Simply put, this screen is used to write out a message to be sent. There is the basic, plain-as-grain version to send a list message and there's an advanced screen that does the same thing, but with more options.
The basic screen should do most of what you'll want/need, but the advanced screen will do most anything else.
Headers are a very important part of an email message, althought you usually never see them. Included in the header of a mailing list message is information on the origin of an email message, who it's from, where it's going to, how the message should be shown and information about the mailing list it originated from.
The From: header will tell your subscribers who sent the email message. By default, this is set to the Dada Mail List Owner. You can change this if you want, but it may be of value to always have mailing list messages from a list originate from one email address only.
If you want to change the From: address, use this format:
"Your Name" <you@example.com>
So for example, if I wanted it to say it's from Justin Simoni, with address, justin@example.com I would type in:
"Justin Simoni" <justin@example.com>
The Reply-To: header directs the mail reader on what email address to use if your subscriber replies to the mailing list message. By default, this is set to the List Owner. Use the same format as the From: header.
The Precedence is used to set the kind of email that you're sending. Values it can be set to include, list, bulk and junk. I have no idea why even someone sending junk mail would own up to this in the Precedence: header, so it's usage is a little bit odd. Unless you have a reason to do so, I would advise against using this header at all - Setting the value to "" will leave the Precedence: header not applied.
The Priority: header states how "important" a message is, in relation to every other email message in someone's mail reader. Usually, the message will be marked as important graphically in the mail reader, perhaps with an exclaimation mark by it's listing.
I would advise against setting the Priority to anything except, "normal".
Attachments are files that are sent along with a email message. They can be anything from pictures, sound files, Microsoft Word Documents, Spreadsheets, and the like.
Note on sending attachments:
Attachments can dramatically increase the size of your individual mailing list messages. Taken individually, this size increase does not look troublesome, but multiply the increase by the amount of subscribers that you have and you may realize that sending a large attachment to a large mailing list can serious bog down your server.
This is the subject of your mailing list message and will appear in the Subject: header of your message.
Email messages can be formatted in basically one of two ways; Plain Text and HTML.
Plain Text is simple and is easy to author; the formatting you'll see your message in your mail reader will be basically the same as when you write it out in a simple text editor. The downside is that you're somewhat limited on how you can format a message:
No different font sizes or colors and no images.
Even though Plain Text messages have these limitations, Plain Text messages create very efficient email messages. Your subscribers will not have to wait long for your message to render, as there aren't any images to fetch.
More Information:
HTML formatting uses the same markup languages as what web pages are created with. This gives you quite a bit of flexibility on how you can format and design your mailing list message.You won't be able to create an email message that is quite as complicated as a regular HTML web page: the following are not allowed or supported by the vast majority of mail readers:
Frames
Javascript
Complicated Cascading Style Sheets
Complicated, table-based layout
As a rule, if you do use HTML to format a mailing list message, do not go overboard. Simple is better, since it does take time for mail readers to render the mailing list message. You do not want to have your subscribers wait long to read it.
Value your subscribers time.
Another issue that you should be aware of is that not all mail readers are set up to view HTML email, or even understand HTML to render it correctly.
More Information:
It's really up to you. My opion is that if you send an HTML version of your mailing list message, send a Plain Text version as well. This is where the option, HTML- Plain Text version will be created (basic screen only) comes in handy. It'll take an HTML document and make a Plain Text version of it. Beware, that it's not perfect. If you want perfection, author a Plain Text version separate from your HTML version, in the advanced screen.
More Information:
HTML Version uses attached images
Instead of having to call HTML images from your server to be fetched by a susbcriber's mail reader, you can embed the images in the email message itself. Be warned that this will add considerable weight to your message, but your message will be readable even if your subscriber's mail reader isn't online.
For example, if you have the image, header.gif on the top of your email message, attach this image and make sure to check, HTML Version uses attached images.
In the HTML version of your mailing list message, write the <img> tag like this:
<img src="cid:header.gif" />
This will tell the mail reader to actually look for the image in the email message itself.
There are some shortcomings to this; Dada Mail's archives aren't too completely smart on how to handle embedded images, and you'll see a broken image icon where the image should be in the archives. You will have to edit the archive later if you want to releave this problem.
Archive This message
When checked, the mailing list message sent will be archived. This can be put to a default in Manage List Archive -> Archive Options.
Apply the list template to the HTML message
This will wrap the list template - the HTML template used for most of the screens that are used for HTML screens (the rectangle with the pin stripe border and brown header). This is an easy way to spruce up an mailing list message, if you have limited HTML skills.
This is where you can author the Plain Text version of your mailing list message. I usually write out the message in a text editor and paste it into this form field.
This is where you can author theHTML version of your mailing list message. What you want to write is HTML source -
pasting from Word or a HTML WYSIWYG editor won't work as expected.
This isn't a large problem, if you know the power of View Source in your browser. If you use an HTML Editor or even Word to author your mailing list message, visit the file you created in your web browser. (If you're using Word, you'll first need to Save as a Webpage...) and then View the source. Copy the HTML source and paste it into the HTML Version Widget.
Make sure that the images are using absolute paths to the server they reside on, or, use the HTML Version uses attached images trick.
These options are helpful if, for some reason, your mailing list message failed to be sent to completion. This can happen for a variety of reasons, usually because the server itself killed the sending process. It's always a good idea to communicate with your Hosting Provider to see if there are any limitations to how many messages you can send in a given time frame.
Both of the options work best when Batching is enabled. Batching can be enable in the Manage List->Sending Options screen.You can get a good idea of where a mailing list message stopped sending from either the Program's Usage Logs or batch email confirmations. Batch email confirmations can be sent after each batch is completed. They look like this:
Mailing Summary: ________________________________________________________________________ Batch number: 47 has been completed! Your list mailing has reached: 9400 e-mail address(es) Mailing Started: 05/11/2004 00:12:07 Batch Completed: 05/11/2004 02:34:55 Last email of this batch was sent to: name@example.com Waiting 180 second(s) until next batch, -Dada Mail
If this were the last batch confirmation that was received, you could restart the message from the email address, name@example.com, or, from email # 9400. If you're worried about mailing to some subscribers twice, consider either putting a "sorry, we had problems with our mailing" blurb at the top of the message you resend, or start from one batch later. If each batch is 200 email addresses, you should start from email #9600.
A test message will go only to the List Owner and will not be archived, but will be sent exactly as if it was a live mailing. This is your chance to make sure formatting, etc are looking up to par.
Pressing this button will send your mailing list message to all your subscribers.
If unchecked, you'll be prompted by a small window that will ask you if you really want to send the mailing list message. This is unchecked by default to stop sending to thousands of people by accident. Check this option to circumvent this safety lock.
If checked, will open a new window with the results of the form submission. This is to preserve all the options that you made when authoring the mailing list message. This allows you to resend the message after testing, or, if the mailing list message did not go to completion.
Handy.
Dada Mail is Free Software and is released under the Gnu
Public License.
Dada Mail is written in Perl because we love Perl.