Creating an Article

Articles are the building blocks of newsletters, social media posts, email updates and websites in Hail. Creating articles is easy with Hail's streamlined workflow and formatting options.

1. Head to the Create section or to the Articles section in the main menu on the left-hand side of your Hail account.
2. In the Create section you can click Article then Create. Or why not try our Article via Hail Assist and let our Hail AI Assist create an article for you?
3. In the Articles section, you will be presented with the Article Library which lists your created articles by default in date order. You can view these in either a grid or list view and filter by latest, status, member and tags.
4. Simply click on ‘+ Article’ at the top.

5. You’ll find yourself on a blank Draft article and all you need to do is start filling it in. 

   

6. The first section will allow you to select your article's feature or 'hero' image. You can select an image or video that has already been uploaded into Hail, or add a new image or video directly into the article. Top Tip: Don't have an image that works? Import a free stock image
7. To add your feature or 'hero' image or video, navigate to ‘Add Image or Video’ and underneath you’ll be presented with two icons: one to add an image and one to add a video. Click on the left-hand image icon to open the image browser where you can select your image and add it with the ’Save' button. Add a new image by clicking the + Image or clicking Stock Images to add a free stock image. Add a new video by clicking + Video and adding the YouTube/Vimeo link.
8. Under the feature image or video is the first empty text block for the Article Title. As indicated by the large placeholder text, the title is used 'to draw attention to your article’. Simply click into this section and begin typing. For example: Get Ready for the Outdoor Retreat, then click the Save button.
9. Next click into and type your Article Lead. This is the article's introductory, or leading sentence. An effective lead is a brief, sharp statement of the article's essential facts and is ideally 20–25 words in length. For example: Read all about next week’s retreat and what you should be bringing with you.
10. The main section of your story should be added to the Article Body section. For the above retreat example this is where you’d add all the details such as: leaving and returning dates, emergency contacts, wet weather/postponement arrangements and the list of items for individuals to pack. In the Article Body section you can format the text with headers, bold, italics, emojis, links, lists, quotes and tables by simply clicking any of the formatting options in the top bar in the Article Body, or by highlighting the text you wish to format and choosing from the green buttons that appear. You can also add images and videos to the body of your article. See here for more information on Formatting your Hail content.
11. Adding images and videos in the body of your article is as easy as you'd wish for: Simply click the image or video icon from the formatting options across the top of your Article Body, select which media you'd like, resize if necessary and voilà!
12. Great! Now your information has been correctly entered into the three text sections: Title, Lead and Body. Getting used to dividing your text into these sections will make all the difference later and means your article is correctly formatted for all future uses and will display beautifully wherever it’s published.
13. You can also add photos or videos to the gallery, these will appear at the bottom of an article and are useful for when you have a lot of images from an event etc.
14. You can attach documents to articles, which will be displayed at the bottom of your text and above any photo galleries when published. The following file types are accepted: Microsoft Word, Excel, Powerpoint, PDFs and MP3s.