Control Panel > Permissions / Forum
"Can create portal news"
The feature is work-in-progress. But UBB.threads 7.7.x shares a small look in to where we are going with it.
I suggest reviewing the UBB.threads 7.7.0 changelog discussion over at:
https://www.ubbcentral.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/topics/262078/7-7-0-changelog-discussion[NEW] CP: A new "Can create portal news" forum permission has been added. This permission allows a group to create news items that will appear on the portal. This is useful when you have news content "Contributor" or "Editor" member groups.
[NEW] Members who can create portal news can now turn any topic in to a news item by selecting a News Icon as they create a new topic or edit a current topic post. Choosing a News Image will allow the topic to display on the forum's News Portal, regardless of it being within a News Forum. Note; topics with a news image will ignore user groups. Anyone will be able to read the topic post regardless of their current group permissions. Only the first post will be displayed on the forum News Portal. To read its replies or download its attachments, users must belong to a group which allows those permissions for which forum the post is located within.
[NEW] Several basic News Images are now included with UBB.threads. When creating your own News Images, the recommended size is a max-width and max-height of 100px. Regardless, your News Images should represent your forum's feel, and thus can also be styled using the .news-image CSS class. This class will style the html img tag.
A lot of work is planned for future versions.
If you need something right now, you are also welcome to customize the templates/default/gallerylist.tpl template to present your gallery forums differently, and require all new posts to contain a lead-image.
