In this video we will configure the newsletter category that is automatically created when we install the Simplenews module.Now let's configure the default newsletter category

  • Go to Configuration => Web services => Newsletters
  • For "Simplenews newsletter" click "edit newsletter category"
  • Name: Super Simple News
  • Description: This newsletter will contain awesome information! (We'll see where this is displayed at the end of Part 6)

Subscription Settings

  • Subscribe new account (This setting has four options.)
    1. None: This newsletter is not listed on the user registration page.
    2. Default on: This newsletter is listed on the user registion page and is selected by default.
    3. Default off: This newsletter is listed on the user registion page and is not selected by default.
    4. Silent: A new user is automatically subscribed to this newsletter. The newsletter is not listed on the user registration page.

I'm going to leave this set to "None".

  • Opt-in/out method (Again, we have multiple options)
    1. Hidden: This newsletter does not appear on subscription forms. No unsubscription footer in newsletter. (One use case could be when a business wants all employees to get the company news, without the option to unsubscribe.)
    2. Single: Users are (un)subscribed immediately, no confirmation email is sent. (This could be handy, but also dangerous, since anyone can subscribe/unsubscribe anyone else by entering someone else's email address.)
    3. Double: When (un)subscribing at a subscription form, anonymous users receive an (un)subscription confirmation email. Authenticated users are (un)subscribed immediately. (This is my recommended approach. It is pretty standard on the web, and does a couple of things:
      1. It ensures that the person who registered, actually owns the email address.
      2. It ensures that the person registering actually wants to be subscribed. This helps reduce the number of people who subscribe on a whim, but then mark you as spam when they start getting emails from you, but don't remember why.

I'll use the Double Opt-in/out method.

  • Subscription block (If this is checked a block will be created for you to place anywhere you choose. I'll leave it checked, but if you know that you're not going to use this block, uncheck it for performance reasons.)

Email Settings

  • Email Format
    • Plain (Emails will be sent as plain text)
    • HTML (Emails will be sent as HTML, allowing things like links using the <a> tag, and other HTML code. *Requires the HTML Mail and Mail System modules.)

I'm going to leave this as plain for now. In Part 13, we will begin using HTML in our newsletters.

  • Email priority (I wouldn't suggest using this. Some email clients will respect it properly, but most will simply flag your message as spam due to overuse by spammers in the past.)
  • Request receipt (I haven't used this, so I can't verify it's reliability. If you are interested in statistics for your newsletters, check out the Simplenews Satistics module. Though at the time of recording, there is not a stable release for Drupal 7.)

Sender Information

  • From name (Who should the email say it is from in the "from" field)
  • From email address (What email address should it appear that the message has been sent from?)

Newsletter Subject

  • Email Subject (What you would like to be in the subject field. The default will use the simplenews category in brackets '[ ]' followed by the newsletter title. If we called our first newsletter "First Newsletter, it would look like this: "[Super Simple News] First Newsletter". I'm going to change this to "[node:title] - Modules Unraveled". You can do whatever suits your taste.

HTML to Text Conversion

  • Hyperlink conversion (This sets how links should be appear when HTML is used. (i.e.: <a href="http://www.example.com"></a>) Both options will be demonstrated in Part 13)
    1. Append hyperlinks as a numbered reference list (This setting will include the links inline, but ALSO create an ordered list at the bottom of the email.)
    2. Display hyperlinks inline with the text (Best used when links are short. I'll leave this setting as is for now.)