Re: newsletters

Shelley:

Ah .... Newsletters that download fast. I won't say it can't be done. But it
is very hard to do. The problem with newsletters is - - people want a lot of
"stuff" in them and all that "stuff" takes a long time to load.

We have tried .doc files, .PDF files and HTML E-mail. We have yet to see a
really big difference in load times. HTML e-mail is usually smaller for the
same content. But even here, it kind of depends on how you define the word
"same". An optimized .jpg image will quite often load faster than the same
picture sent as a .tif or .eps. But is it really the same??

Our club first tried .doc files a couple of years ago. After all, there is
hardly anyone using Windows or Mac in the whole uncivilized world, that can
not read a .doc file. But like you, we found the file size rather large.

So we were reminded about PDF. As our office had Canvas which would save as
PDF, we tried doing the newsletter in Canvas. It worked great. After all,
Canvas IS a publishing program. Then we saved it as PDF and discovered to
our horror that the file size was nearly identical as the one created in
Word.

Our next shock was discovering how FEW of our members had the Adobe Acrobat
Reader. We spent several days helping people "download" the reader. Of
course, it still took just as long for the e-mail to download with the PDF
attachment as it did with the .doc attachment.

So next we tried using HTML e-mail. We used FrontPage to create the e-mail
and then tried building it direct in Outlook Express.  Actually the Outlook
Express newsletter was faster primarily because we did not have all the
tools in the e-mail program as we had in FrontPage. Ended up with a smaller
file but without our fancy tables. A much smaller file. Now we thought. We
are getting somewhere .... WRONG  !!

About 15% of our club could not receive the e-mail as sent for one reason or
another. AOL people got the text with the images "pulled" and included as
attachments. Others had the pages garbled.

So now we send two different copies. One with full HTML and images to
most -- and a second "text only" version for those few with "challenged"
e-mail programs or services.

So we share your problems and wish we had a fool proof answer for you.

You must quiz your people to see what they can handle. If they all receive
the .doc file with the only problem being download time, then maybe your
best bet is to reduce the size of the Word file. Get rid of any
non-essential "stuff". One way is to seek the lowest common denominator by
producing your .doc file in Windows Wordpad. With it's limited capability
compared to Word, the file size is bound to be a lot smaller. True, you
would lose a lot of the bells and goodies.

If your membership has the Adobe Reader, give PDF a try. If you have the
full blown Acrobat with compiler, etc. maybe you will get a smaller file
size. But as I mentioned, all of our members could read .doc files but
nearly half of them did NOT have the reader. They just weren't "web" people,
I guess.

On the bright side, PDF and .doc files do have one thing in
common--everybody can usually print either without problem. And--very few
ever actually "printed" the e-mails, though we print out the HTML version
for a few snail mail recipients.

But the bottom line ?? Just like in web pages, it's always a trade off .
Content vs. Speed.

If you ever find something that really works great, we'd love to hear about
it as well ...

Best wishes
Ted Temer
Temercraft Designs Redding, CA
temer(at)c-zone.net
www.temercraft.com/
www.newsredding.com/


> Greetings Peoples
>
> I need some info on how to construct a newsletter so that it can
> be printed off and mailed or emailed to individuals and then
> printed off at their end.  I'm on the board of a non-profit org.
> and we send out a newsletter about every 2nd month.  The
> newsletters have been structured and designed in MS Word, sent as
> an attachment and should open in Word, Word Perfect, Corel or
> MSWorks (I used Word).  However the first effort (received
> yesterday) did take some time to download (and I'm on cable :)  )
> and I'm concerned that:  1)  It's too large a file for slower
> modems to download in a reasonable time, and;  2)  It is limited
> to being opened in the above noted programs.
>
> I was initially leaning towards suggesting a PDF and posting it
> on the website so that it could be viewed or downloaded but I
> haven't spent any time on the Adobe program so I'm not sure if
> one can set up the document in the newsletter format (i.e.
> masthead, imported graphics, columns, etc.).   Ideally I'd like
> to suggest that the newsletter be constructed in a format that
> could be posted on the website with the link sent via email.
> However whatever program is used needs to be flexible enough to
> do this and also print off for those that need it mailed by
> regular post.  I.e., the Director of Communications only wants to
> type up the blasted thing once and would like it in a typical
> newsletter format.
>
> Ok, I hope I made sense of that and I'm open to suggestions from
> folks who have dealt with this issue.  I'm truly not lazy (grin)
> just
> swamped with a couple of projects at the moment.  This isn't my
> responsibility but as a board member I'd like to be able to help
> out with cutting our costs and making the use of the internet
> more viable for our organization.  As it is I was asked to take
> over the maintenance of the website and it's done in FrontPage -
> so I've got some more learning to do (haven't used FP yet - only
> hand coded).  If I have to do an restructuring of the site I'd
> like to be able to set up something to facilitate the newsletter
> too.
>
>
> Thanks in advance,
> Shelley
> shelleyw(at)home.com
>
> "A journey of a thousand miles
> starts from beneath one's feet"
> --------Lao-Tzu
>
>

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