By Bill Harlan
Editor

We’ve launched new format for our monthly newsletter, the Chattahoochee Chalice.

It’s a bit of an experiment on my part. I hope the new format will be faster and easier to produce. It will also help us provide more timely information. This format also coordinates better with our website.

At least, those are my theories. It’s definitely a work in progress, which explains why the May newsletter is so late, why the June newsletter is so early, and why they’re both the same newsletter. There will be bugs.

We used to deliver a link to a filed called a PDF (“portable document file). Now we create the newsletter in HTML (“hypertext markup language”). Here are some reasons for the switch.

• Fewer clicks. HTML, in general, requires fewer clicks than PDFs. More clicks means fewer readers.
• Better readability.  Most email is now read on phones or tablets. PDFs are hard to read on a phone and can take time to download.
• Richer media content. In the future, the Chattahoochee Chalice could include audio or video files or even animations. (Hey, it could happen.) PDFs don’t work well with interactive content.
• Better tracking. We’ll have a better idea whether anyone is reading the Chattahoochee Chalice.
• Easier on me. I won’t have to create a newsletter in a design program, like InDesign, then export it to a PDF file, then create a page…You get the picture. This will be easier. I think.

If you have suggestions or items for the Chattahoochee Chalice, send me an email. Even better, if you’d like to help produce the newsletter use the same email link. 

Bill Harlan
Editor
Chattahoochee Chalice