Newsletter Builder v2.00 Beta 1
23 posts by 6 authors in: Forums > CMS Builder: Plugins & Add-ons
Last Post: October 3, 2012 (RSS)
By Dave - September 12, 2012
Hey Maurice,
>did not work in our outlook we just saw code.
Yea, even though we had tested many email clients beforehand a number of people reported problems viewing the first newsletter. Turns out coding for all the email clients and servers around the world is even trickier than coding a site that works in all the top browsers.
In the software industry they have a saying/practice called "Eating your own dogfood". It means trying your own products on yourself first as means of quality assurance. With of the help of some itools customers from around the globe we had the random display issues sorted within a day or two. We actually found a cool service during that process called litmus.com that automatically generates previews of your newsletter on 35+ email clients in seconds.
If you have any more problems getting the emails feel free to email me. We're still working on tips and tricks for getting past some of the more backward spam filters... There's some really bad ones out there that even block messages from known valid sources like gmail if they see a word they don't like (example, test, etc).
>B) looked awful compared to the old one (and i think many people will agree on that.)
That, my friend, is because we're programmers, not designers. But we'll keep trying, and rest assured, our default newsletter HTML doesn't come with the software so we're not imposing it on the rest of the interwebs... ;)
Cheers!
>did not work in our outlook we just saw code.
Yea, even though we had tested many email clients beforehand a number of people reported problems viewing the first newsletter. Turns out coding for all the email clients and servers around the world is even trickier than coding a site that works in all the top browsers.
In the software industry they have a saying/practice called "Eating your own dogfood". It means trying your own products on yourself first as means of quality assurance. With of the help of some itools customers from around the globe we had the random display issues sorted within a day or two. We actually found a cool service during that process called litmus.com that automatically generates previews of your newsletter on 35+ email clients in seconds.
If you have any more problems getting the emails feel free to email me. We're still working on tips and tricks for getting past some of the more backward spam filters... There's some really bad ones out there that even block messages from known valid sources like gmail if they see a word they don't like (example, test, etc).
>B) looked awful compared to the old one (and i think many people will agree on that.)
That, my friend, is because we're programmers, not designers. But we'll keep trying, and rest assured, our default newsletter HTML doesn't come with the software so we're not imposing it on the rest of the interwebs... ;)
Cheers!
Dave Edis - Senior Developer
interactivetools.com
interactivetools.com
Re: [Dave] Newsletter Builder v2.00 Beta 1
By Djulia - September 13, 2012
Hi Dave,
The idea is to be able to use the plugin with lists of subscribers who already exist and where the name is present.
Some customers also wish to personalize the contact in the newsletter of this manner.
>Another idea we're thinking about for the future is the ability to specify a SQL query
The idea of the request seems interesting.
>Lastly, I wanted to let you know I've been thinking about how to implement language translation
I can send my file with my translation to you if you wish it?
Thanks!
Djulia
The idea is to be able to use the plugin with lists of subscribers who already exist and where the name is present.
Some customers also wish to personalize the contact in the newsletter of this manner.
>Another idea we're thinking about for the future is the ability to specify a SQL query
The idea of the request seems interesting.
>Lastly, I wanted to let you know I've been thinking about how to implement language translation
I can send my file with my translation to you if you wish it?
Thanks!
Djulia
Re: [Dave] Newsletter Builder v2.00 Beta 1
Hi Dave: I think you can include Rogers Yahoo among your problem children. It seems to have an issue with inserting a blank line between paragraphs. Source looks clean, but display doesn't.
As for the ability to Import/export an address list sung SQL, that's great for those of us technically inclined, but the average user/client would probably find it easier to deal with a CSV.
Anyway, keep up the good work!
Ragi
As for the ability to Import/export an address list sung SQL, that's great for those of us technically inclined, but the average user/client would probably find it easier to deal with a CSV.
Anyway, keep up the good work!
Ragi
--
northernpenguin
Northern Penguin Technologies
"Any sufficiently advanced technology
is indistinguishable from magic."
........Arthur C. Clarke
northernpenguin
Northern Penguin Technologies
"Any sufficiently advanced technology
is indistinguishable from magic."
........Arthur C. Clarke
Re: [northernpenguin] Newsletter Builder v2.00 Beta 1
By Dave - September 17, 2012
Hi Ragi,
Let me know if there's any way I can help you track down that Rogers Yahoo problem. I wonder if I signup for a yahoo webmail account if it will be the same? The first thing we need to determine is if it's to do with the way the message is sent by Newsletter Builder, or just the HTML in the message. A lot of email readers and web mail providers are picky about how they interpret HTML (from any mailer).
I found this description of an issue with yahoo paragraph tags while googling, does this sound like the same issue here:
http://blog.unica.com/yahoo-html-email-design/
>As for the ability to Import/export an address list sung SQL, that's great
>for those of us technically inclined, but the average user/client would
>probably find it easier to deal with a CSV.
Good point, I agree that for most users the copy and paste "import emails" box linked off the plugins menu is way to go, that one doesn't even need CSV! And if/when we do add any advanced features such as the SQL one I mentioned we'll do our best to keep it tucked out of the way so it doesn't confuse anybody.
Thanks!
Let me know if there's any way I can help you track down that Rogers Yahoo problem. I wonder if I signup for a yahoo webmail account if it will be the same? The first thing we need to determine is if it's to do with the way the message is sent by Newsletter Builder, or just the HTML in the message. A lot of email readers and web mail providers are picky about how they interpret HTML (from any mailer).
I found this description of an issue with yahoo paragraph tags while googling, does this sound like the same issue here:
http://blog.unica.com/yahoo-html-email-design/
>As for the ability to Import/export an address list sung SQL, that's great
>for those of us technically inclined, but the average user/client would
>probably find it easier to deal with a CSV.
Good point, I agree that for most users the copy and paste "import emails" box linked off the plugins menu is way to go, that one doesn't even need CSV! And if/when we do add any advanced features such as the SQL one I mentioned we'll do our best to keep it tucked out of the way so it doesn't confuse anybody.
Thanks!
Dave Edis - Senior Developer
interactivetools.com
interactivetools.com
Re: [Dave] Newsletter Builder v2.00 Beta 1
Dave: that's it exactly! Is there a way we can generate <div> instead ?
--
northernpenguin
Northern Penguin Technologies
"Any sufficiently advanced technology
is indistinguishable from magic."
........Arthur C. Clarke
northernpenguin
Northern Penguin Technologies
"Any sufficiently advanced technology
is indistinguishable from magic."
........Arthur C. Clarke
Re: [northernpenguin] Newsletter Builder v2.00 Beta 1
By Dave - September 17, 2012
Hi Ragi,
We'll have to do some experimenting to see what works well with both Rogers Yahoo and everything else.
You can change how the WYSIWYG works by editing the code like this:
- Open /lib/wysiwyg.php
- Search for this bit of text (with a typo): Uncommon these lines
- Find this block:
To use <br> instead of <p> uncomment the bottom three lines:
To use <div> instead of <p> try this:
Note: You can make sure the <br> or <div> tags are showing up by clicking the "HTML" button in the wysiwyg. If they don't show up right away make sure to replace all the <p> tags in the HTML of the "email header" and "email footer" under newsletter settings. TinyMCE sometimes copies whatever formatting it sees in the content already.
If <div> works well we'll probably release a patch to automatically switch everyone to that for the next version - or make it an option.
Let me know how it goes.
We'll have to do some experimenting to see what works well with both Rogers Yahoo and everything else.
You can change how the WYSIWYG works by editing the code like this:
- Open /lib/wysiwyg.php
- Search for this bit of text (with a typo): Uncommon these lines
- Find this block:
// Force <br> insteaad of <p> ...
// Uncommon these lines to enable this for new records
//forced_root_block : false,
//force_br_newlines : true,
//force_p_newlines : false,To use <br> instead of <p> uncomment the bottom three lines:
// Force <br> insteaad of <p> ...
// Uncommon these lines to enable this for new records
forced_root_block : false,
force_br_newlines : true,
force_p_newlines : false,To use <div> instead of <p> try this:
// Force <br> insteaad of <p> ...
forced_root_block : 'div',Note: You can make sure the <br> or <div> tags are showing up by clicking the "HTML" button in the wysiwyg. If they don't show up right away make sure to replace all the <p> tags in the HTML of the "email header" and "email footer" under newsletter settings. TinyMCE sometimes copies whatever formatting it sees in the content already.
If <div> works well we'll probably release a patch to automatically switch everyone to that for the next version - or make it an option.
Let me know how it goes.
Dave Edis - Senior Developer
interactivetools.com
interactivetools.com
Re: [Dave] Newsletter Builder v2.00 Beta 1
Dave: sounds like a plan! I will give a try once I get home (I'm in Quebec City tonight) tomorrow night.
Ragi
Ragi
--
northernpenguin
Northern Penguin Technologies
"Any sufficiently advanced technology
is indistinguishable from magic."
........Arthur C. Clarke
northernpenguin
Northern Penguin Technologies
"Any sufficiently advanced technology
is indistinguishable from magic."
........Arthur C. Clarke
Re: [Dave] Newsletter Builder v2.00 Beta 1
Dave: I made the changes as directed. <div></div> is definitely being inserted instead of <br> and <p>, however there is no change in Rogers Yahoo.
Ragi
Ragi
--
northernpenguin
Northern Penguin Technologies
"Any sufficiently advanced technology
is indistinguishable from magic."
........Arthur C. Clarke
northernpenguin
Northern Penguin Technologies
"Any sufficiently advanced technology
is indistinguishable from magic."
........Arthur C. Clarke
Re: [Djulia] Newsletter Builder v2.00 Beta 1
By Dave - September 19, 2012
Hi Djulia,
Just wanted to give you an update on adding the "name" field. You could probably hack it in for now but for me to do it properly it's going to take longer and I may want to build it in as a feature or option. I'm going to research the possibility of supporting both fullname and additional fields for the next major update. The next major update is also going to support multiple newsletters and will require a rewrite of the subscribe/manage form so that might be a good time for it.
Regarding translations, the next release of CMSB is going to easily support having plugin specific translation files and a "developer mode" that automatically creates those files, so perhaps you can help us beta test that. It should make multi-lingual plugins a lot easier.
Just wanted to give you an update on adding the "name" field. You could probably hack it in for now but for me to do it properly it's going to take longer and I may want to build it in as a feature or option. I'm going to research the possibility of supporting both fullname and additional fields for the next major update. The next major update is also going to support multiple newsletters and will require a rewrite of the subscribe/manage form so that might be a good time for it.
Regarding translations, the next release of CMSB is going to easily support having plugin specific translation files and a "developer mode" that automatically creates those files, so perhaps you can help us beta test that. It should make multi-lingual plugins a lot easier.
Dave Edis - Senior Developer
interactivetools.com
interactivetools.com
Re: [Dave] Newsletter Builder v2.00 Beta 1
Hi,
Just wanted to let you know we are continuing to look into this problem and hope to find a solution soon. We'll update you when we have a proper workaround.
Thanks!
Greg
Just wanted to let you know we are continuing to look into this problem and hope to find a solution soon. We'll update you when we have a proper workaround.
Thanks!
Greg
Greg Thomas
PHP Programmer - interactivetools.com
PHP Programmer - interactivetools.com