By angelopc on
Can someone give me a REAL reason that I would ever need Taxonomy? I've read the descriptions of what taxonomy is, but why is it REQUIRED by modules like SimpleNews? I don't want to categorize ANYTHING. I just want to create a newsletter and send it to the subscribers.
Is there any way to create a "simple" newsletter, without taxonomy messing with it? If I create a "tag" for a node, I don't want taxonomy creating a newsletter for that word. When I delete the taxonomy terms, there goes my newsletter.
No, I am not a Drupal expert. I love what Drupal can do, but I think logically and can't get my head around the whole taxonomy thing.
Comments
It's my understanding
It's my understanding SimpleNews uses a vocabulary to tag your newsletter nodes so that all newsletters for a particular mailing list stick together. You don't have to (and probably shouldn't) assign this vocabulary with any other node type for it to work... So, taxonomy isn't "messing" with it at all... the module is just using taxonomy as a way to classify its nodes.
The alternative would be the module developing its own way to classify nodes, but when Drupal core ships with the taxonomy module, it makes more sense to use what's already there. ; )
----------------------
Drupal by Wombats | Current Drupal project: http://www.ubercart.org
Rama,Thanks for your quick response.
Rama,
Thanks for your quick response.
You wrote:
"SimpleNews uses a vocabulary to tag your newsletter nodes so that all newsletters for a particular mailing list stick together"
Huh??? I really don't mean to be disrespectful and I hope I don't come across that way. Help me make some sense of that. It's like me saying "I drive my car to work so the fish can sleep under the red moon."
"stick together" - for what reason?
Why can't it just be something like this?
GET SUBSCRIBERS--->CREATE & TEST NEWSLETTER--->SEND NEWSLETTER
Maybe I just don't know enough about Drupal, but if I have to go to school to learn how to use it, it ain't worth it.
Simplenews and Taxonomy
Hi,
Simplenews allows you to have multiple newsletters so, on a news site, you might have a 'sports' newsletter as well as 'culture', 'politics', etc - each of which would be a term (or a category, if you prefer) in the Simplenews taxonomy vocabulary. So when you create a newsletter, you use taxonomy to decide in which category it belongs (by associating a term with the new node). Try thinking of Taxonomy as a large filing cabinet - One of the drawers (vocabularies) is marked 'Simplenews' - inside that are several folders (terms) marked 'sport', 'politics', etc - and inside them are newsletters (nodes).
The main advantages of Taxonomy are that it exists (so the Simplenews author didn't have to re-invent the wheel with a new classification system) and that it integrates nicely with other modules, like Views, so getting a list of all newsletters in a certain category is a doddle.
The main disadvantage of Taxonomy is the somewhat strange (but technically accurate) choice of words used - taxonomy, vocabularies, etc - which can be offputting for new users, but it's worth getting your head around it as it provides a very flexible system for classifiying nodes in many different ways. Hope that helps...
Making the easy, possible?
How do you tell SimpleNews that the newsletter that you just wrote should be sent to all those who subscribed to the last one? You might have more than one ‘series’.
Actually, a ‘Newsletter’ is a series of related messages, so you have to tag each one to indicate that is related to all others in the series and should be sent to those who have subscribed. Why should a module use a different method or handle an exception just because you (at present) only want one series?
Which do you think is best?
Or
With Taxonomy, all terms are grouped into ‘vocabularies’: SimpleNews uses a vocabulary, so use your own vocabulary to avoid your tags interfering with SimpleNews. Don’t delete SimpleNews’ tags, or vocabulary; it will leave your’s alone.
___________________
keepin’ it REAL…
Zeta, I'll try to digest
Zeta,
I'll try to digest that and apply it.
Thanks,
Ed
quick one..
Hi Angelopc,
I was stumped as well the first time I used simplenews.
After a bit of head scratching, I realised that ADD NEWSLETTER really means ADD A NEW NEWSLETTER CATEGORY. In other words, I don't have to bother with taxonomy, the module does all that in the background.
When I want to send a newsletter..I simply go to CREATE CONTENT -> NEWSLETTER.
Most sites start off with just 1 newsletter...but, as the site grows, alternate newsletters become very useful and the ability to have a different newsletter type becomes vital - all the bulk mailing solutions I've come across has that feature.
You won't notice the value of how simplenews.module uses taxonomy, until later on, when your site begins to build up an audience.
incidentally, you're not alone to be completely thrown by the 'taxonomy' stuff. I have been using Drupal for a few years and I still have to re-read the Dummys guide to taxonomy whenever I'm setting up something other than just a brochure site.
hoe that helps
Thanks for the
Thanks for the encouragement, Phil. However, I just found out that in order to send a newsletter in HTML format, I need the Mime Mail module, which is only available for 5.x.