Tendenci Blog

Tendenci newsletters and Outlook 2007

As some of you now already Outlook 2007 does not read back ground images in newsletters.  Most of you Tendenci users probably have a Tendenci newsletter template that does not look well in Outlook 2007 because of the back ground graphic issue.

Tim Newton the creative director here at Schipul has created a lovely help file that explains how to design newsletters for Outlook 2007.

Check out the help file here:

If you need us to help you change these and make them viewable in 2007, contact support@schipul.com.

RSS feeds can be added to your home page of your Tendenci site

You can now keep the content of your home page fresh by adding RSS feeds to the home page of your Tendenci web site. Give your users/members the latest and greatest information by adding feeds to your home page.

Please content support@schipul.com if you are interested in taking advantage of the functionality. This addition of RSS to the home page only takes a short time but we at Schipul will need to do this for you.

User permissions allow for Admins rights to specific modules

Good news..Now your members/users can be an editor or an administrator of Content Management and Calendar Events Module.

If a user is an editor of Content Management or Calendar events they can make edits to the modules and they are sent to pending approval. An administrator  will get an email when an edit has been made and approve the change before the change goes live.

If a user is an admin of Content Management or Calendar events they can make edits to the module and the changes go live immediately.

This is just one way to give extra control to users while still monitoring content and not opening up complete access for edits to your site.

For more, visit the help files on how to set this up on your site.

 

• Help file for Content Management
• Help file for Calendar Events

New Tendenci Dashboard to be released

We're excited to announce that a brand new and more user friendly Tendenci Console is about to be released next week on November 12, 2007.  This Tendenci update will change the look of your Tendenci Console or Homepage. This simplified interface will streamline access to your most used Tendenci modules (like User search and Calendar) and move the Admin Only Links to the upper right hand corner.

Admins also see live RSS feeds from Tendenci Blog and the new Help Files Module.

Admin View


As always, Admins will see many more links than a regular user or member.

User View


As an Admin, you still have to opportunity to choose what Tendenci home page appears on your site.
We want to be sure you understand what the options are for custom user home pages and how, as site Admin, you are able to change the user home page that appears on your site. We hope you enjoy the movement towards greater usability within the Tendenci software.

If you have any questions please contact our Support Team at support@schipul.com or call us at (281) 497-6567 ext. 411 or (877) 724-4785 ext. 411.

 

Help files roll out

Our current tendenci help files is in the process of being transfered to a new and improved help files module. What does this mean? Question and answer format, easily request a help file, better searching capabilities, new stream-line interface, and the ability to use the module on your own tendenci web site! Here is a screenshot of the new module:

Some features for administrators:

• Ability to save a help file as a draft
• Help files can be marked as a f.a.q, rated, and featured
• Help files can be placed in multiple topics
• Requested help files can be easily converted to a help file

Tendenci Software Updates!

Testimonials
Our wonderful programmer Eloy has given the testimonials search a face lift! It now uses styling to present your testimonials.

Directories
You may now put directories within multiple categories. Yippee! This is easily controlled by a site variable, so if you don't need it you can always use the old way.

Zip Codes
You can now control the new zip codes search to tailor to your needs. Need to specify which locations of your establishment show up when a zip code is searched? Well now you can with a new site variable! You may also specify the radius of the search with a site variable.

Photos
The "Next" and "Previous" buttons when flipping though a photo album now start from the first image and move to the last. Don't want to use those buttons? You can always just click the photo and it will move you to the next image.

Designing newsletters for Outlook 2007

Have you played around with Outlook 2007 yet?  There are some great features, but also a few changes that make a big difference in how your email works.

Our Creative Director Tim Newton came up with some helpful tips and tricks for designing a newsletter to play friendly in Outlook 2007.  You can read the entire Help File here with great visuals and explanations, but read on for the short and sweet version:

1. Design your layout without any background colors or images - but creative with border or backgrounds that blend into the layout! (see the newsletter image to the left as an example)
2. You can use a tiled background in Outlook 2007, but must put it into the body tag and specify the image path like this:
   
   <style type="text/css" media="screen">
       body {
           margin: 0px;
           padding: 0px;
           color: #666;
           background: #5a200e url("http://www.creativeleak.com/images/nl1/bg_Tile.gif")  } 
   </style>
3. Background colors can be used in a table or a div, but only if there's not another table or div inside of it.
4. Try adding these elements to your email designs but remember, the key to any good looking design is what the content looks like

Too busy to design an Outlook 2007-friendly newsletter?  Contact us today and let us know what our awesome design team can create for your organization!