When you pick a post from your site, the block fills in the story details for you and keeps them up to date when the post changes.

The HP Story Listing block is only available on pages that use the Default News Homepage template. To learn more about that template, see The News Homepage.

When to use it

Use the HP Story Listing block when you want to:

• Lead your news homepage with your top stories. For example, a college’s news page might feature a research breakthrough, a new faculty award and a student success story side by side.
• Give one big story the spotlight. Set the block to show one story, and it fills the full width of the page.

Hand-picked or automatic?

The strength of the HP Story Listing block is that you choose exactly which stories appear. That lets you decide what visitors see first, such as a major announcement, a story that supports a current campaign or a feature you want to keep in view for a few weeks.

If you’d rather have your homepage update on its own every time you publish, use the Posts Feed block instead. It always shows your newest posts.

Neither approach is right or wrong. Some sites like the control of choosing each story. Others prefer a homepage that stays fresh without anyone updating it. Pick the one that fits how often you publish and how much time you have to maintain your homepage. Some sites use both: an HP Story Listing block for top stories and a Posts Feed below it for everything else.

Before you start

• Use the Default News Homepage template. The block only appears in the block list on pages that use this template. To change a page’s template, open the page’s settings in the right sidebar and choose Default News Homepage.
• Turn on the Feature Pack. The HP Story Listing block is part of the Storytelling Feature Pack. If you can’t find it in the editor, ask your site administrator to turn it on under NC State Settings > Feature Packs. On that screen, it’s listed as HP Story/Article Listing Block.
• Complete the training. Starting with version 4.19 of the NC State Theme, site administrators can require the Storytelling on-demand training before you can add this pack’s blocks. See all On Demand Trainings.
• Have the NC State Pro Add-on. It’s a Pro block, so your site needs the Pro Add-on.

Each story needs all five of these, or it won’t appear on your page:

• A link
• An image
• A date
• A headline
• A teaser

The easiest way to get all five is to feature a post that already has a featured image and an excerpt. Add those to your posts before you start.

Adding the block

1. Open a page that uses the Default News Homepage template. If you can’t find the block in step 3, check the page’s template first.
2. Click the + (Add block) button.
3. Search for HP Story Listing. You can also search for “homepage” or “article listing.”
4. Click the block to add it to your page.
5. Open the Settings panel in the right sidebar and choose how many stories to show.

Setting up the block

Choosing the number of stories

In the Settings panel, pick an option under Number of Stories:

Setting	What it does
One	Shows a single story across the full width, with a larger headline.
Two	Shows two stories side by side.
Three	Shows three stories side by side. This is the default.

By default, each story fills in automatically from the post you choose. You can override any of the details if you want the homepage to say something different from the post.

Adding a label

At the top of the block, click Enter Label (optional) to add a short heading above the stories, such as “Top Stories” or “Recent News.” Leave it blank if you don’t need one.

Filling in each story

If you show two or three stories, the block has a button for each one: Left Story and Right Story, plus Middle Story when you show three. Click a button to edit that story. The text above the story tells you which one you’re working on, for example “Editing Left Story.”

The buttons also show your progress. A story’s button is red until the story has everything it needs, then it turns green.

To fill in a story from one of your posts:

1. Click in the link field (next to the chain-link icon).
2. Type at least two characters of the post’s title.
3. Choose the post from the list that appears.

The block fills in the post’s featured image, publish date, title and excerpt.

If something is missing, fill it in yourself:

• Image: Click Select Image to choose one from your Media Library. To swap an image, click Replace Image or click the image itself. The block asks for a 16:9 image (“Required 16:9 image (Suggested: 1500px x 844px)”). Images in other shapes are cropped to fit.
• Headline: Click Enter Headline and type.
• Teaser: Click Enter teaser text and type.

• Date: The date fills in from the post you choose. You can also change it yourself.

Keeping stories up to date

As long as you don’t change anything by hand, the block stays linked to the post. If you later edit the post’s title, excerpt or featured image, the block shows the new version on your live page automatically.

Once you change a story’s image, headline or teaser in the block, that story is no longer linked to the post. The block shows this message:

From then on, the story shows exactly what you entered, even if the post changes. To link it again, choose the post from the link field again. This replaces your changes with the post’s current details.

What visitors see

Visitors see your label (if you added one), then a row of stories. Each story shows:

• The image
• The publish date, for example “September 21, 2026”
• The headline
• The teaser, shortened to about 35 words, followed by an arrow

The whole story is one link, so visitors can click anywhere on it to read the full post. On smaller screens, the stories stack on top of each other.

If a story is missing any of its five pieces, it’s left out. If every story is left out, the label is hidden too, so you won’t end up with an empty heading.

Example: A college news page shows three stories. The communicator picks three recent posts that each have a featured image and an excerpt. One was published on Monday, September 21, 2026, so its date shows as “September 21, 2026.” A week later, a writer fixes a typo in that post’s title. The homepage updates on its own, because nobody changed that story by hand in the block.

Tips

• Write an excerpt for every post you might feature. The teaser comes from the post’s excerpt. If the post doesn’t have one, you’ll have to type a teaser, and the story will stop updating with the post.
• Set a 16:9 featured image. Wide images like 1500 x 844 pixels fit without awkward cropping. For more about image sizes and cropping, see Image Format, File Name and Size.
• Feature posts, not pages. The block fills in details from your site’s posts.
• Check the buttons before you save. If any Left Story, Middle Story or Right Story button is still red, that story won’t appear on your page.
• Fix posts at the source. To keep stories up to date, make changes on the post itself instead of typing over them in the block.

Frequently asked questions

Why isn’t one of my stories showing up on the live page?

Each story needs a link, image, date, headline and teaser. If any are missing, the story is left out. Click the story’s button in the editor. If it’s red, fill in whatever is empty.

Can I feature a story from another website?

Yes. Paste the story’s web address into the link field instead of choosing a post, then fill in the image, date, headline and teaser yourself. All five are required for the story to appear.

I changed the headline on my post, but the homepage still shows the old one. Why?

That story was probably changed by hand in the block, which unlinks it from the post. Select the story, look for the “This story has been locally modified” message, and choose the post again from the link field to relink it.

Why did the middle story disappear when I switched to two stories?

With two stories, the block shows the Left Story and Right Story only. The middle story is hidden, not deleted. Switch back to Three to see it again.