Tendenci Blog

New newsletter editor coming this week in Tendenci!

The Tendenci developers have been working hard on an updated editing tool for your Tendenci newsletters!

Later this week, we'll be releasing an *optional* new Tendenci newsletter WYSIWYG editor for you to play with.  You'll find much of the same functionality, but will enjoy an expanded editing space (no more scrolling - yay!), improved rich media embedding and a more consistent, better behaving editing experience.

WYSIWYG stands for:  What You See Is What You Get.  This new editor tool will help further ensure that you're seeing and achieving the formatting results you are looking for to keep your newsletters looking great.

You will have the option to stick with the original newsletter editor if you prefer, but we want to get your feedback on how this updated editor works for you and your orgainzation.  Stay tuned for more news!

Tendenci Icon-row Redesign

The icon-row has been a staple in our software, giving you quick access to Print, Edit, and many other options depending on what type of content you are working with. While it's great that you can see your options anywhere you see your content (given that you have permission), we know that the icon-row can be confusing, particularly to new users. While some icons are intuitive - a trashcan means DELETE on any computer system - some of the icons are less obvious.

With that in mind we have created a new format for the icon-row that allows you to more effectively find what options you are looking for and maybe discover a few new ones you never knew existed.

The new icon-row will give you a few simple options (such as Print and Edit), and have a link for More Options that you can click to see the rest of the tools available to you. By using this drop-down menu, we have space to give you descriptive text links with the icons.

The new icon-row is being rolled out on the Articles module today. Soon to follow will be Press Releases, the Jobs Board, and CMS pages.

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!

Funding for Photo Albums Export

Hey all you totally awesome Tendenci users... If you use the photo albums module in Tendenci and are interesting in funding functionality for a bulk export of your albums, please contact Kim Lange at Schipul - The Web Marketing Company at 281.497.6567 ext. 514.

The basic export would include exporting your album to a zip file (no photo information will be included in the export). You would not have to download your images individually.  It cost about 2k to add this functionality to the photo albums module.

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.

 

User identities to show Online Social Connections

Did you know that from your Tendenci user profile you can add user identities to identify areas of social networks you are connected to?  Encourage your Tendenci users/members to add their identities to display social networks.  This is a great way to see who is socially connected to sites like Flickr, Youtube, Facebook, Digg etc.

After have you added your user identities, there will be a visual display of icons on your user profile of identities you have added and are connected to.

I am pushing to integrate blog identities here also. Check back soon.

Editing your site's user homepage

In light of the upcoming en update that will simplify your Tendenci dashboard.  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.

Cool new content monitoring in Tendenci

Updates to the User View pages allow you to see the latest content each user has added to your Web site.

This enables amazing transparency within your organization and also gives you an easy way to follow all of the new content from your site contacts.

The Tendenci software is designed to help your organization connect and communicate.  Use this new content monitoring tool to keep in touch with the latest and greatest of your members' contributions.

Let us know how else we can help you reach out to and stay in touch with your members!  (281) 497.6567.

Simplify! Updated dashboard makes your life easier

Next week we'll be pushing out a Tendenci update that will change the look of your Tendenci dashboard.  This simplified interface is streamlining access to your Tendenci modules (like User search and Calendar) and giving you one central link for all new content addition.

Click on the module links like you usually would to access them or simply click on the shiny new 'Add Content' button to add new content to your site.

Here's the real beauty of the update:  You don't have to keep it!

If you prefer the look, feel and functionality of a different dashboard design, you can revert to the old dashboard version by following these Tendenci Help File directions.