Story List

This post describes the Story List page that was released in September 2022. You can find an overview of our ongoing relaunch activities, which will lead to a complete redesign of the user interface, in this blog post.

Update October 2023: Undated Stories were merged into the Story list!

The new Story List is an important step in the complete overhaul of Desk-Net's user interface.

This post describes the features of the Story List and gives an outlook on some additional improvements that will be implemented in the future.

Who should use this page?

Many different users can benefit from the Story List.

This is a vibrant and flexible page for coordinators of day-to-day content planning - be it for digital or for printed content.

With customizable date ranges, the Story List can be used for daily and long-term content planning.

What's new?

Flexible columns

Need to see less or more data? You can decide for yourself what columns you want to look at and in which order they should be.

Click on the settings wheel in the top right corner of the table to select the columns you want to see. Then drag and drop the columns as needed.

It is also possible to display custom fields in the list.

Customizable list grouping

With the redesign of Desk-Net we are making all pages significantly more flexible.

When it comes to groupings on the new Story List page, you can now define the grouping of your stories based on multiple criteria. A secondary grouping is also possible.

Example: Group the list primarily by status, and then by a custom field (e.g. User Needs).

You can edit the grouping via the grouping symbol in the header of the page.

Per group we show the number of stories and clicking on the group heading expands or collapses them.

More filter options

There are significantly more options to filter the lists than on other pages.

The group and platform filters can be accessed via the menus in the top right corner and all other filters are listed in the Filters menu. Setting and removing these filters is very easy.

Below are just a few notable changes and special filtering options that are available on the Story List:

• Better filtering by groups
  This is a major in the way Desk-Net filters by groups (and platforms).
  On other pages the group and platform filters are OR connected. A story is displayed if it is assigned to a selected group or one of the selected platforms. 
  On the Story List it is possible to filter the lists to definitely only show stories related to the selected groups. Important: This means that when you switch to the Story List from another page, you may see fewer stories than before. To see all stories regardless of the groups they are associated with, select the "Deselect all" option in the Group filter. With this setting, you will see stories that are associated with any or no group.
• Filter for the next few issues
  In the date range filter (top left corner) you find the usual date range options such as Day or Month. 
  However, especially those working for printed magazines or similar publications with a non-daily publication frequency, such a date range can be quite useless.
  Desk-Net now provides you with the option to have a certain number of issues displayed.
  Example: You coordinate content for a weekly newsletter. Set the filter to 3 Days/Issues and you will always see the content for the next three issues.
• Use custom fields to filter
  Custom fields allow you to enter your own fields such as a single select menu.
  On the Story List, you can do more than just display these fields; you can also filter and group your stories by them.
• Filter by platform type
  Stories can also be filtered by platform types.

Sorting options

Similar to filtering, we have a large number of sorting options.

A special feature is the option to sort a story list manually:

• Select “Manual” from the sorting menu
• Drag and drop stories up and down as needed.

Note that this sorting option only is available when the list displays one platform for one single day (or issue).

Colors!

Many users have been asking for colors and the story list has lots of them – if you want to.

• Platforms and categories can now be assigned colors.
  
  
  
• Colors can be assigned to the single and multiple select custom fields as well.
  

These colors can be set by admins on the Platforms and the Custom Fields pages.

Please note that these new color options are currently only displayed on the Story List. Once the other pages have been released they will also feature these colors.

Direct editability

Every field in the list can be edited without having to enter the detailed entry form. Simply click on a field, edit as needed, and you are done.

And we know that many of you work in the high-speed environment of a newsroom.

For two often-used actions we have therefore implemented shortcuts:

• Move publication dates with one click
  Often you just need to move the publication date forward by one day or one issue. Hover over the date and a small arrow appears. With a click on it you move the story to the next date.
  If the story is assigned to multiple platforms a widget will ask you how to proceed with the other publication dates.
  
  
  
• Edit publication time (slots) with a single click
  And in an almost identical way you can move the publication time or time slot back by one hour or to the next slot with a single click.

List and story actions

Download, email or print the story list

As part of the redesign we will also consolidate and harmonize actions such as the Download or Email Story List feature. On the Story List and on the Topics pages you can now access them via the … icon in the top right corner.

Saving the view

The link to save a view can also be found in the three-dot icon menu.

Opening an entire story

If you want to access the entire story hover over the slug or the description and click on the arrow icon.

Copying, deleting or emailing a story

The three dot icon in the top right corner of the description field allows you to see who has created and edited the story. And the widget provides you with access to these actions: Open for editing, copy, delete or email the story.

Update October 2023: Undated Stories were merged into the Story List!

The formerly separate page Undated Stories was merged into the Story List. This allows you to review and manage both scheduled and undated stories with the multiple grouping, filtering, and sorting options available on the Story List.

And this is how it works:

In the top left-hand corner, you have the option to display only undated stories, only stories with a set publication date, or both at the same time.

You can also choose to show or hide stories with no assigned platform.

And there is more to come

You can soon expect the following changes:

• Even more filtering and sorting options (e.g. sort by creation date/time of a story)
• Upload of files straight from Google Drive, Dropbox or OneDrive/Sharepoint.
• New Events and Location columns
• A new column for displaying attachments and the possibility to upload attachments to a story via drag & drop.