Tendenci Blog

The Newsletter Generator gets a makeover!

Sending E-newsletters has always been a popular feature of Tendenci, but with all that functionality also comes a bit of confusion. There are a lot of options to choose from when you create a newsletter and it can be a bit daunting, even for an experienced Tendenci Pro. Our goal with the new look is to streamline your ability to generate a newsletter quickly and efficiently while maintaining all of the power you now enjoy.

The fields on the Newsletter Generator have now been grouped into 3 areas:

1. The "Send To" controls for who will receive your newsletter
2. The "Subject" area with options to personalize it for the recipient
3. and the "Module Content" area, for when you want your Newsletter to include content automatically from your Calendar, Articles, Jobs Board, or other Tendenci modules

We have also added a link for those times when you don't want to include content from other Modules. Before, un-selecting the default options was bit tedious, but now you can click the Do not include Module Content link to set all content to "Skip" and close the section. Don't worry; you can re-open it if you change your mind!

No fields have been Added or Removed so everything you're used to using should be roughly where it was before.

Let us know what you think of the new look!

Password Protected Events

Ever wanted to create an event, show it to everyone, but only give access to a privileged few? Create events and protect the event with a unique password for each one. These events will display as regular events do but the event can only be registered for and details can only be viewed if you’re equipped with the super secret password.

Private Events

Tendenci now gives you the ability to create private events. Private events are the same as any regular old event -- with one added bonus -- it’s hidden. The only way to view the event details and have the ability to register for the event is if you know the exact URL .

Only administrators and the creator of the event have the ability to view the event within the calendar. I’d show you a screenshot, but it’s private … shhh.

Membership Expiration Update

If your site is currently using the memberships module and the corporate memberships module and has both members associated with corporate memberships and individual members not associated with a corporate membership, then this update applies to you. The expiration methods for individual and corporate members may now be set differently.

Here is an example of the old functionality:

The membership application has the ability to tie a member into a corporate membership:

• Membership A and B both expired on 11/1/2007
• The corporate membership C has an expiration of 11/1/2008
• Membership A is bound to a corporate membership C
• Membership B is not bound to a corporate membership

Both A and B  renewed on 1/1/2008. Assuming the grace period is 30 days, A's expiration date would be set to 11/1/2008 (the same as its associated corporate membership C's expiration date) and B's expiration date would be 1/1/2009 (one year from the renewal date)

Now you can choose the expiration method for the memberships that are not bound to the corporate memberships. For example, if you select to expire annually on November 1st, the expiration date of B would be 11/1/2008 (the next November 1st from the Renewal date).

To update your membership expiration method for the individual memberships not bound to corporate memberships, edit your Membership Application and on Step 4, set the individual expiration method to expire by the method you prefer. If you are unsure of whether or not you have a membership application that ties into corporate memberships then go to Step 2 and see if the Show check box is checked for Corporate Membership ID.

Please refer to the screen shots below:

On Step 4 - Setting the individual membership for memberships applications tied into corporate memberships

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On Step 2 - Checking to see if you are tying the membership application to a corporate membership

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Adding a CMS page - one added step before you can add

Hey Tendenci lovers!

Before you add a CMS page you will need to confirm whether the page is public or private. This is put in place mainly to make sure you really want to syndicate your content to all RSS readers.

• If public is selected allow anonymous will be checked automatically and the page will be syndicated.
• If private is checked administrators are allowed to view your page only. The page will not be syndicated. 

If you are still wondering why... Here it is in short:

When RSS (syndication) first came around it was a new technology.  A new technology that took time to get popular. When information was syndicated in the past, it was not a big deal because the average end-user was not subscribed to the site.

Now that RSS has grown in popularity we have a much bigger audience.  There are a lot more eyes looking at our content both via the website and through feed readers.

Publishing sensitive information for the world to see can cost a company thousands. Another not-so-cool feature of syndication is that the majority of feed readers cache.  This is the equivalent of sending out "bad" email; you can't take it back.

Thanks for reading!!!! 

We are taking extra steps to emphasize the importance of syndication and it's affects.

CMS pages now require our clients to choose whether or not the content on the page is for public or private viewing before entering content.