Newsagent

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Newsagent
Newsagent Logo.png
Author Chris Page
Contact Support
Repository github
Issue tracker github
OS Neutral (web based)
Will not work with IE8 or older
URL Newsagent
Navigation

Newsagent is an advanced publication, syndication, and distribution platform designed to allow users to create and distribute announcements, news, information, or newsletters. Newsagent provides a simple web-based interface that requires minimal training to use, and it has been used successfully within the Department of Computer Science since September 2013.

Some of Newsagent's key features are:

  • A web-based interface that allows authorised users to create articles, and place those articles into feeds or newsletters. Articles are formatted text, entered through a WYSIWYG editor, and they can be news stories, announcements, event reminders, or anything else you want to communicate!
  • Articles are always added to one or more Newsagent feeds, and these feeds can be syndicated anywhere in the world. Anyone with an RSS reader can ask for the contents of any feed - or combination of feeds - and feeds can be embedded in web pages to provide automatically updated lists of stories (the Department of CS website uses this feature extensively to allow staff to publish news stories on the website without having to go through the CMS).
  • The feed system includes a unique 'visibility level' mechanism that gives users a means of specifying where an article in a given feed may appear.
  • Articles may be distributed to groups of individuals via email, posted to Twitter, or sent via other delivery mechanisms; the system is highly modular and extensible, so additional delivery mechanisms can be added at any time.
  • Articles can have images associated with them. Users can be given permission to upload images to the server, or they can be constrained to select from a gallery of already available, previously uploaded images.
  • Articles may be published immediately, or scheduled to be published at a user-specified time.
  • Multiple users can collaborate to produce Newsletters. Each user can create articles and add them to the newsletter, and newsletter managers have full control over the layout of articles within a newsletter.
  • Newsletters can either be published manually - Newsletter Managers press a button to publish the newsletter - or they can be set up to publish automatically.
  • A powerful and flexible permission system allows fine-grained control over the features any given user may use, and authentication can be done using central university accounts, internal accounts, a variety of other mechanisms, or a mix.
  • An integrated "Tell Us" system allows anyone with a login to submit information about news, events, or announcements for review. This information is not published directly, but it can be used as the basis of new articles by editorial staff, allowing them to edit and publish the information in the feeds or newsletters they deem appropriate.
  • An import mechanism is available, allowing Newsagent to automatically import and distribute articles from other systems.
  • Articles, along with their edit histories, are stored permanently for future reference and auditing.

Authors

  • gravatar Mbasscp2 [userbureaucratcomp23420editorhandbook-editinterface-adminlabhelpstaff-editsysopPHRhYmxlIGNsYXNzPSJ0d3BvcHVwIj48dHI+PHRkIGNsYXNzPSJ0d3BvcHVwLWVudHJ5dGl0bGUiPkdyb3Vwczo8L3RkPjx0ZD51c2VyPGJyIC8+YnVyZWF1Y3JhdDxiciAvPmNvbXAyMzQyMDxiciAvPmVkaXRvcjxiciAvPmhhbmRib29rLWVkaXQ8YnIgLz5pbnRlcmZhY2UtYWRtaW48YnIgLz5sYWJoZWxwPGJyIC8+c3RhZmYtZWRpdDxiciAvPnN5c29wPGJyIC8+PC90ZD48L3RyPjwvdGFibGU+]