Enews Q

[paul4ut78006]

Is it possible to use InDesign to create a newsletter that can be emailed in such as way that it is viewable on desktop/tablet/smartphone platforms? If not, is there a way to do this with an Adobe application? Spark or Dreamwever perhaps?

[Derek Cross · Accepted solution]

PDF's and InDesign's Publish Online formats are relatively easy to produce from InDesign documents and can easily be opened and read on most computers (PC and Mac) and on Tablest and Smart Phones,

An HTML Newsletter can be produced with Dreamweaver (and other applications) , but it's a very specialised format. Most people use things like MailChimp for this kind of thing.

[paul4ut78006]

I use Mailchimp for a company I work for. In the past, I've used Constant Contact. Is it possible to create an electronic newsletter for e-mail and social media by using an Adobe application like InDesign?

I would really like to break free from using CRM software like MailChimp. Perhaps there is a tutorial or video so I can somehow replicate the formatting used by CRM?

If anyone know, please chime in... I'm listening!

[BobLevine]

You are already aware of the two best ways of doing this. There is nothing in the Adobe universe that can even come close to replacing them.

[Eugene Tyson]

I 100% agree with Bob. 

MailChimp and Constant Contact and other email providers are tested on many different devices and email readers and also offer services beyond just CRM - like A/B Splits - Contact List management (legal requirement) - follow up to unopened readers - follow up on those who opened the email - responding - subscribe/unsubscribe options (legal requirements).

If you're looking to send out your own email blast from InDesign templates from your own email account. You might get blacklisted for too many bounces - and then it takes a while to get off the blacklist. 

[JonathanArias]

Indesign does not generate the html code with css needed/supported by email programs.

For a complete guide of css support based on email program see this:

https://www.campaignmonitor.com/css/

[Nancy OShea]

@paul4ut78006,

You have posted this same question in AI, DW, MU, ID, and PS.  Please DO NOT cross post. Your answer remains the same no matter which board you cross post to.   Continue using MailChimp's onboard tools or switch to a plain code editor like Dreamweaver or Visual Studio Code. And learn to work with HTML and inline CSS code.  

[This discussion is locked.]

[BobLevine]

For an email newsletter look into Constant Contact or MailChimp.

[jane-e]

"Spark or Dreamwever perhaps?"

Not Dreamweaver, as it has seen better days. Spark should work if you need an Adobe application. Otherwise, I'd cast my vote for Mail Chimp as has already been mentioned.

[paul4ut78006]

I use Mailchimp for a company I work for. In the past, I've used Constant Contact. Is it possible to create an electronic newsletter for e-mail and social media by using an Adobe application like Muse?

I would really like to break free from using CRM software like MailChimp. Perhaps there is a tutorial or video so I can somehow replicate the formatting used by CRM?

If anyone know, please chime in... I'm listening!

[fotoroeder]

No, Muse never was able to create a newsletter by itself. Always 3rd party widgets were necessary to achieve that.

Kind regards,

Uwe

[Nancy OShea]

No.  And espcially not on MailChimp which requires some proprietary MC code.

You should be using MailChimp's onboard app or a REAL code editor like Dreamweaver or Visual Studio Code.  Muse is NOT a code editor.

[paul4ut78006]

I use Mailchimp for a company I work for. In the past, I've used Constant Contact. Is it possible to create an electronic newsletter for e-mail and social media by using an Adobe application like Dreamwever?

I would really like to break free from using CRM software like MailChimp. Perhaps there is a tutorial or video so I can somehow replicate the formatting used by CRM?

If anyone know, please chime in... I'm listening!

[Nancy OShea]

Yes, you can use Dreamweaver or any code editor to code manually if you know how and what's required.

How much coding experience do you have with HTML emails? And more specifically MailChimp's emails?

If the company already uses MailChimp they are probably using it for a reason. So start with a MailChimp template and examine the code in Dreamweaver.

[osgood_]

Coding html email correctly is a very skilled and complex task due to the variations in the way email clients handle the code, they have never caught up with browsers. I would suggest sticking with a template or at least basing your code on MailChimp option or one of the other significant online email companies because those templates will generally work in the majority of email clients.

You can of course investigate rolling your own code BUT you'll get as many opinions about how to go about it as there are the number of days in a years. Some say divs are ok to use with embedded css styling, whilst others will say stick with tried and trusted table layouts and use inline css styling.

Whichever way you go you must test the email in a variety of email clients. Litmus online testing is pricey if you only produce html emails infrequently BUT if creating html emails is your main job and you send a lot out the top-dollar may be worth it. I think you may have a free period for testing so have a go at rolling your own html email code and see if it works. Once you establish a workflow you might not be so reliant on testing although its good to have if you can afford it.

[BenPleysier]

I have a a converter installed that converts my Bootstrap creation into an email format. See the videos on how to do this.  Although the video mentions Wappler, you could do this in Dreamweaver using a external CLI (command line interface). Or you could use Visual Studio free of charge which has a built-in terminal window.

Videos:

Part 1

Part 2

[paul4ut78006]

I use Mailchimp for a company I work for. In the past, I've used Constant Contact. Is it possible to create an electronic newsletter for e-mail and social media by using an Adobe application like Photoshop?

I would really like to break free from using CRM software like MailChimp. Perhaps there is a tutorial or video so I can somehow replicate the formatting used by CRM?

If anyone knows, please chime in... I'm listening!

[jane-e]

Hi @paul4ut78006 

You might try Adobe Spark. You can get a 30-free trial, or it's included if you have a subscription to most Creative Cloud plans.

Adobe Spark / Compare plans

~ Jane

[Conrad_C]

There are some potential issues here. One is that the CRM front end where you create emails is tied to a powerful server back end that dynamically generates the proper HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to send to clients, and manages the mailing and responses to it. That involves a lot more than just cranking out the design in code form, but also some detals under the hood like:

• Code that has been fully tested to display properly, given the quirks of the different major desktop and mobile email clients and web browsers (different screen sizes and shapes, font availability, accessibility compliance, etc). 
• Putting exactly the right metadata in the email headers to avoid getting your bulk send flagged as spam by other email servers. 
• Conforming to international requirements for data privacy and online soliciting (GDPR etc). 

• Being able to track opens so that you have some metrics about who is reading and responding to your emails. 

Photoshop and most Adobe applications cannot do that. They typically generate only static HTML/CSS that is fully self-contained, not easy to integrate without further hand tweaking. You might get it done in Adobe Dreamweaver, but again, probably not without hand-tailoring the code. If you wanted to generate the complete email code yourself, you would also have to handle the bulk sending yourself, including the right metadata to keep you off spam blacklists and such. In other words, sending effective emails goes well beyond simply designing and hitting Send. 

Another approach, especially for social media, is to see if the Adobe Spark line fits what you want to do. It is based on templates optimized for social media platforms, and hosted by Adobe so you don’t have to worry about server management, file metadata, etc.

There are some non-Adobe applications that are built to send bulk emails, like MaxBulk Mailer (haven’t used it, not endorsing it), but my impression is that they have become less popular because the online email services like Constant Contact are more able to keep up with the latest technical and legal requirements.

[Nancy OShea]

MailChimp won't accept Spark newsletters, sorry.

Use Dreamweaver to manually code in HTML & CSS or use MailChimp's onboard tools to create your emails.

[Cross posting is not allowed, this discussion is locked.]

[paul4ut78006]

I use Mailchimp for a company I work for. In the past, I've used Constant Contact. Is it possible to create an electronic newsletter for e-mail and social media by using an Adobe application like Illustrator?

I would really like to break free from using CRM software like MailChimp. Perhaps there is a tutorial or video so I can somehow replicate the formatting used by CRM?

If anyone know, please chime in... I'm listening!

[Monika Gause]

You could try a code editor like Dreamweaver for that.