Widget Tag

++SHORTLINKS++

What It Does

The ++SHORTLINKS++ widget displays short-format links on the homepage and main section pages. The links appear in a compact format, displaying only the article headline and (if turned on in the widget settings) the thumbnail image for the article.

This widget combines with the ++SPOTLIGHT++ widget family and the ++LONGLINKS++ widget to display all article links on the homepage and main section pages.

The homepage and all main section pages have a pool of article links to be displayed. For the homepage, these are links to the most recent articles from all sections of the site. For the main section pages, they are links to the most recent articles from that section. These links are displayed in order by article publication date, with the most recent articles displayed first. (A few additional rules apply for spotlight articles; for details, see the ++SPOTLIGHT++ entry.)

These links are displayed in three sections, and each section of links has its own widget with its own display format. Each of these link widgets are filled in this order for each page:

• Spotlight article. The spotlight article is the top article on the site (for the homepage) or in the section (for main section pages). The link to this article may be displayed with any of these three widgets: ++SPOTLIGHT++, ++SPOTLIGHTTEXT++ and/or ++SPOTLIGHTIMAGE++. (You can prevent a main section from generating spotlight articles on its main section page by selecting the "Don't generate a spotlight article for this section" option in the section's Section Editor settings.)
• Long-format links. After the spotlight article, the next links in the page's link list are displayed in the ++LONGLINKS++ widget, which uses the long-format link display selected in the "Link Formats" panel of the site's widget settings.
• Short-format links. After the long-format links, the next links in the page's link list are displayed in the ++SHORTLINKS++ widget.

As a result, short-format links might be described as "secondary" links. They are the oldest links displayed on the page, and they are shown in an abbreviated format that calls less attention to them than the splashier display used for spotlight and long-format links.

The Markup Results

The ++SHORTLINKS++ markup takes one of two forms, depending on the following "Layout and design method" and "Page header" settings in your site's widget settings.

• Strict HTML or XHTML, or the CSS layout option is selected. The ++SHORTLINKS++ widget is generated as a series of block elements. Each link is in its own <div> tag.
• Non-strict HTML or XHTML. With non-strict markup, the ++SHORTLINKS++ widget is an inline element that is not enclosed by an HTML tag. Each link is separated by two <br> tags.

In both types of layout, if you have thumbnail images enabled for short-format links, you may encounter an alignment problem for html that follows the ++SHORTLINKS++ widget.

The alignment problem occurs when the text of the last link in the list is not long enough to "clear" a right-aligned or left-aligned thumbnail image. As a result, any html following the widget will try to flow around the thumbnail image, creating an effect you may not want. To address this, it is recommended that you follow the ++SHORTLINKS++ widget with a <div> block like so:

++SHORTLINKS++
<div style="clear:both">&nbsp;</div>

Templates Using This Widget

You can use the ++SHORTLINKS++ widget only in these templates:

• Homepage
• Main section page

(Use the ++INDEX++ widget is used to display all links for subsection index pages.)

Customizing This Widget

Users with webmaster or administrator accounts may customize this widget in the site's widget editor. To get there, click the "Widget Settings" link in the left-column menu of the Big Medium control panel. The following settings affect the ++SHORTLINKS++ widget:

• Homepage display: Number of short-format articles. This setting is located in the "Article Counts" section of the site's widget settings and determines the number of article links that appear in the ++SHORTLINKS++ widget for the homepage.
• Main section page display: Number of short-format articles. This setting is located in the "Article Counts" section of the site's widget settings and determines the number of article links that appear in the ++SHORTLINKS++ widget for each main section index page.
• Include thumbnail image with short-format links. This option in the "Link Formats" panel of the site's widget settings includes articles' thumbnail images in short-format links. You may select left, right or center alignment for thumbnail images from the "Alignment of thumbnail image" setting. The height and width attributes of thumbnail images may be set in the "Image Sizes" panel of the site's widget settings.
• Display edit icon/link alongside links to articles. This setting in the "One-Click Editing" panel of the widget settings adds the one-click editing link to all widgets that display links to articles, including ++SHORTLINKS++. The format of the link (icon, brief text, or both icon and brief text) can also be set in the "One-Click Editing" panel.

For information about preventing news articles from appearing in the ++SHORTLINKS++ widget, see the ++HOMEPAGENEWS++ and ++TOPNEWS++ entries.

Styles

The article links in the ++SHORTLINKS++ widget are displayed in the "Headline Links" style.

Need more help?

For further assistance and documentation, visit the website of Global Moxie, the developer behind Big Medium.