Create A Post

In this guide, we'll cover the following topics. Click on any one to jump ahead:

• What Is A Post?
• Create A New Post
• Edit The Post's Basic Details
• Add & Format The Text
• Add Buttons & Hyperlinks
• Add Scripture References
• Insert Images & Videos
• Add Topics
• Customize The Post's Color Theme
• Customize The Header Background
• Preview Your Post
• Publish Your Post Immediately
• Schedule Your Post To Publish (Or Unpublish) Later
• Save A Draft Before Publishing

What Is A Post?

A Post is a single entry or update for an event or ministry. (Think of them like a newsletter, blog post, or announcement for an event or ministry). With this being the case, every time you create a new Post, you will need to choose which of your Collections it belongs to so that only the correct people are notified that there is a new update, and for private posts, only the correct people can access them. Collections are a way of grouping your Posts together so that the relevant people can stay up to date with what's happening or coming up (like kids ministry volunteers, or men's ministry members, etc.)

You can learn more about creating and managing Collections here.

Create A New Post

1. Open the Posts app.

From your Nucleus Dashboard, click the Nucleus logo in the top left corner and select Posts from the dropdown menu.

2. Click + Create Post.

From your Posts page, click + Create Post.

3. Choose a starting place.

• Create your Post from scratch, or
• Create your Post using a template.

If starting from a template, select which template you wish to use. (Read through the titles and descriptions to aid in your decision.)

4. Create a Title.

Enter a title and then click Continue. (This title will show everywhere, not just behind the scenes as an admin in your Dashboard.)

5. Select an Author.

Click the down arrow to reveal the full list of Authors, or start typing an Author's name and select their name from the dropdown menu.

You can add multiple Authors, so once you've selected one Author, you can search for another one right after.

If an Author doesn't exist, you can click the option to Create a new Author.

Once you've added all appropriate Authors, then click Continue.

6. Select a Collection.

Click the down arrow to reveal the full list of Collections, or start typing a Collection's name and select the Collection from the dropdown menu.

Unlike Authors, you can only connect a Post to one Collection.

If the Collection doesn't exist, you can click the option to Create a new Collection.

Once you've selected a Collection, click Continue.

7. Add a date & time for the Post.

Type in a date in MM/DD/YYYY format or click on the Calendar Icon and select a date from the Calendar that appears.

Then type in a time for the Post. (Typically, the date & time for your Post will be when you first want your Post to go live.)

8. Create the Post.

After adding a date & time for your Post, click Create Post.

Now you can begin crafting the actual Post's contents, adding text, images, buttons, and more!

ORIGINAL ARTICLE BELOW

Creating a Post can be as quick as just a few clicks and clacks on the keyboard, or as thoughtful and long drawn out as you need your next letter/blog to your church congregation to be. Either way, creating a Post is very easy and is a great tool to use to for communicating both short and long form pieces of content to specific audiences within your church.

To get started, go to your Posts app in your Nucleus Dashboard. Click here for a quick link.

In this guide, we'll cover the following topics. Click on any one to jump ahead.

• But First, What Are Posts & Where Do They Live?
• Add A New Post
• Edit Your Post's Basic Info
• Craft Your Post's Content
• Customize The Look & Feel Of Your Post
• Preview, Publish, Save As Draft, Or Revert Changes

But First, What Are Posts & Where Do They Live?

Each Post is a single entry or update (think of them like a newsletter, blogpost, or even as simple as a short update for an event or ministry). With this being the case, every time you create a new Post you will need to choose which of your Collections it belongs to so that only the correct people are notified that there is a new update, and for private posts, only the correct people can access them. Collections are a way of grouping your Posts together so that the relevant people can stay up to date with what's happening or coming up (like kids ministry volunteers, or men's ministry members, etc.)

You can learn more about creating and managing Collections here.

Add A New Post

To create a new Post, while viewing your Posts Panel, click the + Create Post button.

Next, you can choose to either start your Post from an existing template or start from scratch.

Starting with a template, you'll see a selection of pre-made Posts revolving around common church ministries and usages. Just click on the one you would like to use.

Next, give your Post a name.

After clicking Continue, choose the Author for your Post. (You can add multiple Authors if it makes sense for a particular Post.)

Note: You will need to have previously added an Author under the Manage tab in Posts to have them show up in the dropdown menu. Your list of Leaders & Staff from within your People app will also appear here as potential authors.

Next, choose a Collection for your Post to belong to, or type in the title of the new Collection you would like to create and have your Post belong to.

Then, choose a date and time for your Post. These are primarily used for display and sorting, so we recommend choosing the day and time that you plan on Publishing your Post.

Press Create Post and you'll be able to craft your Post's content  🎉

Edit Your Post's Basic Info

When initially creating a Post, you will have added most of the Post's basic information already. You can always edit these details now or later.

While editing a Post, click the Edit Basic Info button.

Here, you can update the existing Title, Author, or Date, as well as enter in a Description of this particular Post.

You can also scroll down to add an image for your Post. This image will be used in the background for the header of your Post when someone views it on your website.

Once you're happy with your changes, click Close at the bottom.

Note: You do not need an image for a Post, but an image certainly helps to capture the attention of your audience when they're reading your new Post. You can choose to negate an image on a per-Post basis; however, if you don't want to have to create and upload a primary image for your Posts, you can turn off the image placeholder areas completely for all Posts, in favor of focusing on each Post's title and basic info instead. You can toggle this option on/off here in your Post Hub's settings.

Craft Your Post's Content

Once you've created your Post, you can now edit the content to make it your own and share the inspiration, information, or encouragement for your church, ministry, or team.

When it comes to the editor, there are plenty of options to ensure that your Post appears the way you would like. For instance, you can choose whether you want a subtitle for your Post. You can then scroll below to add the main content for your Post.

The editor has all of the expected tools. When it comes to text, you can Bold, Italicize, Underline or Strikethrough. You can also choose to Highlight portions of text.

You also can select the style of text you would like by using the dropdown to select the option you want: Headline, Paragraph, Label, or Quote.

Moving along the editor menu, you can hyperlink a section of text to any url by highlighting the text you want to hyperlink, then click the Link button and follow the prompts to select a Page, Sermon, Flow, etc. from within your Nucleus account, or paste in a url of your choosing.

If you want to add a button that people can click on (which is just a fancy form of a hyperlink), you can follow the exact same instructions above for creating a hyperlink:

1. Highlight text.
2. Click the Link button in the editor tools.
3. Choose what type of hyperlink and fill in the necessary details.
4. Select "Button" and choose which style of button.
5. Click Add.

Note: Button styles are controlled by button styles within Nucleus Web in your Web Design Panel here.

The next option in your Post editor is the option to add a Scripture Reference. (This button is the one with the cross on it). Simply click and follow the prompts to choose the version, book, chapter, and verse of the reference you would like to include.

The next two buttons allow you to add either an Image or a Video to your Post. Just click on the corresponding button and follow the prompts to either upload an image or link a video file.

The final few buttons allow you to adjust the appearance of your Post by adding a Line Break or Emoji, changing the Alignment of your text, and creating Bulleted or Numbered Lists.

And at the very end are the Undo and Redo buttons, which allow you to easily undo or redo changes that you just made.

Once you're done writing and formatting the content of your Post, scroll down to the very bottom and add one or more Topics to your Post. You can choose from the dropdown menu pre-existing Topics, or type to create a new one.

Customize The Look & Feel Of Your Post

Nucleus also allow you to make some customizations to how your Post appears. While editing a Post, select the Customize Display button.

First, you can adjust the color palette used for this particular Post.

Note: The color options you see displayed here are the ones you have selected in your website design settings. Colors are an overall design feature, so to update the colors for your website as a whole, you can do this be going to Web and choosing the Design tab here.

To adjust the background of your Post's header, click Background.

Here, you can adjust the image you may have already uploaded to your Post, upload a new one, or link a video to display in a looping fashion.

Below this, you can adjust the color palette for the header of your Post, which affects how your image or video will display.

For a full run through of using these background features, you can find that here.

Preview, Publish, Save As Draft, Or Revert Changes

Once you've finished writing your Post, and have it set up the way you think you would like it to be, the next step is to Preview it. Using the Preview button in the upper right hand corner will allow you to see your Post the way it will appear on your website to other people.

Make any adjustments you would like. Then once you're ready, click the Publish button in the upper right hand corner and choose either the option to publish immediately, or select the option to add a date and time in the future for when this page should be published.

If you pick the Choose Date & Time option you will also be given the option to select a date and time in the future for the Post to automatically unpublish.

Or if you're not quite ready to Publish your Post, you can save your Post as a draft by clicking the Exit button in the upper left hand corner and choose the Save & Close option.

What Next?

Now that you've got the basics of creating a Post down, you can learn some advanced options for your Post, as well as how to manage Collections, set up your Post Hub, and more!

• Adjust A Post's Advanced Options
• Add & Manage Collections, Authors & Topics
• Notify Subscribers Of New Posts
• Set Up Your Post Hub