Recent updates, September 2011: SEO fields, Gazette 12px variants, other enhancements
A number of miscellaneous additions this time around.
SEO fields: HTML Title and meta description
We've added a couple of SEO-related fields to site pages. These are the HTML title and the meta description fields. The HTML title field allows users to override and specify the html title of a page (which is also the title shown in the browser window). The meta description field allows users to specify a meta description tag in the html header of a page.
These two properties of web pages are often used for SEO (search engine optimisation) purposes and advanced users may find them useful. If you don't know what this is, then just leave these fields blank.
To access these fields, edit a page, and then click on and expand the SEO fieldset near the bottom of the form.
These SEO fields are only available for sites on Professional or higher plans.
Google search, Search box placeholder text
We've made a couple of improvements to the search feature of ProsePoint Express.
Firstly, Google search has been added. This allows visitors to use Google to search your ProsePoint Express site. However, visitors are redirected to Google and the search takes place on Google.
(Conducting a Google search on-site requires Google Custom Search which is something we'd also like to eventually implement. If you have signed up to Google Custom Search and you'd like to use it on your ProsePoint Express site, please contact us and we'd like to help.)
Secondly, we have added a placeholder property. This is a sentence like 'Search this site' which appears greyed-out in the search box, but is replaced by a visitor's search terms.
To enable either of these two features, just configure your search widget or edit your search page.
Gazette in 12px font
We have created a variant of the default Gazette theme which uses 12px font. This was after recently becoming aware that some users prefer a smaller font size for their site. The sizing for headings and all other larger text was re-calibrated to suit.
To try out Gazette in 12px, just click on Settings » Change theme in the Control Menu of your site.
Keyword widgets
We have recently added keyword widgets. Keyword widgets are like channel widgets (and have the same display settings), but they display stories that match one or more keyword(s). This offers a different way of organising and presenting stories into groups (somewhat similar to the frontpage of the Economist).
Conceptually, this features allows for impromptu 'mini-channels'. Stories are listed due to being similar in some way (as defined by common keywords), but there is no need to create a dedicated channel each time.
Keyword widgets are an advanced feature which most sites may not need, but they are a useful and complementary navigational aid.
Status site
Finally, we have added a mini website to track status updates and downtime for ProsePoint Express. If ProsePoint Express is down for scheduled maintenance or due to an unexpected outage, it will be logged on the status site. The web address is:
The status site is hosted on separate infrastructure so it is independent of the main website and service.
More to come ...
As before (and probably for a long time to come), we are continually adding new features and improving upon ProsePoint Express. If there is a new feature you need, or you can't think of how to achieve something with your site, please drop us a line and see if we have any ideas.
Thanks for reading and have a good day.