Posted by: Lorraine Young
Wednesday, August 20, 2008 5:51 PM 

The Announcements module is one of the original DotNetNuke modules which on the surface appears to offer much the same functionality as when it was originally created. However the latest versions have a new settings that provide great control over the history of items displayed, the length of search and RSS description as well as the layout of each record through the use of templates. This blog post looks at customizing your Announcements using these templates and provides access to download four different templates.

Through the use of simple HTML templates, Page Editors can display announcements in many different ways. Some of the ways to change the layout include hiding or displaying one or more fields (these are the title, date, description, image and link), changing the order of announcement fields, changing the table layout, using a different layout for alternate records, applying style sheet classes to fields or hard coding font formats, styles, sizes and colors.

To make use of this great feature, simply create your first set of announcements then use the Add Existing Module function to display the module on a new page and modify the template on this second page. You can then do this on a third, fourth, fifth page as you like. Alternatively, you can use the Display Module On All Pages? function and modify the template used on one or more pages.

Here are some examples of the Announcements module with different templates applied:

Template One: In this variation the link isn't displayed as 'Read more...' link instead the [MORE] token is applied to both the image and the title, setting these fields to open the selected link. A simple horizontal rule is used as the Separator Template. I like to use this template with the container hidden.

Template Two: This variation is very similar to the default template provided with the Announcements module. A few changes have been made to the styles applied to the announcements however the layout is almost the same as the default template.

Template Three: This variation looks like the Banners module. It has all of the fields removed apart from the image which is linked using the [more] token. Again this template looks good without a container.

Template Four: This variation presents a compact rendering of Announcements and the Image has been removed from the template.

Registered users can download the HTML for each of these Announcement Templates from the Downloads page of my DNNangel.com  website.

(Shared blog post with www.DNNangel.com)

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