Mailing list software

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[vbrilon]

Just curious as to why you want to twist your CMS into acting as a maling list manager? Those seem like pretty different functions.

Having said that, why not just install Mailman (http://www.gnu.org/software/mailman/index.html) and not reinvent the wheel? But then again, maybe I don't understand what you're trying to accomplish...

[Pixel Stuff]

A unified interface for the client to publish pages / newsletters

site archives of past newsletters

unified user database. Eventualy that could even work with a commerce feature for a paid area of the site.

[sottwell]

There should be one place for users to log in and access whatever your site has to offer, and one place for managers to log in and manage whatever they need to manage.  Besides, MODx is not really a CMS, it is a CMF...so it does a lot more than just manage content. It provides a framework for managing all the content of your entire site.

[vbrilon]

Susan,

I agree with your reasons, but there are certain wheels that I think aren't worth reinventing -- and a mailing list manager is complex enough that I think it's one of those wheels.

Anyway, Mailman is easy enough to customize that you can make it look like a part of your site, as well as point it to your database for user info. Personally I think that's easier than creating something from scratch, but that's just me 

[sottwell]

Yes, but a bridge like the SMF bridge would be very nice. Why should a user have to register twice, once for your site and once for your mailing list?

I, for one, certainly have no intention of trying to write an entire mailing list app from scratch! Just a way to seamlessly connect users between MODx and a "real" mailing list app is what I have in mind. A module to connect to the mailing app's manager would be nice, but not really as important.

[banzai]

 I agree with you Susan a PhpList (or other ml) bridge should be very nice

[bugsmi0]

Just curious as to why you want to twist your CMS into acting as a maling list manager? Those seem like pretty different functions.

Having said that, why not just install Mailman (http://www.gnu.org/software/mailman/index.html) and not reinvent the wheel? But then again, maybe I don't understand what you're trying to accomplish...

Since mailman requires python it doesn't seem like a good choice since many people will not know how to setup python, better to use someting that doesn't require much to setup, phplist is easy 123

[Starbuck]

Since mailman requires python it doesn't seem like a good choice since many people will not know how to setup python, better to use someting that doesn't require much to setup, phplist is easy 123

Not quite easy 123. It doesn't do bulk mailing of static html newsletters, it does do plain text emails with custom fields, but a newsletter with no fields and xxxx number of subscibers and it's lots of hours of restarting the queue, like every 40 minutes it does 60 to 90 emails (a newsletter under 100k) and if left alone it just stops. They don't give good support, and have no-love for their forum members, information is very thin.

Having said that it could be improved on - a lot.

[OpenGeek]

After wrestling with mailman and a myriad of custom solutions and external service providers, I've settled for publishing RSS feeds to email subscription services like Squeet.com and FeedBlitz.com, offloading the complicated task of getting emails delivered through the myriad of spam trappers and blacklists.  Hardly the best solution yet, but as these services improve, they offer much greater value than trying to configure a local mailing list solution.  IMO, it's just a bunch of headaches I don't need, even if the mailing list software works flawlessly.

[sottwell]

Looked over Squeet, and from a fairly advanced "user's" point of view, it's pretty nice. The only tricky part would be the initial setup of the desired feed, I suspect most users would have a hard time figuring out what to do with that form (yes, I do have that low an opinion of "users"!) But if you can simply tell you users "go here <link> and sign up, then copy and paste this <your rss feed link> into the Feed URL box and click the Subscribe button", it just might work.

[bugsmi0]

Joomla (apologize for even saying the J word) he he,

has more than one variation of a mail list / news letter created by third parties, one i think was called philaform seem to have some interesting ideas, perhaps you could review those for ideas on how to set up something for Modx, they also had it setup to use both txt and html

I still think bulk mailing of html is a low priority, if users can't handle plain text that let me display the honary loser gesture he he just kidding. Most people will not care and those that do are less than 1%, if you can at least begin with plain text, can always add html down the road.

take what other CMS are doing and make it better no need to reinvent

[Starbuck]

Joomla (apologize for even saying the J word) he he,

has more than one variation of a mail list / news letter created by third parties, one i think was called philaform seem to have some interesting ideas, perhaps you could review those for ideas on how to set up something for Modx, they also had it setup to use both txt and html

I still think bulk mailing of html is a low priority, if users can't handle plain text that let me display the honary loser gesture he he just kidding. Most people will not care and those that do are less than 1%, if you can at least begin with plain text, can always add html down the road.

take what other CMS are doing and make it better no need to reinvent

Ideally plain text is great - solutions client's want however is a completely different matter and for most part for the people we deal with 'needs' don't include "text" emails, they can get their secretary to do that.  Text emails have no commercial sex appeal. There are some good commercial solutions like campaign monitor that really aren't all that expensive... free to try if you happen to be looking for one.

[smileybri]

I have experience with Mailman, DADAmail and PHPlist.

First, Starbuck, you are probably trying to process the queue via the Web interface. PHPlist recommends that you use a cron to process the queue if your list is more than a thousand subscribers. PHPlist can send HTML and/or plain text and it gives the user the choice. It is not the be all end all in mailing list apps, but is the program of choice for my sites.

I am a newbie to CMS and to MODx, but I think you are on the right track here to coordinate the sharing of information between the two.

To the person insisting that email be plain text, I have to say that I agree, but most people do not. I am constantly trying to train clients to use plain text, but I usually have to give in to their demands to enable HTML for outgoing messages. HTML is the future of Email. Get used to it.