Announcement is one of the foundations of SchoolStatus Connect as a Classroom Communication app. The Newsletter Builder came to life in the pursuit of helping Districts and Schools reach more audiences and drive higher engagement from parents/guardians, teachers, school staff, and more.
District and School administrators and staff can customize their Announcements with Newsletter Builder. This public article will discuss the functionality of the Newsletter Builder in detail.
Please note that SchoolStatus Connect's translation service is limited in this feature.
Block Editor
This section allows you to drag and drop contents and customize the layout of your Newsletter to match your District or School’s brand.
Sidebar
The Sidebar allows you to add more columns and buttons, insert images, change font colors, and many more.
Switch between Content, Body, and Images. These three buttons on the sidebar give endless ways of building your Newsletter.
Content
First, drag a Column to the Block Editor section and select the type of Column you want to use.
From here, you can customize the column to have buttons, texts, and images by dragging and dropping them from the Content section into the columns or by clicking the Add Content button.
Clicking the existing rows will let you edit them in case you want to make changes as you progress in building your Newsletter layout.
You can delete columns and contents by clicking them and then clicking the trash icon.
Please note that deleting a column will delete the contents in it. If you accidentally delete a column instead of deleting specific content, press Ctrl+Z or Command+Z to undo the changes.
Similarly, you can duplicate contents within a column or duplicate a column. If you duplicate a column with contents in it, it will also duplicate the contents.
Body
Adjust the font, font color, background color, and many more to match your District or School’s theme and brand.
1. Text Color | Change the color of all texts in your Newsletter from a spectrum of colors. |
2. Background Color | Change the background color of the Newsletter from all the colors available. |
3. Content Width | Adjust the size of the Newsletter from the side. The length of your Newsletter depends on how many columns you used but if you want it to appear wider, this is where you adjust it. |
4. Content Alignment | Align the Newsletters to the right or center. |
5. Font Family | Choose a different font style to add fun to your content. |
6. Email Settings | Add a pretext that will appear on email notifications. This is what your recipients will see first when they receive the email and is an opportunity to drive more clicks to the actual Newsletter. |
7. Links | Choose the color of any hyperlinks in your Newsletter. You can choose to have it underlined or not. |
Images
You can use licensed images in your Newsletter. If you do not have your images to use, search for one in the images section and drag the image into the image content in the Block Editor section.
Preview
The Preview section is an important part of the Newsletter Builder feature. This allows you to see how your Newsletter will look both on a computer screen and a mobile device.
We encourage users to fully utilize the Preview function as you are building your Newsletter to ensure that the result is what you envisioned.
Content Editor
Row/Column | Heading | Image | Text | Button
Customize your Newsletter further with the Content Editor function. This allows you to make adjustments to contents on a granular level. From changing specific content’s font color to uploading your photos, the opportunity to be creative and fun is limitless.
Each content type will show different editor options.
Row/Column
Column Properties
1. Column Type | Select one of the pre-made rows with custom columns that fit your vision. |
2. Background Color | Choose a color that matches your theme and brand. |
3. Padding | Padding is the distance between the content and the border of the column. Set to 0 by default. Increasing the padding makes the content smaller while it widens the column. |
4. Border | The border is set to 0 by default. Increasing the border makes the border thicker and more visible. Set it to either Solid, Dotted, or Dashed. Set a border color. |
NOTE: More Options lets you customize the sides' paddings, borders, and border colors independently.
Row Properties
1. Background Color | Choose the row's background color that'll complement the column's color. |
2. Content Background Color | Content's background color inside the column and row's. |
3. Background Image | If you prefer an image as the row's background, upload an image and apply effects. |
4. Image URL | Use an image save on a cloud instead of uploading your own. |
5. Padding | Adjust the row's padding similar to the column padding. |
6. Hide on Desktop | Hide this specific row when viewing the Newsletter on a computer. |
Heading
1. Heading Type | Choose the size of the heading/header from four different sizes. You can put multiple headings in one Newsletter and use different sizes to emphasize priorities, context, title, etc. |
2. Font Family | Choose the headings' font. |
3. Font Size | Adjust the heading's font size. |
4. Color | Choose the heading's color. |
5. Text Align | Align the heading to the left, center, or right side of the column/row. |
6. Line Height | Adjust the height of the heading. |
7. Links | Choose to whether have the heading inherit the link's setting when you use a hyperlink or set a different layout for this one section. |
8. Container Padding | Adjust the padding of all sides of the heading/header. Increasing the value expands the size of the space between the heading and the column/row. |
Image
1. Image | Upload your own image for a content or select between millions of licensed photos available in the app. |
2. Image URL | Use an image URL instead of uploading one. |
3. Auto Width | Let the image auto fit width-wise in the content section. |
4. Align | Align the image to the left, center, right or justify. |
5. Alternate Text | Set a text that will appear on the Newsletter in case the image fails to load. |
6. Image Link | Set a URL, a phone number, or an email that will open a website, call the number, or send an email when the image is clicked. |
7. Container Padding | Adjust the padding of the Images column. |
Text
1. Color | Choose a font color for this specific text content. If not set, it will follow the font color set on the Body section. |
2. Text Align | Align the text content to the left, center, right, or justify. |
3. Line Height | Adjust the height of the text's lines. |
4. Links | Set a specific link layout or let the text content follow the Body settings when a word or phrase is hyperlinked. |
5. Container Padding | Adjust the padding of the Text's column. |
Button
1. Action Type | Set whether the button will open a website, call a phone number, or send an email. |
2. Color | Choose the button's color. |
3. Auto Width | Auto-fit the button into the column/row. |
4. Alignment | Aligh the button's text to the left, center, right, or justify. |
5. Line Height | Adjust the button's text's line height. |
6. Padding | Adjust the button's padding. Increasing the value will make the space between the text and the edges of the button wider. |
7. Border | Select the button's border to either solid, dotted, or dashed. You can also set the border's color. |
8. Rounded Border | Make the corner or the buttons rounded. Increasing the value will make the corner rounder and rounder. |
IMPORTANT NOTES:
Announcement with Newsletters can only be sent as a regular District, School, or Classroom Announcement, as a Priority Announcement, and a Public Broadcast. The use of the Newsletter Builder for Student Announcements and Voice Broadcast is currently not supported.
Newletters cannot be pinned to the top and cannot be printed.
Sending an Announcement with a Newsletter to multiple classrooms can be done by selecting the classrooms before starting with the Newsletter Builder.
You're all set and ready to use the Newsletter Builder. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to reach out to our awesome Support Team at connectsupport@schoolstatus.com! 😊