Academy District 20 CommCenter

# Messages

Effective digital communication follows the same core principles of regular communication. For message composition, it means following the message format.

# The Many Forms of Messages

A message can be the primary content of an interior page, a Feature Story or Announcement, or be configured as a Notification. The central concept of a message is that it is communicating about a single topic. It is useful to understand this cross functionality as the same editor will be used to construct and edit this verbiage, no matter where it's used.

# Message Structure

Messages consist of a Title, Summary and Details. Message structure is important because a message can be presented in many formats, like a feed, when a reader may only see the title and overview, or an entire page, where a reader can see the entire message.

To create a message, the Title, Summary and Details are all required elements.

# Title

The title should be no more than a few words and should be descriptive of the topic you are trying to communicate about.

# Summary

The summary should be no more than three sentences. It should convey generally what will be covered in detail in the body, and it should encourage readers to read more.

# Details

The details are where you describe the topic more fully. There is no length requirement and it can have hyperlinks within the text.

# Message Properties

Messages can have images, links and videos.

# Message Categories

Adding a category to a message helps us keep track of the topics they are about. Categories can also determine which feeds a message shows up in on a website.

Links, images and videos are associated with their specific message(s).

There are three types of links associated with a message.

  • A list of related links (default)
  • A call to action which encourages the reader to take an action
  • Links that appear in the body of the message.

# Images

Images can be added to a message. Multiple images will result in an image gallery.

# Videos

Videos can be added to a message. A message can have multiple videos. The message references a link to the video which is hosed on various video platforms like YouTube, Vimeo and MyVRSpot.

# Writing a Message

  • Consider your audience and the purpose of communication; is your website appropriate for the type of message you are sending?

  • Use plain English. Avoid acronyms. If you need to use an acronym, make sure you use the acronym’s unabbreviated name the first time you use it.

  • Use an active voice. Speak directly to your audience in a conversational tone.

  • Use proper formatting.

# How-To

For specifics on how to create or edit a message, see the CommCenter tab at the upper right.

⟵ Announcements ⟶