Story List

This post describes the new Story List page that has replaced the Long-term Planning page 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.

The new Story List is the next step of the complete overhaul of Desk-Net’s user interface.

This post describes the new features and gives an outlook on some additional improvements that will be implemented within a few weeks.

Who should use this page?

We changed the name of the page from Long-term Planning to Story List to reflect the fact that many more users will benefit from this page.

You can still use the list to review content plans for up to a year on one page.

However, we have done our best to turn this page into a vibrant page for coordinators of a daily flow of content – be it for digital or for print.

What's new?

Flexible columns

Need to see less or more data? You can now 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 now possible to see custom fields in the list.

Customizable list grouping

The Long Term Planning page has been grouped by release date. 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 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 now significantly more options to filter the lists.

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 the filters has become a lot easier now.

Below are just a few notable changes and special filtering options that are now available:

• Better filtering by groups
  This is a major change to how Desk-Net filters by groups (and platforms).
  Previously the group and platforms filter were OR connected. A story would be displayed if it was assigned to a selected group or one of the selected platforms. 
  It is now possible to filter the lists to definitely only show stories related to the selected groups. Important: This means that you might see less stories than before with saved views that were created on the Long-term planning page. In order to show all stories independent on the groups they are associated with please choose the option "Deselect all" in the group filter option. Like that 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 option 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 field such as a single-select menu.
  With the relaunch we don't just display those fields in the list. You can use them to filter by them.
• Filter by platform type
  The story lists can now also be filtered by types.

Sorting options

Similar to filtering we have greatly increased the number of sorting options.

It is now also possible 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 us 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 just displayed on the Story List. Once the other pages have been released they will also feature these colors.

Direct editability

Just about every field in the list can now be edited without having to enter the detailed entry form. Just click on a field, edit it as needed, 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 are also consolidating and harmonizing the actions such as the Download or Email Story List feature. You can now access them via the … icon in the top right corner.

Saving the view

The link to save a view has also been moved into 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.

And there is more to come

The above-mentioned changes are part of the first version of the new Story List. 

Within a few weeks, maximum a few months you can expect these changes:

• Even more filtering and sorting options (e.g. sort by creation date/time of a story)
• The currently separate page Undated Stories will be merged into the Story List. This will allow you to review and manage both scheduled and undated stories.
• Upload of files straight from Google Drive, Dropbox or OneDrive/Sharepoint.