Create newsletter

With the new Luxletter system, 2 pages are again required for a newsletter. One page is used for sending as an email (teaser texts), the 2nd page is then the online version directly on the website.

Important: You must be in live mode, i.e. switch accordingly in the workspace / work environment selection.

A new page for the online version is created in the page tree below page [4472] Newsletter online version. Depending on your authorization, this page should be located within your page tree. If necessary, use the search function above the page tree.

To do this, right-click on the page [4472] Newsletter online version and select New subpage. First give the new subpage a page title similar to the old newsletter pages. For example: Newsletter 02-2025, then click on the Save button at the top.

Also make sure that the URL segment field has a plausible value. It should look like this for this example: www.landkreis-ludwigsburg.de/landratsamt-landkreis/aktuelles/newsletter/newsletter-02-2025/. This one would be wrong: www.landkreis-ludwigsburg.de/landratsamt-landkreis/aktuelles/newsletter/newsletter-02-2025-1/. The additional number (-1) results if you have copied an old page and it has the same page title.

A new page for the email version is created in the page tree below the [4060] Newsletter email version page. This should be located within your page tree depending on your authorization. If necessary, use the search function above the page tree.

To do this, right-click on the page [4060] Newsletter email version and select New subpage. First give the new subpage a page title similar to the old newsletter pages. For example: Newsletter 02-2025, then click on the Save button at the top. Next, switch the page type from Standard to Newsletter and save again. This will display an additional tab (Luxletter). In this additional tab, enter the subject line for the newsletter email. This can be identical to the page title. For example: Newsletter 02-2025 and save again.

Click Close at the top and you can now continue with the content. The creation of content is identical for both versions. The difference in the email version is that only teaser texts are created here with links to the content of the online version.

To do this, click on the Create new content button. In the following selection window, select Text and Media. First of all, you need a main heading for the newsletter. Therefore, select the type of headline, Headline 1 and assign the main headline Example: Business location LB. Then click on Save at the top and then Close.

To create an element with a full-width banner image, use the Create new content button again and then Text and Media. Assign a heading again (mandatory field in RED), but select Hidden for Type. Then go to the Media tab and select Add media file. In the following window, select a suitable banner image file.

If this image file has a white border or a transparent area, you should also use the image editing function and readjust it.

The general setting for the width of the image should be 1100 pixels (online version) or 540 pixels (email version). Then click Save at the top and then Close.

If the selected image width for the email version is still set to 1100 pixels, then this image will exceed the width of the layout when the newsletter is received in Outlook and the newsletter will not look "pretty"!

For a text area in combination with an image, carry out the following steps. Again, select the Create new content button. And again, a new text and media element. Again, a heading is required. For example: Company survey on the future strategy for the district of Ludwigsburg and select Heading 2 as the type of heading. In the editor at the bottom, insert the corresponding continuous text. Next, go to the Media tab and select Add media file. Select the appropriate image for this text post.

If necessary, use the image editing function again to set all images in the text and image elements to the same aspect ratio (e.g. 4:3 or 16:9).

Attention!
The width for this type of image must have a value of 250 pixels for the email version and the alignment must be left in the text or right in the text. For the online version, a value of 1100 pixels is permitted.

Then click on Save at the top and then Close.

For the email version, you have only created teaser texts (short preview texts). You link these texts to the online version and the appropriate section as follows:

Go to the end of the teaser text and press the Enter key once for a paragraph. Write the word Read more on a new line. Select the word with the mouse button and click the link symbol in the editor. In the window that opens, go to the Page tab and enter the ID of the newsletter online version page that you created previously in the search function.

Then click on the page (e.g.: [6748] Newsletter 02-2025) with the left mouse button and all content elements of the page will appear on the right. Then select the corresponding content element as the target with the left mouse button.

The link is already set, exactly to the content element where the long text is then placed. Now save and this teaser text is ready and linked.

To see what you have achieved so far, click on your newsletter page in the page tree with the right mouse button and click on Show in the small menu. This works for both versions of the pages, but the look is not quite correct for the email version because it is too wide. Here the preview within the Luxletter module is better, because the email is displayed here.

Now you can continue assembling the newsletter step by step. You can also copy and reuse elements in the backend as required. If you need more space for the first banner image after the main heading, you can also control this. To do this, select the Appearance tab in the content element and then select the value Medium as an example under Spacing before.

Finally, activate your prepared page of the online version. You must also note whether you want the page to be visible directly in the navigation. If yes, then simply go to Edit page properties and make the page visible there when you access it. If not, then also make the page visible under Access, but check the box next to Page activated in menus. Then save the selected settings. This basically prepares the page.

The page for the email version must always be fully activated.

The Luxletter / Newsletter module follows.

1. Sender - select the sender here: Ludwigsburg District Office
2. Layout - should already be filled with Layout LRA
3. Recipient - the users are selected here, there are currently 2 selection options (Newsletter - test user, Newsletter confirmed). You must select Newsletter confirmed. All users who have registered and confirmed their email address after the double opt-in registration are automatically assigned to this category and receive the newsletter accordingly. Once selected, a change is no longer possible. The only way to do this is to create a new mailing newsletter.
4. Where is the newsletter located? - Here you select your previously created page of the newsletter type (e.g.: Newsletter 02-2025). The system automatically lists all available newsletter pages. If you are missing your page here, then it may not have the correct page type (newsletter) selected.

Once you have filled in everything, click on the Next button at the bottom right again.

In the last section you will see an excerpt from the user list and a preview of the newsletter below, which will be sent.

Here you should first click on the Save button at the bottom right to save the previously selected settings. If you forget to do this, the sending procedure must be carried out again. Attention! Saving may take a moment.

After saving, the list of created newsletters should be displayed.

Note: The system has a running cronjob which triggers the dispatch approx. every 5 minutes. This means that since you have set a dispatch time, the dispatch is then triggered in small email packages at this selected time and the newsletter is sent to the users accordingly. This method of sending can mean that if you select the time 17:45, the email will not arrive until 18:00.

When the dispatch is complete, a blue bar will appear in the newsletter list under Progress.

To receive a test e-mail, go to the newsletter and enter an e-mail address in the Test e-mail address field. Then press the Send button and you will receive a test newsletter at the specified e-mail address.