We are thrilled to announce several new features being released in BLOX Now app 3.0. Designed to make your app a unique experience and more profitable, these include: new revenue opportunities, a customized weather experience, Weather, Vertical and Portrait editorial cards, search, a login in that utilizes your customers subscription plan, and major analytic updates.Â
New ad positions to boost the profitability of your app
The Launch Ad: This ad deploys after a user starts the app and displays a full-screen ad. This ad is similar to the interstitial ad offered in our last release in the article-to-article swiping section. You have complete control over whether you use this ad position with the ad tag in the admin. The Launch Ad would appear immediately upon launch and give the user an option to close the ad to continue viewing content.
The home feed "sticky" ad: Along with your native ad positions in the asset feed, add sticky ads on the home feed and/or on your article pages. These ad positions support the following sizes: 300x50, 300x100, 320x50 and 320x100.
The article page "sticky" ad: Add sticky ads on your article pages. We have chosen to have separate controls in the admin for the sticky ad on the home asset feed and the article pages so you can customize your advertising experience for your customers. These ad positions support the following sizes: 300x50, 300x100, 320x50 and 320x100.
Weather, weather and more weather!Â
Users love weather and we have loaded this release with new weather features. There are also several different weather blocks and cards for you to use. Â
Customize your weather allows the user to enter a zipcode to update the weather data in the app. The app will launch with the default zipcode that is setup in the app, and the user will have the ability to override this through the customize your weather asset card or through the settings panel.Â
The weather data added to this release can be displayed through the:
Current Weather card
7-Day Weather Card
Weather Alerts
when a weather event is happening in the default zipcode or the zipcode entered by the end user.
More editorial asset card options to customize and improve your app design
In addition to the main "featured" card and "headline" card available to design your home asset feed, we have launched a Portrait Card. This allows a unique display of portraits, such as obituaries, in the BLOX Now app that differentiates from the main feature card. These cards are shaped in a vertical layout which is more fitting for a portrait-style photo.Â
The Vertical Card allows automated control over the presentation of photos that need a vertical presentation in order to combat cropping issues. BLOX CMS takes care of this for you by evaluating the picture dimensions to determine the most appropriate card style. Â
Search capability for improved user experience
Search is included in the menu and utilizes keywords to find article results for users. If keywords are too broad, advanced search options are available.Â
Connecting users to the app
This release features a promo page/sign in and login page that are optional. You can choose to deploy the promo page + login or just the login to connect your users to BLOX CMS web subscriptions. Users have a choice skip the login and continue using the app until until they reach any content requiring a subscription plan. They will then be prompted to sign in or create an account to continue.Â
