your Homepage

Once your homepage goes live and replaces your classic landing page, you can reach it at the regular URL for the journal.

Prior to the redirect from your classic journal, you can reach the Modern Journal homepage at the URL provided by your consultant or by including “/fe-journals” in the URL of your DC classic journal, as shown in this example:

A profile avatar will display in the navigation bar if you are currently logged in, and you can begin using the homepage settings described below. If a Log In link appears in the navigation bar instead, click that link to go to the DC classic login page; you will be returned to the homepage after you log in.

Homepage Sections

The sections of your journal homepage allow you to: 

• Turn each section on or off.
• Change section titles.
• Add introductory text.
• Add a cover image in the Current Issue section.
• Curate content cards and images in the Featured Content section.

Below are descriptions of each homepage section and the available settings for that section.

Introductory Text and Current Issue

The top of the homepage contains both current issue information and any introductory text that you have added. If intro text is present, it will display to the left of the current issue.

The Current Issue section provides a “View issue” link that goes to the homepage of the DC classic journal where the current issue appears. An optional cover image will display if you upload one in the section settings.

To edit the Introductory Text and/or the Current Issue:

1. Click Admin in the top navigation bar while logged in to reach the Page listing screen.
2. On the Page listing screen, find the page marked with a “Homepage” tag and click either the page title or the Edit draft link.
3. At the top of the homepage settings, use the Intro Text editor to add or change the journal's introductory text. Text formatting options include headings and links.
4. Scroll down to make any changes to the Current Issue section.
   • The heading for the section will read “Current Issue” by default. Enter text in the Section subheading field if you wish to customize it.
   • Upload Current Issue Cover art from your computer, if desired, by browsing for or dragging a file.
5. To hide or show the whole section, click the Hide section toggle button at the top right.
6. Click Publish to save and display the changes.

Featured Content

This section displays article cards for the two most recently published articles by default. You can customize which articles appear here and add images to the cards, if desired. Visitors can click the article titles or the Read More links to view the article pages in the DC classic journal.

Default display with article cards:

Populated with images and custom article choices:

To edit the Featured Content section:

1. Click the Edit mode toggle in the top navigation bar to turn it on, if it is not already enabled.
2. Click Edit Section on the right of the Featured Content section to open the settings window, pictured below:
3. In the Featured Content settings, you can:
   • Use the Show this section toggle to show or hide the section. When the section is turned off, it will no longer display publicly; a placeholder block and status message will appear only to administrators and editors.
   • Edit the text in the Section heading field to customize the section title.
   • Use the Card 1 and Card 2 options to display images behind the article cards. Upload images for both cards to ensure proper display.
   • Change the article shown in a card by typing or pasting a different article’s URL in the Enter article URL field. Enter an article URL from your DC classic journal and click Validate to confirm the article is successfully linked.
4. Click Save Changes when finished.

Current Articles

The Current Articles section features the content from the most recent issue published in your DC classic journal. Clicking an article title goes to the classic article page.

Articles appear in ascending order based on the published article numbers. If issues in your classic journal display document type headings, these will be pre-populated by Consulting Services when setting up your Modern Journal homepage. When document types are present, the page sorts by document type and then by ascending order. Visitors can click the arrows to expand or collapse each document type and its associated articles.

To edit the Current Articles section:

1. Click the Edit mode toggle in the top navigation bar to turn it on, if it is not already enabled.
2. Click Edit Section in the Current Articles section to open the settings window, pictured below:
3. In the Current Articles settings, you can:
   • Use the Show this section toggle to show or hide the section. When the section is turned off, it will no longer display publicly; a placeholder block and status message will appear only to administrators and editors.
   • Edit the text in the Section heading field to customize the section title.
4. Click Save Changes when done.

Most Popular Articles

The Most Popular Articles section displays a card grid with the top six most downloaded articles in the journal, based on total downloads. Visitors can click the article titles or the Read More links to view the articles in the DC classic journal.

To edit the Most Popular Articles section:

1. Click the Edit mode toggle in the top navigation bar to turn it on, if it is not already enabled.
2. Click Edit Section in the Most Popular Articles section to open the settings window, pictured below:
3. In the Most Popular Articles settings, you can:
   • Use the Show this section toggle to show or hide the section. When the section is turned off, it will no longer display publicly; a placeholder block and status message will appear only to administrators and editors.
   • Edit the text in the Section heading field to customize the section title.
4. Click Save Changes when done.

Readership Activity Map

A readership map can appear at the bottom of the homepage, with pin drops showing where journal downloads are occurring.

To access map settings and change heading text or map visibility:

1. When logged in, click the Admin link in the navigation bar.
   
2. On the Page listing screen, find the page marked with a “Homepage” tag and click either the page title or the Edit draft link.
   
3. Scroll down in the homepage settings to the map settings section. 
   • To customize the heading, which reads “Readership Activity” by default, edit the Section main header field.
   • To show the map, ensure the Hide section toggle is switched off to the left; switch it to the right to hide the map. When hidden, the map preview below the toggle will be grayed out. 
4. Scroll up and click Publish to display map changes on the homepage.

Next Steps

Once you've made any changes to your homepage, see the instructions for how to customize your journal's navigation bar and information pages.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact Consulting Services.