Managing Bulletins

Does anyone else have difficulting managing the bulletins? I have been putting out the DG's newsletter using the Beta format now for eleven issues and I still find managing them utterly confusing. I persevered, even read the manual, and I think I figured it out. Now I am trying to figure out why I was so confused by the process so that others do not have to puzzle their way through it. I think it has to do with terminology, the placing of actions, and being able to do actions in multiple places.

First off, I may create a bulletin differently than ClubRunner originally conceived. I use just one template for all of the issues. I create each story in the Story Library but do not put it into the bulletin. I limit the bulletin to four stories. The bulletin template has one feature story in a large widget and 3 secondary stories in a three panel widget beneath it. After the stories are created in the story library, I create a "feature" picture or graphic to use as a draw to the article. The feature picture for the feature article is 500 pixels wide. The feature picture for the three column secondary stories are 193 pixels wide. The titles are placed under the pictures. There may be a very brief come-on comment below the title. Both the title and picture are linked to the story in the Story Library.

I do this in the template version under the design stage. I can then preview and send a mailout from this version. I do not have to create a bulletin.

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Why is "Create Bulletin" a problem? Because I can do everything from the template. I can change the properties ie. Change the title and date under which is sent and send it. However, I do not archive it when I send it. I do as is suggested, retain the ability to edit it until I create the next issue. Create Bulletin really means to make Active. Could "Create bulletin" be changed to "Activate Bulletin" so that the Active Bulletin list and the template list action are intuitively related.

This takes me to Problem #3. It is labelled "View all bulletins" but that is not where it goes. It goes to the Active bulletins list. If I want to access all of the bulletins I have to go to the Archived List. So I think in the left column there needs to have two links: "View Active Bulletins" and "View Archived Bulletins" A nice bonus would be the ability to see the Archived Bulletins for the Rotary year as thumbnails with pull down menus similar to the Active and Template layouts, rather than just as a list.

You will note the March, Nov. & Sept. issues are all the same template. Why are they a problem? I want to know if I can I delete them safely without losing them in the Active or Archived listings. I think so but I want to make sure. I have not checked but I suspect there is an advantage to leaving them in the template format. I suspect I can still make changes even though they have been archived. I know I can change the stories because they are not in the bulletin at all.

Sorry for the long drawn out post.