BroadFast version 1.6

 

Overview

This document contains the full description of Broadfast script and its instalation.
BroadFast is extremly easy to use, fast, small and light but very powerful script for broadcasting, mailing list managements and sending newsletters.

Contents

 

Requirements

The script needs only web host with PHP 4 or above and MySQL database.

 

Installation

The installation of BroadFast is very simple and requires only few steps.

1. Create a database for use of BroadFast. BroadFast can also share the same database with other applications you may have on the host
2. Open the file inc/db_login.inc.php and edit your DB connectivity details. 3. Upload the files on your web host
4. Direct your browser to install.php.
Then you have to enter the password for administrator.
That's all!
To use the script, point your browser to admin.php


Changing the design
You can modify all files from folder 'templates' with any WYSIWYG or code-level web editor and change styles.css for the stylesheets.

 

Using BroadFast

1. Create Newsletter/Broadfast
This is the default page which you see when you log in in the administration. Here you can broadcast all the users in your mailing list (the lists are described later below) or save the newsletter for further redaction and sending later. You can choose to send in text only or html format

2. Saved Newsletters
On this page you will see all saved newsletters sent or saved previously. You can edit or open any of them and use it again.

3. Manage Users
This screen allows you to edit your mailing list. You can edit and delete members, activate or deactive or add members manually.
Here you will find 2 other advanced features:
- Import/Export - it allows you to import members from Excell (CSV file) and export them into comma separated file
- Synchronize - This unique feature is for advanced users only. It allows you to integrate BroadFast with any other existing web application you may have. If you have a MySQL database with members you can synchronize the mailing list which you have in BroadFast with that database. In the Database Details section you should enter the connection values for the source database. If BroadFast shares the same database you can leave all these fields blank. The Members table details section is to enter the actual name of the table where the members data is stored. You also need to fill the names of the fields where the specific data (name and email) is stored and the system even allows you to use more than one field for "name" (for example your application may store the name in 2 fields - first_name and last_name)

4. Files and Links
You can embed URLs to web pages and files in your emails and also track the number of clicks/downloads they receive. Visit the Files/Links menu and add your URLs or upload your files. The system will show you the tracking URL which you can use in your newsletters.
5. General Settings
Here you can change the administrators password or to activate or deactivate online registration module. You can also set if you want the mails from broadcast to be sent immediately or via cron job (see below). You can limit the amount of mails sent per hour accordingly to your hosting limitations and to set delay between each mail (for the same reason).

- Sending the mails as cron job: If you want to activate it you need to schedule execution of sender.php once per hour




Version 1.1 New Features

- Double opt-in enabled - can be switched on or off
- Tracking of the emails available - you can choose to track the number of read mails and measure the success of various nerwsletters




Version 1.2 New Features

- Testing newsletter available - you can send to only one email instead of the entire list




Version 1.3 New Features

- Now you can get a detailed report about who read the newsletter. You can also easy resend the newsletter to the receivers who have not read it.
Note: the read stat is not 100% reliable - some email clients will not send "read" message and for some users it will show "unread" when the mail is actually read.




Version 1.4 New Features

- Unlimited number of fields can be added to the user registration form. These fields will also appear correctly when you export/import members - Improved export/import: now you can select which fields to use, you may limit the export to only the active members and more - Personalization (Extended use of masks) - the emails you send can contain the receiver name, email and all the additional fields that you create. This allows full customization.



Version 1.5 New Features

- Optional footer can be attached to all your outdoing emails. - Active/Inactive member stats with quick links for mass deletion. - Delete or deactivate members who unsubscribe.



Version 1.6 New Features

- Files can be uploaded and sent as links (to avoid overloading the server with real attachments and getting the mails blocked as spam)
- Click/Downloads tracking on the URLs and files.

Support

For any problems or questions contact me on admin@pimteam.net

 

License

The license of this script allows you to install it on unlimited domains that you own. Reselling it however is not allowed. For resell (PLR) rights please contact me by email.

A Product of P.I.M. Team Bulgaria