Server: Better designed emails when sharing links and calendar etc
Today we use standard templates that contains mostly text. It works, but isn't that pretty. What I suggest is to improve the design so that it looks more professinal. I've seen some great work by @Espina2 the past weeks, and I'd really like to see some suggestions regarding an improvment of the mails that are sent to users.
As an external user of Nextcloud (someone that uses Nextcloud sends a link to someone that doesn't) the first impression is the mail they get with either a calendar invitavion or a shared link. To attract more users to use Nextcloud and make a switch from Google or some other provider I belive it's crucial that our soulution looks better.
Google Calendar invitation:
Google Drive shared link:
Please fill this issue with more examples.
@jancborchardt What do you think?
@georgehrke Is this something that you control in the calendar app?
enoch85
All 59 comments
Can you post the actual email?
Espina2
on 10 Nov 2016
@Espina2 The sharing email looks like this:
My header is black in the Theme settings.
Hello there,
just wanted to inform you that Daniel Hansson shared links TURN.txt with you.
Show it!
The share will expire November 17, 2016.
Have a great day!
I'm having issues generating the Calendar share email.
enoch85
on 10 Nov 2016
Ok, just found out that when sharing an event in the Calendar to a Gmail address, the email looks as it came from Google - same as in the picture.
Haven't tried with other mail suppliers or Mirosoft Exchange.
enoch85
on 10 Nov 2016
I will take a look and see what I can make as soon as I can. :)
Espina2
on 10 Nov 2016
The invitation mails are handled in the day app, the email that includes the sharing link for public calendars is generated in the calendar app.
georgehrke
on 10 Nov 2016
MorrisJobke
on 17 Nov 2016
I created some simple Drafts to start a discussion. I did not consider calendar invites, yet, but first things, first.
I opted for the colorful header, instead of just the logo (proposed by @jancborchardt in #1446 ) as a stronger brand indicator, because we use it in the web application, on nextcloud.com, on Android...
We definitely should use call-to-action buttons in every Mail.
And of course thumbnails would be nice. How realistic is this? At least filetype icons should be possible, right?
@MorrisJobke mjml looks really nice. But how would you integrate it in the development process? Or should we use it only to create responsible templates?
New User Template:
Theming:
eppfel
on 28 Nov 2016
@eppfel Very nice! I like number 2 and 3 best. What do you think @jancborchardt?
enoch85
on 28 Nov 2016
I prefer with round buttons, you should increase the margins on open on Nextcloud, and maybe switch to open in the browser, since nextcloud is a brand and if configure but another brand it doesnt make to much sense.
Espina2
on 28 Nov 2016
Thx, for the feedback. The rounded buttons are definitively more distinctive. I'll incorporate your feedback and create drafts for different devices/screes-sizes based on 2 and 3. When we decided on the look, we can create designs for the various other templates, to see, if it works well, in all cases.
Just, realized: We didn't ping @nextcloud/designers, yet.
eppfel
on 28 Nov 2016
This would be great to have in 11, if not too late?
enoch85
on 29 Nov 2016
The first beta is already out, so we are way beyond feature freeze.
georgehrke
on 29 Nov 2016
Well then, lett's try to make it into 11.0.1 :)
enoch85
on 29 Nov 2016
@enoch85 http://semver.org/ 馃槈 That's not how it works and we are already at 11.0.5.
A complete redesign takes time, but as it's mostly decoupled of other functionality, so maybe a 11.5.0 馃榿 But that's not for me to decide.
eppfel
on 29 Nov 2016
How can we be at 11.0.5 if 11.0.0 is not even released?
But I agree, according to semver.org, this would make it into 11.1.0 at the earliest.
phsc84
on 29 Nov 2016
For the record: We don't use semver on the server. Since this is a new feature this will have to be in 12 => Early next year.
LukasReschke
on 29 Nov 2016
Aaanyway, better late then never. :)
enoch85
on 29 Nov 2016
@MorrisJobke mjml looks really nice. But how would you integrate it in the development process? Or should we use it only to create responsible templates?
Only use it as inspiration or try to integrate it (see bower.json ;))
MorrisJobke
on 29 Nov 2016
Any news here? :)
enoch85
on 16 Dec 2016
Yes:
馃槈
MorrisJobke
on 16 Dec 2016
Sry, assigned it to me now, but no promises... 馃榿
eppfel
on 16 Dec 2016
Ping
enoch85
on 15 Feb 2017
Ping
MorrisJobke
on 16 Feb 2017
Always good with a reminder sometimes. :)
And you're too funny @MorrisJobke :D
enoch85
on 16 Feb 2017
For the record: We don't use semver on the server. Since this is a new feature this will have to be in 12 => Early next year.
12 is around the corner. How is this issue in the priority list? I have customers that asks for it all the time.
If this is not going into 12 I would like to know how I can:
- Change the logo so that the logo is the same as the Theming app logo.
- Change the FROM name to the name of the Theming app to something else than Nextcloud.
Would Email Templates be the place to start?
EDIT Tried to replace the default logo-mail.png in ../core/img but that didn't help even though I cleared cache. The Email Templates are just if you have created a new theme from start which isn't what I'm doing here.
So if I haven't mentioned it already; it would be great if the Theme logo would appear in the emails as well. Also, would be nice if this would be addressed in 12.0: https://github.com/nextcloud/server/issues/3314
enoch85
on 20 Mar 2017
I'm sorry, but I had no time left for Nextcloud these days and it will be sparse in the next month, too. I feel this needs to be done shortly, but I have no influence on priorities...
eppfel
on 22 Mar 2017
@eppfel I understand.
@Espina2 Do you have time? :)
enoch85
on 22 Mar 2017
@enoch85
I have a bit of free time. But even if I come with something and do the HTML stuff, I don't know wich files I have to change. :/
Espina2
on 22 Mar 2017
@Espina2 Great!
@eppfel Could you point him in the right direction please? Or anyone else? Would be super!
enoch85
on 22 Mar 2017
@MorrisJobke can I use foundation for emails and anyone of us integrate into the actual Nextcloud core?
Espina2
on 23 Mar 2017
@MorrisJobke can I use foundation for emails and anyone of us integrate into the actual Nextcloud core?
Sure :) Doing the HTML and CSS is fine and we can then integrate it into the mailing code :)
LukasReschke
on 23 Mar 2017
I will work on that this weekend. :)
Espina2
on 23 Mar 2017
Thank you @Espina2!
enoch85
on 23 Mar 2017
So this is I came for. I don't make illustrations or any other decorative stuff because they will depend on the brand that sends the email. So is very basic and straight forward.
After the feedback, I can code this.
@enoch85
Espina2
on 24 Mar 2017
@Espina2 Very cool! And when the user changes the header color and logo + footer text with the Theme app it will change as well?
enoch85
on 24 Mar 2017
Is the idea, but is not me who are going to make that. That kind of thing is do in the template engine. :)
Espina2
on 24 Mar 2017
Aah ok. Well then, good to go from me. Thank you @Espina2 for taking care of this before 12 is released.
enoch85
on 24 Mar 2017
@nextcloud/designers Please feedback :)
MorrisJobke
on 25 Mar 2017
Like it a lot. Primary button better on the right?
And @espina2 maybe try another use case like sharing to see how your design works.
Sadly the templates are scattered and not in a central place. I touched most templates in the following PR, which gives a good list: https://github.com/nextcloud/server/pull/1446/files
eppfel
on 25 Mar 2017
Primary button better on the right?
I vote no on this one. We read from left to right, not right to left.
enoch85
on 25 Mar 2017
@enoch85
Source code here (made with foundation emails) : https://cloud.paulomoura.com.pt/nextcloud-emails/
Live compiled version here: https://cloud.paulomoura.com.pt/nextcloud-emails/dist/new-member.html
I will make the other versions after @eppfel. But like how it's made it is very versatile, what is going to change is only the white part.
@eppfel I don't see any particular reason for the button be on the right. If is another type of button like for example "next" it should be on the right in any other case I don't see any problem in the principal button stay on the left, like enoch said we read from left to right. :)
Hope this helps and anyone can integrate this.
Espina2
on 25 Mar 2017
@Espina2 Very nice Paulo!
enoch85
on 25 Mar 2017
Good stuff Paulo! :) What do you think about making the background white too, so it鈥檚 just all white? The grey background with white box makes it feel like it鈥檚 a bit much content on the page while it鈥檚 just a simple 1-info mail.
jancborchardt
on 26 Mar 2017
@Espina2 Could you make this a PR so we can get it into Nextcloud 12 before release?
enoch85
on 27 Mar 2017
@enoch85
Like I said any of the other people here have to do that. I don't know the changes need in the core.
It must be another person.
Espina2
on 27 Mar 2017
@LukasReschke and me can check it out :)
jancborchardt
on 27 Mar 2017
@jancborchardt @LukasReschke Thank you!!
enoch85
on 27 Mar 2017
@jancborchardt I prefer to have the grey and the white. It doesn't change anything if you remove the grey, but I think is more boring...
When you check it out, you can do whatever you want. :)
Espina2
on 27 Mar 2017
I prefer to have the grey and the white.
Me too, it makes the box stand out.
enoch85
on 27 Mar 2017
I heard Hackweek is going on. Would be great if this made it into 12 before release! please :)
enoch85
on 30 Mar 2017
@LukasReschke and me can check it out :)
@jancborchardt Will this make it into 12?
enoch85
on 4 Apr 2017
PR for the welcome email: #4244
MorrisJobke
on 6 Apr 2017
Great work @MorrisJobke @Espina2! :1st_place_medal: What about the calendar invitation and sharing emails? :)
enoch85
on 10 Apr 2017
The template should be the same, just some tweaks are needed it. (design)
Espina2
on 10 Apr 2017
Great work @MorrisJobke @Espina2! 馃 What about the calendar invitation and sharing emails? :)
Keep calm. We all have limited time.
MorrisJobke
on 10 Apr 2017
@MorrisJobke Sorry, was just hoping to see this in 12.
enoch85
on 10 Apr 2017
Sharing emails: #4307
MorrisJobke
on 12 Apr 2017
First of all, I just tested master on localhost and I'm very happy with the result. Thank you @MorrisJobke @Espina2 and others!
One thing is still missing though, calendar invites. It currently looks like this in Thunderbird:
It would be great if that also was merged before 12 is release so that we can close this issue.
Thank you! :)
Btw, maybe should cc @georgehrke on this one?
enoch85
on 26 Apr 2017
One thing is still missing though, calendar invites. It currently looks like this in Thunderbird:
Yep - they need to be updated. Could you open an issue in the calendar repo? Because all emails of the server are updated. Activity is also updated. Only the calendar is missing.
MorrisJobke
on 26 Apr 2017
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Most helpful comment
So this is I came for. I don't make illustrations or any other decorative stuff because they will depend on the brand that sends the email. So is very basic and straight forward.
After the feedback, I can code this.
@enoch85