Highlighting stories with featured categories and category images in Bea

How to better promote stories on your homepage

We know Prezly users like to use story categories for a variety of things, and not all categories are equal, so we've enabled featured categories in our Bea theme.

You might have a new product line or category you want to feature which you can now do with the featured categories dropdown, featured category homepage filters and featured category homepage block.

The category dropdown shows all categories by default. Featured categories are displayed with category images (which we recommend you add) alongside regular categories, and the layout adapts depending how many you feature.

Category dropdown with a few featured categories

Category dropdown with several featured categories

By default we show the latest stories on your homepage. If you feature categories, they shows up on your homepage as a filter, allowing users to quickly filter the story grid and get to stories in categories they are interested in.

Featured category filter

We've also created a featured category block, that displays featured categories at the foot of your homepage as an alternative way of browsing important categories. We recommend you add category images for maximum visual impact.

featured categories shown at the foot of your homepage

If you don't want this featured category block at the end of your homepage, this can be disabled in theme settings.

Disable feature category block in Bea theme settings

Within the Prezly app, if you go to your Site's categories management page, you can mark a category as 'featured' and also add a supporting category image. Once featured a star will appear next to the category in the listing.

Category images are used by all category translations.

You can feature as many categories as you want (and they will all show on the homepage filter). Categories can be ordered in the category drop down menu, so you can prioritise what readers see first.

Featuring categories in the category aside