Subscriber Dataset Custom Pages & Emails
- To access the subscriber page customization for a dataset, open the node of the desired dataset in the Subscriber Datasets subtree, to show its subnodes. Then select the Custom Pages & Emails subnode.
-
To access the subscriber page customization for a list, open the node of the parent dataset of the desired list in the
Subscriber Datasets
subtree, to show its subnodes.
- For a standard dataset (in subscriber area mode), proceed to open the Lists subnode, to show the subtree with all the lists in the dataset. Then open the desired list node in this subtree.
- For a "single list mode" dataset, there is no such "Lists" subnode. Simply open the node for the single list from the subnodes of the dataset node.
The left pane displays the LISTSERV Maestro explorer tree, with the "Subscriber Datasets" subtree. This subtree contains all subscriber datasets and lists. In this tree, each dataset has its own little subtree, with the main dataset node as the root, and two or three child nodes. The Custom Pages & Emails node is such a child node.
While the Custom Pages & Emails node of a dataset is selected in the tree, the pane on the right shows the subscriber area layout customization for the dataset.
If at least some layout elements of the dataset have been customized, then the right pane contains a list of all customizable layout elements, on three sub-tabs: Subscriber Pages, Messages and Input Validation Errors and Default Profile Field Styles. The customizable layout elements are shown with icons explaining their current customization status.
The Messages and Input Validation Errors tab shows the Message Page Texts table and the Input Validation Errors table.
Each table lists the available elements and displays their current customization status with the following icons:
The draft version of the layout
element is not customized.
The draft version of the layout element
is customized.
The production version of the
layout element is not customized.
The production version of the layout
element is customized.
Click on an element to open it for customization.
If at least the draft or production version of a layout element is customized (or both), then
either a "
" or a "
" sign is displayed between the two icons to
show whether or not the current draft version is equal to the current production version. (If both
versions are not customized, the equals-sign is not displayed, meaning that the
two versions remain unchanged.)
The Deploy icon: If there is at least one layout element in
the dataset, or in one of the lists where the draft version is different than the current
production version, then the Deploy icon in the top-right corner allows the deploying of all these
draft versions at once (either the ones in the dataset/list itself only or all draft versions
in the dataset and all its lists).
If the customization of any page in the dataset or one of its lists is currently incompatible to the matching dataset/list, then the tab also displays an additional notification message about this fact, and it also contains a link to a page where all incompatible pages can be viewed and accessed.
See here for details about the Subscriber Pages tab or the Default Profile Field Styles tab.
Where To Start The Customization?
The following describes various situations in which customization of the subscriber area pages or notification emails may be desired and gives hints about where to start in each situation:
- Customize the page frame and/or style.
- Customize specific texts, for all the user's
available datasets at once.
- Translate all texts to a different language, for all the
user's available datasets at once.
- Customize specific texts, but only for a given
dataset.
- Customize the actual layout of a page, but only for a given
dataset.
- Customize the notification email layout/style
for all emails.
- Customize a specific notification email
- Combinations of the above.
1: Customize the page frame and/or style.
The situation: The default layout of the subscriber area pages is fine but the default style shouldn't be used. In other words, instead of the default blue bar at the top of each page and the default colors and fonts, a different design style is desired, including a common frame for all pages and common styles, fonts, and colors.
The solution: Use the customization interface built into LISTSERV Maestro and customize the subscriber area header/footer template only. This template is by default inherited by all pages of the subscriber area; therefore, by defining a common frame (or header/footer) in this template, and by providing custom HTML styles, all pages can be easily given a new design.
2: Customize specific texts, for all the user's available datasets at once.
The situation: In general, the look of the pages (and error messages and email notifications) is fine, but here and there a change of the wording of a sentence or a message is desired. This should be done only once so that all the user's available datasets use the changed texts and the same changes don't have to be repeated for each new dataset.
The solution: Do not use the customization interface of LISTSERV Maestro. Instead, use the translation tool that L-Soft provides to customize a few of the default texts which LISTSERV Maestro uses for the default layout. By not doing this in the customization interface and directly modifying the default texts, not just a single dataset is influenced, but all datasets that are using these default texts (i.e. which do not override the defaults with custom texts in the customization interface). In this context, the original texts aren't "translated"; instead, the customized replacement values are supplied for some of them. For this, when using the translation tool, choose "English" as the target language (see the user manual of the translation tool for more details.)
3: Translate all texts to a different language, for all the user's available datasets at once.
The situation: In general, the look of the pages (and error messages and email notifications) is fine, but they need to appear in a different language, and all the user's available datasets should use this language for the default pages.
The solution: Do not use the customization interface of LISTSERV Maestro. Instead, use the translation tool that L-Soft provides to customize the default texts which LISTSERV Maestro uses for the default layout. By not doing this in the customization interface and directly modifying the default texts for a given language, not just a single dataset is influenced, but all datasets that are using these default texts (i.e. which do not override the defaults with custom texts in the customization interface). (See the user manual of the translation tool for more details.)
4: Customize specific texts, but only for a given dataset.
The situation: For a given dataset, the general look of the pages (and error messages and email notifications) is fine, but here and there a change of the wording of a sentence or a message is desired, but only for this one dataset.
The solution: Use the customization interface built into LISTSERV Maestro and customize the pages (or error messages or email notifications) in question to change the wording of the current texts by replacing them with custom texts.
5: Customize the actual layout of a page, but only for a given dataset.
The situation: For some pages of a given dataset (or even all of the available ones), the layout of the pages is not satisfactory. For example, various elements on the page need to be reordered or an otherwise different arrangement.
The solution: Use the customization interface built into LISTSERV Maestro and customize the pages in question to change the current layout by editing the HTML code to provide a custom layout.
6: Customize the notification email layout/style for all emails.
The situation: The default texts of the subscriber area notification emails are fine but the default style shouldn't be used. In other words, instead of the rather plain default style, a different design style is desired especially for the HTML versions of the notification emails, including a common header and footer for all emails and common styles, fonts, and colors.
The solution: Use the customization interface built into LISTSERV Maestro and customize the notification email header/footer template only. This template is by default inherited by all notification emails of the subscriber area; therefore, by defining a common header and footer in this template, and by providing custom HTML styles, all emails can be easily given a new design.
7: Customize a specific notification email.
The situation: For some notification emails of a given dataset (or even all of the available ones), the layout and/or text of the emails is not satisfactory. For example, various elements in the emails need to be reordered or reworded or an otherwise different arrangement.
The solution: Use the customization interface built into LISTSERV Maestro and customize the email notifications in question to change the current layout by providing custom content both for the HTML and the plain text version.
Of course, the above cases may also be combined. For example, to define custom frame and design and to also translate the default dataset texts, combine the cases 1 and 3 above. Or, to change a few default texts for all available datasets and then also customize a few other texts for a specific dataset, combine the cases 2 and 4 above.