Newsletter for Dreamweaver

Video Tutorial: click here to see the flash/video. Note that a "facelift" has recently been applied, while the video tutorial still features the previous look.

New! A "facelift" has been applied to the Newsletter Admin Panel to give it a fresh and modern look compatible with all modern browsers. Please check the demo using the link below.

Administration demo: click here to access

Sample subscription form(demo):

Sample form

Enter your name:

Enter your email:

Subscribe Unsubscribe

"Newsletter for Dreamweaver" is a Dreamweaver extension that allows to install a system of newsletter subscription and delivery on your website, with the following features:

• minimal requirements: only PHP is required on the server; no need for databases; newsletters are saved as text files on your website;
• can be set up to avoid violation of your hosting provider's security policy by limiting the maximum amount of emails that can be sent out every minute, hour and day.
• easier to set up than other newsletter systems
• your newsletters can be edited from an admin area; they can be sent out in HTML or Plain Text format
• newsletter subscriptions can be accepted on any page of your website.
• the subscription form is based on Ajax technologies, so the user does not need to reload the page to subscribe/unsubscribe.
• it's compatible with all character-sets.
• New feature: Allows to import email addresses into the system in an easy way.
• New feature: Optional email verification feature added.
• New feature: Improved admin area interface.

The system can be set up without involving your hosting provider, including in case of shared hosting. Nevertheless, there may be exceptions: in case of Windows servers, for example, you will need to ask your hosting provider to set writing permissions on the folder where your newsletters are saved.

Requirements:

1. The server must support PHP 4.0 or later
2. Dreamweaver MX or later version (can be MX, MX 2004, DW 8, DW CS3, DW CS4, DW CS5, DW CS6, DW CC...)
3. Writing permissions on "TDE_Newsletter/database" folder, which will be used to save the newsletters and subscriber lists.
4. The newsletter folder will be installed into your web site's root, so you need access to the main folder of your domain or subdomain.
5. Only one newsletter system can be installed under the same domain or subdomain.

Special note:

There is a special PHP code on the site used for sending newsletters. This PHP code must be called periodically to process the send-outs without violating hosting restrictions.

For your convenience this PHP is called automatically every time the newsletter admin system is accessed and every time that someone visits any of your website's pages that contain a newsletter subscription form.

Nevertheless, in case that your website does not have many visits - which slows down sending out newsletters - you can improve the system performance by calling the PHP file from another site or application. To know more about the available options to call this PHP, you can consult this document.

Video Tutorial: click here to see the flash/video

Additional Info: Newsletter for Dreamweaver - Online FAQ.

1. Doubleclick the .MXP file.
2. Restart Dreamweaver
3. Open the page on your site where you wish to insert a newsletter subscription form
4. Access from the menu: Dreamweaver >> Commands >> Insert Newsletter
5. Set writing permissions to "TDE_Newsletter/database" folder

Steps 1, 2 and 5 are required only once. For every page where you are going to insert a subscription form you will need to repeat steps 3 and 4.

After you click on the menu option in Dreamweaver, a setup window will appear that will allow you to define the email limits accepted by your webserver every minute, hour and day, as well as to enter a password that you will use to securely access your newsletter admin area.

After that, you can access your admin area at http://your-web-site/TDE_Newsletter and this is where you can add & send newsletters.

Insertion Window (Dreamweaver Menu >> Commands >> Insert Newsletter):

The input fields are:

• Access Password: This password will be used by you to get access to the newsletters administration (add,edit,send).
• Max Emails/day: The maximum number of emails that can be sent in a single day. This value helps to comply with the hosting's terms of use.
• Max Hour/day: The maximum number of emails that can be sent in a single hour. This value helps to comply with the hosting's terms of use.
• Max Minute/day: The maximum number of emails that can be sent in a single minute. This value helps to comply with the hosting's terms of use.

Newsletter administration:

You can access your admin area at http://your-web-site/TDE_Newsletter and this is where you can add & send newsletters. Use the password selected in the insertion step(from Dreamweaver).

Adding newsletters:

Note that a newsletter in HTML format looks friendlier, but a newsletter in plain text may be more successful at crossing antispam filters. Keep this in mind while selecting your format.

Sending newsletters:

Note that you can filter users, to whom the newsletters will be sent, according to their registration date.

Additional protection:

To increase protection of your data (subscriber list and newsletter texts), you can install an http password on "TDE_Newsletter\database" folder. This option usually appears on your hosting provider's control panel. If this option is not there, then you can ask your hosting service to set it up for you.

Writing permissions:

Remember to set writing permissions for the folder "TDE_Newsletter\database", where newsletters and subscriber lists will be kept in form of files. For more information on how to set writing permissions please read this entry in our FAQ. Also, you may normally contact your hosting provider in order to find out how to set writing permissions on your server.

Enabling the email verification option:

To enable the email verification follow the instructions explained in this FAQ entry.

Improving system performance:

The PHP file http://your-web-site/TDE_Newsletter/admin/sender.php is called to send the maximum quantity of emails allowed by your hosting provider without breaking its policies. If your website has few visits and send-out restrictions are high, you can improve your newsletter performance - speed at which they are sent out - by calling the above mentioned PHP file more frequently.

The following options can be used:

1. On Linux servers you can use "cron" service
2. Use the option "cron" that can be found in some hosting providers' panel controls
3. Use the Windows Scheduler in case of Windows servers
4. Call PHP from another site with more traffic, by using a 1x1 invisible image tag, example: <img src="http://your-web-site/TDE_Newsletter/admin/sender.php" width="1" height="1">
5. Place the same 1x1 image on all the pages of your website or at least on those that receive most traffic. Generally the page with most traffic is the home page.

For more details, consult this document.