Hello, I need to generate a hardcopy newsletter from web content.
I'm working with a Primary School - first revamp of their website in nearly a decade.
We are already making some significant cultural changes, and expect some big efficiency wins in communication processes.
However - not every family at the school is going to be able/willing to access the regular school newsletter online (or via email), and there is a need to not disenfranchise the internet-challenged.... and continue a limited run of the traditional hardcopy newsletter.
We would like to make newsletter/article publishing process "web first" to increase admin efficiencies, and to promote the website as the primary comms platform. However we would like to to also create a fortnightly "digest" that can be generated and printed off in hardcopy (limited number to site on the front desk of the office for those who need it).
To leverage efficiencies, i really want the site to produce the newsletter in printable form.
I'm currently focussing thoughts on the "print" module - with creation of a custom page that collates the relevant info for that edition (in content areas and blocks etc), and then print via a custom print layout using "printer friendly" function. Looking at that option - I think page breaks are my biggest challenge... I have no idea how to control page breaks....
I've also stumbled on the "e-Publish" module http://drupal.org/node/642206
And maybe that might help with the version control and layout - but I'm not convinced yet.
Does anyone else have any examples where they are producing a hardcopy output from web content (or PDF etc that could subsequently be printed) and if so, care to share the recipe?
Cheers
Comments
You're stuffed with the page breaks
Hi Jason,
I think you're stuffed with the page breaks, unless you use some sort of PDF conversion technology, but that's a whole different kettle of fish. It's a lot of work to make an automatic digest look good and paginate well.
Ideal option IMO is to make the email version short and sweet and link to content on the website. You can make it look great using 3rd party email marketing software such as Campaign Monitor or MailChimp plus you get good stats. For hard copy they continue to use their current technology (copy & paste from website) until it dies a natural death. You're probably trying to avoid double data entry, but this is likely to be an uphill battle.
You could do all sorts of stuff to make what you want work, but do they really have the budget for all the time it will take?
My 2 cents' worth.
Cheers,
Mark
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Mark Matuschka
Glo Digital
Thanks Mark. Do the have the
Thanks Mark.
Do the have the budget? ... No :)
I'm doing this one pro-bono, as penance for never showing up for working bee's or garden maintenance :)
All your points well made. For the email/subscription process I'm looking at mailchimp.
but it's the hardcopies that are the challenge. You have me thinking though.
The use case for this is that only one office person needs to be able to print the hardcopy - it then gets photocopied I think.
I might be able to create a specific fixed width and fixed height theme for a couple of specific pages - hidden pages - that can be used to generate the hardcopies.
Thinking out loud... I might be able to use a web screen grabber to "cut" and they can paste each page as a whole into word or something... hmmm
theres another way
we use this way as a real easy email solution - but could be adapted to print easily as well
1. generate content on website
2. use Outlook (or similar email app) to subscribe to RSS feed for content - include attachments and html format
3. use outlook to send to mail list manager or to mail group from within outlook
in your case you could adapt number three to paste into word and print
cheers
You can add page breaks via
You can add page breaks via CSS, in a print only style for instance:
http://www.w3schools.com/cssref/pr_print_pageba.asp
http://www.w3schools.com/cssref/pr_print_pagebb.asp
@BrianGilbert_
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Any progress?
Hi Jason,
Did you make any headway with a solution to your issue of generating a nice looking hardcopy newsletter from website content? Every school has this issue!
Cheers,
Mark
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Mark Matuschka
Glo Digital