In this video we will display the subscription blocks where users will be able to subscribe to our newsletter!Ok, so we've tested our newsletter, and it sends just fine. Everything looks good, and seems to work. Now we need to display the subscription blocks so that users can subscribe to the newsletter.

  • We're going to go to "Structure => Blocks => Bartik (choose your theme)"
  • If we scroll down, we see two blocks that have been provided by simplenews. One labeled "Newsletter: Super Simple News", this will be for our new newsletter. And the other is labeled "Newsletter: Multi Subscription" This will come into play in just a bit, when we have more than one newsletter available.
  • I'm going to go ahead and put the "Multi Subscription" block in the "Triptych first" region and the "Super Simple News" block in the "Triptych middle" region.
  • (Save)

Viewing our block configuration

Now, if we scroll down to the bottom, you'll see our two blocks.
The first block (our Multi Subscription block), has a checkbox and an up date button, while the second (our Super Simple News block), simply has a subscribe button.

The Multi Subscription block is most useful when you have more than one newsletter available. If you will only have one newsletter, you should probably just stick to the individual newsletter block as it is easier to use. let me show you why.

Testing the subscription links

If I click update for the Multi Subscription block, it says, "The newsletter subscriptions for user@example.com have been updated" it does not necessarily said I'm subscribed or unsubscribed. If I go to my user account, we see that it says, "Subscribed to: None" and if we go down and check the subscribe box and click update, we see that I am subscribed to Super Simple News. By unchecking the box and clicking update, we see that I am now subscribed to "None". The other option is to scroll down, and in the Super Simple News block, I can just click "subscribe" and now I'm subscribed. To unsubscribe, scroll down, and now the button says "unsubscribe", and it's just a click of a button and I'm unsubscribed.

Configuring the block

You might have noticed that right underneath the newsletter title, there is some text that reads, "Stay informed on our latest news!" We can configure this, as well as some other details of the block.

  • Go to "Structure => Blocks => Bartik (your theme)"
  • Find the block "Newsletter: Super Simple News" and click "configure"

Right here you can see that text in the "Block message" field. I'm going to replace this text with, "Weekly updates from your favorite website!" (You could also change the block title if you would like, the default is the newsletter category name.)

Right below this, you'll see a few more options.

  • Subscription interface
    • Subscription form (This will display the actual subscribe form)
    • Link to form (This will simply display a link to another page where the user can subscribe. I'll go ahead and choose this, to show you what it looks like.)

You'll also see a note that explains that for either of these options to be visible, the user must have the permission "subscribe to newsletters".

  • Display link to previous issues (This will display a link to the taxonomy term page for this newsletter category, which will list all previous issues of the newsletter. We took a brief look at that page in part 6.)
  • Display previous issues (This will display a set number of issue titles within the block its self. I'll also check this to show you what it looks like.) !!!!!This doesn't work right now, check this issue for updates (http://drupal.org/node/1524530).
  • Number of issues to display (This is the number of back issues to list in the block, if the above box is checked.)
  • Display RSS-feed icon (If this is checked, the icon will be available. If unchecked, it will not be available.)
  • (Save)

The rest of the options are standard block settings, and you can configure these the same way you would configure any block.

Now when we view the block, we can see that instead of a "Subscribe" button, we are shown a link to the subscriptions page. When we click on it, we are taken to that page, and can subscribe/unsubscribe from any newsletters

The message in the "Newsletter" (Multi Subscription) block can be configured in the same way, though it does not have the extra options, since it is for all newsletters, instead of a single newsletter category.

In part 9 you'll see what it is like to have multiple newsletters