Newsletter Glue Version 2 Rebuilds Settings Interface With Block Components, Sets Foundation for New Features – WP Tavern

I “formally” dubbed Newsletter Glue my favourite plugin within the 2021 yearly recap post. WordPress’s block system makes such tasks extra possible than earlier than, or no less than extra simply constructed and prolonged. Since I first took observe of it, I’ve stored a watchful eye on its progress. Late final month, the plugin’s improvement group released an overhauled version 2.0.

Final September, I put Newsletter Glue through the ropes. It was a well-rounded plugin that was straightforward to arrange and connect with my most well-liked e mail software program. The onboarding course of was top-notch. Creating and sending newsletters was as straightforward as publishing a weblog publish.

There have been some items of the consumer expertise that I didn’t like. Not having the ability to completely disable fullscreen mode was one in all them, and that appears to have been mounted since then. I’d additionally welcome extra integration with the energetic theme’s shade palette within the E-newsletter Theme Designer and the meta field moved to the sidebar panel.

With model 2.0 out, I headed again to my preliminary thought for this plugin. I blew the mud off my fictional household e-newsletter and commenced tapping out Problem #2.

I’m nonetheless motivated to show this right into a real-world e-newsletter if I ever discover the time. If solely there have been about 30 hours in a day.

Usability has remained the identical in model 2.0 with the publishing course of. The plugin nonetheless balances its bells and whistles towards the simplicity of sending an e mail.

Model 2.0 introduces a brand new admin settings UI constructed as a React app utilizing elements from the block system. E-newsletter Glue co-founder Lesley Sim mentioned it was impressed by the WordPress.com, Jetpack, and WooCommerce interfaces.

“We constructed it to put a quicker, simpler to navigate basis for all the brand new options we now have deliberate,” she wrote within the announcement. She didn’t spoil the shock of what these new options will likely be. Like different E-newsletter Glue followers, I eagerly await what the group has in retailer later this yr.

Navigating the settings display tabs was snappier. I now want all plugins with a number of choices pages had the identical polish.

The obvious change was the brand new Connections tab. It merges the previous Join and E-mail pages right into a single unit. The change makes way more sense now.

Sim mentioned within the announcement that the transfer conceptualizes connections to be extra like profiles and offers a stronger basis for upcoming options. I’ve been choosing my mind, attempting to determine what these could possibly be. Proper now, the plugin permits a single connection. Maybe she was hinting at permitting a number of connections or tying completely different user-based e mail addresses (profiles?) to newsletters.

The E-newsletter Theme Designer characteristic now exists as a separate tab underneath the Templates & Kinds part within the admin. The default display showcases the built-in patterns and sample creator.

One among my favourite options is the E-newsletter Blocks settings part, which permits customers to allow or disable particular blocks:

As a substitute of solely having toggle switches for the blocks, the group additionally has a video tutorial on what each does. Clicking the “watch demo” button for a block pops up a YouTube video with a walkthrough. Take observe if you’re a developer: that is the way you educate and empower end-users to make use of the instruments you might be providing.

Model 2.0 is way more of a foundational launch than a splattering of recent options, however shoring up the interior workings of a challenge is usually one of the best use of an replace.

Sim listed the overall areas the group is engaged on in future releases. The listing included integrations with extra e mail service suppliers and plugins, extra e-newsletter blocks, and “A***ma***” newsletters. Any Wordle superstars need to take a crack at that final one?