The front page by topic

The front page is the site's home page, laid out like a newspaper: the day's stories in groups, one group per topic, the biggest story of each group leading. If you follow topics, your groups come first.

1. 1
2. 2
3. 3
4. 4
5. 5

#Top stories and Latest

• Top stories, the default, shows the groups.
• Latest shows the newest articles as they come in, without groups, with pages to go back further.

#A group

• Its heading is the topic's name: select it to open the topic's page. A subtopic's heading has its trail above it, such as Sports ›.
• The star follows the topic. See Follow topics.
• More › opens the topic's page, with all its latest articles.
• The lead story comes first and is larger, with a picture and the article's opening words.
• The other stories fill the rows beside and below it: more on a wide screen, fewer on a narrow one.

The first groups come with the page; the rest load as you scroll down. Until then they are listed under More topics.

#A story card

1. 1
2. 2
3. 3
4. 4
5. 5
6. 6

• The source line: the outlet (select it for more from that outlet), how long ago it was published, the website, and ⋮, a menu with Share this URL and Search this website.
• The headline opens the article on the outlet's site, in a new tab.
• The tone bar, the length and the outlets: a small bar from negative to positive for the article's tone, its length in words, and how many outlets carry the same story.
• The topic trail: where the story sits among the topics, below the group's own topic.
• Full coverage and Related Coverage: other outlets' reports on the same story. See Full coverage.

#Your topics come first

When you follow topics, a Your topics section opens the page, with a group for each topic you follow, marked Your topic. The site's own groups follow under Popular now. A story already shown in your topics is not repeated below.

1. 1
2. 2
3. 3
4. 4

#What makes the front page

• Recent stories: published in the last few days.
• Each story once: when several outlets publish the same story, it appears once, as the fullest article, and counts as covered by all of them.
• Biggest first: stories carried by more outlets, newer stories, longer articles and stories readers open rise in their group.
• Real articles: very short items, such as video pages and one-line briefs, are left out.

The groups are rebuilt about every ten minutes, so the page changes through the day.

#On a phone

On a phone the stories stack in one column, each group ends with More in the topic, and the Topics button opens the list of topics.

1. 1
2. 2
3. 3
4. 4

#On smaller sites

Some sites of the 4 Network cover a subject with fewer stories a day. Their front page shows Latest stories as one grid of cards, without groups, with Previous and Next to go back further.

#Common questions

Why is a story I saw this morning gone?

The groups are rebuilt about every ten minutes as new stories arrive, and older stories make way. Open the topic's page, or the Latest tab, to find it again.

Can I choose which groups the site shows?

The site's groups are set for each site. To put your own subjects at the top, follow their topics.

Why does the front page look different on another 4Search site?

Each site has its own topics, so its own groups. See Topics and your front page.

What does the tone bar mean?

It shows whether the article's language reads as positive, neutral or negative. Point at it for the share that reads positive.