Sidecar blocks are a combination of media and story narrative that fill the display, creating an immersive experience in your stories. Sidecars are made up of slides, and each slide has a stationary media panel and scrolling narrative content such as text, media, and maps. As readers scroll through a sidecar, the media panel changes to match the narrative panel content for each slide. With sidecars, you can also highlight map locations and data in the media panel through map choreography and map actions.
Add a sidecar to your story
Use the following steps to build a sidecar:
- Click the open button
to open the block palette. - Select Sidecar.
- Choose a sidecar layout: Floating panel or Docked panel.
A sidecar with one slide is added to the story.
Note:
You can change the layout at any point in the authoring process by selecting Change layout from the Options menu in the slide panel.
- Add content to the media panel by clicking one of the available options:
- Add image or video—Upload or link to an image or video file. For more information, see What media file types and sizes are supported in ArcGIS StoryMaps.
- Add map—Choose a map from the map browser and configure it, or create an express map.
- Add embed—Enter a URL link or iFrame code. It is recommended that you also add an alternative image to the embed properties. The alternative image will appear on smaller screens when there is not enough space to show the full, interactive embedded content.
- Add text, maps, and media to the narrative panel.
- Click the new slide button in the slide panel to add a slide.
A new slide is added to the sidecar after the currently selected slide.
- Repeat steps 4 through 6 to add more slides.
When the sidecar is complete, continue building the rest of the story by scrolling past the end of the sidecar. The slide panel and the rest of the sidecar will undock and scroll away.
Sidecar building tips
The following may help you build a sidecar:
- In the docked panel layout, click the Switch panel placement button to switch the media and narrative panels.
- In the floating panel layout, click the Panel appearance button to change the horizontal position and size of the narrative panel.
- Highlight different areas on a web map in the media panel by duplicating the slide and changing the map extent.
- Sidecars are optimized for tablets and phones. On smaller screens, sidecar slides are stacked with the media panel at the top of the display and the narrative panel below.
- When building a sidecar, a slide panel appears across the bottom of the display. You can use the slide panel to do the following:
- Add and delete slides.
- Duplicate slides.
- Hide slides.
- Browse and navigate between slides.
- Reorder slides.
- Change the transition style between slides.
Add map actions
Map actions are a useful storytelling tool that allow you to add simple interactive elements to your story to help your readers get more out of it.
Note:
Map actions are not available for ArcGIS StoryMaps on ArcGIS Enterprise.Use the following steps to add a map action:
- Add a map to the media panel of a sidecar slide.
- Click the open button in the narrative panel to open the block palette.
- Select Map action.
- Configure the map view button.
- Hover the pointer over the action button and click Edit to configure the map view that will show when the action is clicked.
- If you do not configure the map view for a button, it will be an Initial map view reset button. When clicked, this reset button returns the map to the initial map view. If there is no reset action on the slide, a reset button appears next to the active action button.
- Enter a map view label in the action button.
A configured map action is added to the sidecar's narrative panel.
Note:
You can add more than one action button in a slide. Be sure to update the button labels so readers have a clear idea of what the action buttons will show.
Remove a sidecar from your story
Use the following steps to delete a sidecar and all of its slides:
- Click the delete button in the sidecar slide panel.
- Select Delete sidecar.
The sidecar is removed from the story.