SOAR

The EBlast feature continues to be one of the most used features of the SOAR website service. Many scouting units rely heavily on this feature to easily distribute information automatically to unit members on a weekly basis. Based on this priority we have introduced the following enhancements.

After using any of these options, you can immediately view the results using the EBlast Test feature at Admin/Email.

Better Email Client Support

The overall format of the new EBlast may not look that different to you. Under the hood though, the coding used to display the EBlast in the various email clients has been completely redone. Each email reader (Outlook, Yahoo, Gmail, Comcast, Roadrunner, etc…) interprets things differently. We have accounted for these variances to insure a uniform EBlast display independent of where the email is viewed. This feature alone took quite a lot of time in tracking down the email client variances and testing of each.

Background Colors

During the creating of the new EBlast format we have added a number of background colors to help differentiate the various sections of the EBlast. This should increase the usability of the EBlast for your members.

You will also find a button called EBlast at Admin/Site Themes where you can control the background colors of various components of the EBlast.

We encourage you to go easy on the wild/contrasting color choices for this option. Readability of the EBlast is a very high priority for your members. The default color choices are very scout friendly and provide very slight variations in color to create the desired effect.

Event Registration

A section at the top of the right hand column of the EBlast has been added for any Event Registrations you have defined.

Section Options

You can now control which sections will be included in your EBlast. Go to Admin/Email/EBlast/Settings to see the new options.

Images/Graphics

Last fall when we introduced new methods for including graphics in your Announcements and Events, we initially stripped out these graphics from EBlasts. Some of you may have noticed that a few of the images still came through. When graphics are included in email, it will often increase the probability that the email will be flagged as SPAM. This is the primary reason we removed the images.

You will not find an option at Admin/Email/EBlast/Settings where you can decide for yourself if you want to include graphics in your EBlasts. The default is to NOT include graphics.