Create a Story with a Flexible Layout

Learn About:

• Creating a Flexible Layout Story
  • What is Currently Supported with a Flexible Layout
  • What is Currently not Supported with a Flexible Layout
• Adding Content Blocks
• Resizing Content Blocks
• Rearranging Content Blocks
• Removing Content Blocks
• Content Block and Section Menu
  • Content Block
  • Section Menu
• Story Content Width
• Mobile Responsiveness

The Flexible Layout is a way to dynamically drag and drop, resize, and rearrange blocks when constructing your Story.

Creating a Flexible Layout Story

There are two options when creating a new Story: Classic Mode and Flexible Layout.

Classic Mode*: What you know Stories as today, they contain specific content block configurations, and templates, and offer a section toolbar to move and rearrange blocks within your Story.

Flexible Layout*: Drag and droppable blocks that may be resized or rearranged within your Story.  You are not limited to moving things via the section menu.

Important Notes

• Once you’ve chosen a layout mode for your Story, you cannot select a new one. If you decide at any point that you’d like to switch to either Classic or Flexible, you will need to create a new Story.
• If you create a new story with flexible layouts and remove all the blocks, it will automatically become a Story with Classic Mode.

Currently Supported with a Flexible Layout

You are able to do the following:

• Add a visualization to their Story

• Add a text block to their Story

• Add a Global Filar Bar block to their Story

• Drag and drop all blocks into their Story

• Drag and drop all blocks within a single section of a Story

• Resize media blocks within their Story

• Resizing text blocks within their Story

• Adding non-visualization media blocks to their Story, including:

  • Images

  • HTML Embeds

  • YouTube Embeds

  • Storytile Embeds

• Resizing non-Socrata Visualizations within media blocks in their Story, including:

  • Resizing Images

  • Resizing HTML Embeds

  • Resizing YouTube embeds

  • Resizing Story Tile Embeds

Currently Not Supported with a Flexible Layout

You will not be able to do the following:

• Adding an author block to their Story

• Adding a spacer or divider to their Story

• Adding a Table of Contents to their Story

• Using Templates in a Story using Flexible Layout

• Dragging and dropping blocks between sections

• Mobile responsiveness for Story layout

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Adding Content Blocks

To add blocks to the Story, click and drag one from the Content Block side panel and into your Story. You can also double-click a block and it will appear at the bottom of a Story in a new section.

Note: To get a text block above the global filter bar, double-click on the text box icon in the panel — this will add a new section with the text box in it.  Then, hover over the section and use the up arrow on the section menu to move it to the top of the page.

A media block is automatically added to any newly created Story so you can get started.

 

We’ve provided a handy guide for where the block will land as you drag it around the Story.

Blocks will rearrange based on where you drag and drop other blocks.

You can copy blocks while using a flexible layout, to learn more click here.

Resizing Content Blocks

Once placed in your Story, you can easily click and drag it to resize the block.

Click and drag the bottom right of a media block to resize it.

Click and drag the right side of a text block to resize it.

Blocks are resized based on a minimum height and width.

Rearranging Content Blocks

Rearrange blocks by clicking and dragging the top bar on a block.

Blocks will dynamically rearrange to optimize the overall layout. More specifically, we’ve optimized the layout for vertical compaction.

You can drag a new block from the Content Block side panel into a new section, but currently, you cannot drag existing blocks between sections.

 

Removing Content Blocks 

Use the trash icon to remove a block from your Story.

 

Content Block and Section Menus

Block menu

1. Remove a block by clicking on the trash icon.

2. Drag the block using the top menu bar to rearrange it in your story

3. Click the “Edit” button to change the content in the block.

4. Click the kebob to Swap, Copy, or Paste into a content block.

Section menu

Sections still have the same menu options, to learn more, click here.

Story Content Width

Content width options will remain the same as Classic Mode, to learn more, click here.

Story Layout Mobile Responsiveness

We have not implemented responsiveness for Stories using a flexible layout.