Website features for censored media environments

What's inside this article:

• Basic information
• Smart links and mirror sites
• Smart links on content pages
• PDF download on text content pages
• Localize texts
• Enable unbranded PDFs
• Hide a branded snippet from PDFs

Basic information

This article describes website features that help you reach audiences in censored media environments. These are environments where local authorities try to block or restrict access to your website.

Available features

• Smart link: Supports content sharing in censored media environments. A smart link is a shareable link that works even where your site is blocked. Your website can show a 'Smart link' button on content pages. This allows visitors to copy the link and share it with others who cannot access the site.
• PDF download: Supports offline content sharing, including in censored media environments. Your website can show a 'PDF' button on text content pages. This allows visitors to save the content and share it with others who cannot access the site.

Smart links and mirror sites

Mirror sites and mirror URLs

A mirror site is a copy of a website that is stored on a different server and has different URLs. Local authorities regularly block mirror URLs. Once authorities block a particular mirror URL, a new one is automatically generated. Content sharing through mirror URLs alone is unreliable, as these URLs stop working once blocked.

Smart links

Smart links make content sharing through mirror sites more reliable. A smart link automatically sends visitors to the right URL:

• If the visitor can reach the main site, the smart link opens the main URL.
• If the main site is blocked, the smart link opens the current mirror URL.

With a smart link, visitors always reach the content, even when mirror URLs change.

Smart links on content pages

Your website can show a Smart link button on content pages. This allows visitors to copy the link and share it with others who cannot access the site.

Request feature access

To request feature access, contact Pangea Customer Care.

In your request, include localizations for the following texts:

TIP: Choose language that your website audience can understand. You do not need to translate the default texts directly.

Where does the button appear?

When this feature is enabled, the Smart link button appears automatically on the following types of content pages:

• Text: Article, Blog, Factcheck, Feature, Feature story, Live blog, News, Transcript
• Multimedia: Audio clip, Photo gallery, Slider gallery, Video
• Interactive: Dynamic infographic (with article layout), Poll, Quiz, Static infographic

NOTE: The Smart link button does not appear on pages that use the Latest news layout.

PDF download on text content pages

Your website can show a PDF button on text content pages. This allows visitors to save the content and share it with others who cannot access the site.

Request feature access

To request feature access, contact Pangea Customer Care.

To use a button label other than 'PDF', include your preferred label in the request.

If you want to remove the branded header and footer from your PDFs, mention this in your request. For more details about this option, see Enable unbranded PDFs.

Where does the button appear?

When this feature is enabled, the PDF button appears on the following types of text content pages:

• Article, Blog, Feature, Feature story, News, Transcript

The button only appears on content pages that are published or updated after the feature is enabled.

NOTE: The PDF button does not appear on pages that use the Latest news layout.

Localize texts

Web editors can update website texts for the 'Smart link' and 'PDF download' features from the Site localization page in Pangea CMS.

NOTE: Users in these user groupsRights in Pangea CMS are regulated through user groups. Each user belongs to a specific group. This defines which areas of Pangea CMS they can access and what actions they can perform. Learn more. can make updates on the Site localization page: Editor_2020, Master Editor_2020.

The following localization keys are available:

For detailed instructions on how to use the Site localization page, see the following article:

• Using site localization

Enable unbranded PDFs

With unbranded PDFs enabled, PDF downloads from your website do not show the branded header or footer. This is helpful in censored media environments, where a reader's safety could be at risk if someone recognizes your website's branding. Without the branded elements, readers can view your PDFs without revealing where the content came from.

An unbranded PDF (left) and a regular PDF (right).

Request feature access

To request feature access, contact Pangea Customer Care.

TIP: If you enable this feature, you may also need to hide a branded snippet from your PDFs. For details, see Hide a branded snippet from PDFs.

Hide a branded snippet from PDFs

You can prevent a branded snippet (such as a banner promoting a mobile app) from appearing in PDF downloads, while keeping it visible on the website. To do this, update the code for the snippet in Pangea CMS.

Follow these steps:

1. Find the HTML source for the snippet

Open the edit page for the snippet, and go to the HTML source box.

2. Copy the id for the outermost <div> tag

In the HTML source, find the outermost <div> tag that has an id attribute (<div id="...">). This is usually the very first <div> in the code, but if an outer <div> doesn't have an id, skip it and use the next one down instead. Copy the id exactly as it is written.

Example

If the outermost <div id="..."> tag is...

<div id="GR-COMBINED-BANNERS">

...the ID you need to copy is GR-COMBINED-BANNERS.

Or if the code looks like this...

<div class="mailchimp-signup-form mailchimp-signup-form--long">
<style>...</style>
<div id="form-container">
<img ...>
<div id="mc_embed_signup">
<form ...>...</form>
</div>
</div>
</div>

...the ID you need to copy is form-container.

3. Check if 'Attach As Iframe' is ticked

Check if the box next to Attach As Iframe is ticked.

Go to the relevant step, depending on the status of this setting:

• 'Attach As Iframe' is NOT ticked
• 'Attach As Iframe' is ticked

4a. Paste additional code ('Attach As Iframe' is NOT ticked)

Paste this code at the very bottom of the HTML source box:

<script> if(isForPdf) {document.getElementById("PASTE-YOUR-ID-HERE").style.display = "none";}</script>

Replace PASTE-YOUR-ID-HERE with the id you copied during step 2.

Example

If the outermost <div id="..."> tag is...

<div id="GR-COMBINED-BANNERS">

...you need to add the following code at the bottom of the HTML source:

<script> if(isForPdf) {document.getElementById("GR-COMBINED-BANNERS").style.display = "none";}</script>

4b. Paste additional code ('Attach As Iframe' is ticked)

Paste this code at the very bottom of the HTML source box:

<script>
const pdfExport = new URLSearchParams(window.parent.location.search).get("pdfExport");
if (pdfExport) {
document.getElementById("PASTE-YOUR-ID-HERE").style.display = "none";
}
</script>

Replace PASTE-YOUR-ID-HERE with the id you copied during step 2.

Example

If the outermost <div id="..."> tag is...

<div id="form-container">

...you need to add the following code at the bottom of the HTML source:

<script>
const pdfExport = new
URLSearchParams(window.parent.location.search).get("pdfExport");
if (pdfExport) {
document.getElementById("form-container").style.display =
"none";
}
</script>

5. Publish changes to the snippet

After completing the steps above, publish the changes to the snippet.

NOTE: Unless you have approval rights for snippets, you need to request approval from a reviewer before publication.