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101
sailjapan
Re: XOOPS Newsletter Mailer

Edit:

Oops! double post
Never let a man who does not believe something can be done, talk to a man that is doing it.
102
marcan
Re: XOOPS Newsletter Mailer

  • 2006/9/25 13:33

  • marcan

  • Just can't stay away

  • Posts: 824

  • Since: 2003/10/8


SmartMail is coming my friends And you will like it

This week, you will have :

- A live sandbox where the module will be installed so you guys can see the user side, eg subscribing/unsubscribing to the newsletters

- A beta version of the module for you to download and play Many features will be functional already :

- subscribing, subscribers management
- creating/editing/deleting newsletters
- adding any blocks from your site to a newsletter
- newsletter permissions
- creating/editing/deleting dispatches
- dispatch preview with email sending to a test email address

The actual mail sending script is not completed yet and still need testing, which is a good thing as we don't want thousands of emails being sent with a beta module. It shall come soon though

So your wait is soon over my freinds . We will posting again soon !

Cheers !
.:: marcan (aka mal aka Marc-André) ::.
.:: Open Source :: The SmartFactory ::.
.:: XOOPS Professional Services :: INBOX International ::.
103
andycleff
Re: XOOPS Newsletter Mailer

  • 2006/9/25 14:18

  • andycleff

  • Not too shy to talk

  • Posts: 108

  • Since: 2005/4/29


One thing to keep in mind when you get to the sandbox - SmartMail module is not a traditional "Mail list /Newsletter manager" along the likes of phpList, evenmail, xmail, etc.

I kept looking at it from that point of view and it caused nothing but confusion in my poor brain.

SmartMail uses standard XOOPS blocks (module or custom) to generate the content of an issue.

So "authoring" consists of:
1. Defining which blocks are to be included and where they are to be located in your newsletter template (SmartMail Newsletter templates are very simple - six possible block locations within a simple HTML table layout - much like a XOOPS theme.)
2. Creating the content through other XOOPS modules.
3. Having SmartMail automatically build an issue (or multiple issues on a schedule).
4. Publishing issues thru SmartMail's Mail Sending Service.
Andy Cleff
Ampersand Design, Inc
Doylestown, PA
-----
Helping our clients bring great ideas into shape through integrated marketing, creative branding, print and web strategy, online learning and e-commerce.

www.ampersandesign.net
104
barryc
Re: XOOPS Newsletter Mailer

  • 2006/9/25 15:44

  • barryc

  • Just can't stay away

  • Posts: 480

  • Since: 2004/3/20


Andy,

Hmmm! I'm not sure that concept will suit what I need to do. I really would like the option of being able to send out a newsletter that already exists in the form of a file, html or other. In the case of my organization, we have a newsletter that is sent out in printed form each month. Many members would prefer to receive it electronically. We would like to be able to use our XOOPS site to send the electronic form. The electronic form should mimic the printed form as closely as possible. The concept of building a newsletter from blocks does not sound as if it will do that.

Second, is some form of email throttling built into SmartMail to overcome problems that many of us face of exceeding the hourly outgoing message limit on our servers?

Barry
Barry Cooper
Sweet Home, Oregon
105
chippyash
Re: XOOPS Newsletter Mailer

  • 2006/9/25 16:06

  • chippyash

  • Friend of XOOPS

  • Posts: 501

  • Since: 2004/1/29


Got to say, that on the surface I would tend to agree with Barry. The concept of building a newsletter via blocks on the site does not seem natural to me. More likely would be the facility to take news content from something like news, rss and newbb, and tie it into a templated newsletter.

I'm not pre-judging this though and will wait to see what it is. Perhaps Marcan can throw some light onto the interface design.

Ashley
106
andycleff
Re: XOOPS Newsletter Mailer

  • 2006/9/25 16:25

  • andycleff

  • Not too shy to talk

  • Posts: 108

  • Since: 2005/4/29


Quote:
The electronic form should mimic the printed form as closely as possible. The concept of building a newsletter from blocks does not sound as if it will do that.

Second, is some form of email throttling built into SmartMail to overcome problems that many of us face of exceeding the hourly outgoing message limit on our servers?


Matching a printed format with email can be tough - depending on the recipient's email client and their local preferences.

Have you ever "turned off images" in Outlook and seen what your beautifully formated HTML email messge looks like? Or seen what LotusNotes does to your CSS?

One solution would be attachment capability - ie. a PDF. We have this on SmartMail's feature's list - but not for the beta release.

Mail throttling will be part of the Mail Sending Service part of SmartMail. Most likely with admin control for both batch size and pause-between-batch duration.

Quote:
The concept of building a newsletter via blocks on the site does not seem natural to me. More likely would be the facility to take news content from something like news, rss and newbb, and tie it into a templated newsletter.


I had the exact same reaction when I first got into the SandBox. But I have subsequently changed my mind.

What you have suggested - taking news content from something like news, rss and newbb, and pputting it into a templated newsletter - can be done with SmartMail and the WhatsNew module.

Automatically. And on a repeating schedule.

For other content you can use XOOPS custom blocks - with the XOOPs WYSIWYG editor of your choice. You could even use custom blocks to create an issue entirely of manual content.

SmartMail is an out-of-the-box-thinking solution.

Keep an open mind....
Andy Cleff
Ampersand Design, Inc
Doylestown, PA
-----
Helping our clients bring great ideas into shape through integrated marketing, creative branding, print and web strategy, online learning and e-commerce.

www.ampersandesign.net
107
chippyash
Re: XOOPS Newsletter Mailer

  • 2006/9/25 16:34

  • chippyash

  • Friend of XOOPS

  • Posts: 501

  • Since: 2004/1/29


Andy

Quote:

andycleff wrote:
What you have suggested - taking news content from something like news, rss and newbb, and pputting it into a templated newsletter - can be done with SmartMail and the WhatsNew module.

Keep an open mind....


Thanks for that info. Sounds good. OK, another question. Is the news collator engine going to be extendable so that for instance if I write a module that could provide news content, I can hook into it, perhaps rather like XOOPS Search, Comments and Notify. That would be really cool and allow other mod devs to extend the useability of SmartMail.

I always try to keep an open mind

Regards
Ashley

BTW, your link in your signature is not working
108
davidl2
Re: XOOPS Newsletter Mailer

  • 2006/9/25 16:39

  • davidl2

  • XOOPS is my life!

  • Posts: 4843

  • Since: 2003/5/26


More importantly for my own needs... it's something that's designed well to handle different designs.

For example - you could have a different styling for different newsletters, or keep one style - that would fit with the look and feel of your site.
109
barryc
Re: XOOPS Newsletter Mailer

  • 2006/9/25 16:40

  • barryc

  • Just can't stay away

  • Posts: 480

  • Since: 2004/3/20


Andy,

the attachment option would work for me. We could then just send out a simple email message with "Newsletter is attached". So, I hope that receives some priority as we go along.

Barry
Barry Cooper
Sweet Home, Oregon
110
marcan
Re: XOOPS Newsletter Mailer

  • 2006/9/25 16:40

  • marcan

  • Just can't stay away

  • Posts: 824

  • Since: 2003/10/8


Thanks for explaining the custom blocks Andy

Indeed, with the possibility to add custom blocks, you will be able to add ANYTHING you like in the newsletters, which is the whole point. But being able to add any module blocks is a very nice feature IMHO !

Quote:
Is the news collator engine going to be extendable so that for instance if I write a module that could provide news content, I can hook into it, perhaps rather like XOOPS Search, Comments and Notify. That would be really cool and allow other mod devs to extend the useability of SmartMail.

Other devs ultimately won't have to extend SmartMail ! The only thing they need to do is to create a block in a module that display what they want. And then, when creating a newsletter, you would only need to add that block !

Hope this is more clear.

Cheers !
.:: marcan (aka mal aka Marc-André) ::.
.:: Open Source :: The SmartFactory ::.
.:: XOOPS Professional Services :: INBOX International ::.
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