May 2018 Summaries

The Postmark iOS app provides a mobile version of their email monitoring and troubleshooting tools, allowing users to investigate and resolve delivery issues on-the-go. The initial release focuses on core tools for managing transactional email, including searching messages, viewing details, monitoring volume and bounce stats, investigating bounced emails, and more. The app is designed to be secure with features like Touch ID or Face ID, and it will continue to evolve with future releases. It is currently available for Apple devices running iOS 11 or later, requiring a Postmark account with owner or admin permissions.

With the recent GDPR regulations in mind, Postmark has implemented support for the Do Not Track (DNT) setting available in many web browsers to protect users' privacy when browsing their website. The DNT feature disables all third-party scripts that collect data about users visiting the site if it is enabled, including analytics and A/B testing services. Websites can detect and respect the DNT header by examining specific HTTP headers or using JavaScript APIs. Postmark has developed a plugin for Craft CMS to help detect Do Not Track preferences and display a callout in the footer to reassure users that their privacy settings are being respected. By enforcing DNT, websites can build trust with their users and raise awareness of user privacy.

Lee Munroe, the founder of htmlemail.io, created a simple responsive email template and open-sourced it on GitHub, which gained traction and led to him sharing his knowledge through blog posts and speaking at conferences. He later developed a pack of high-quality email templates that solved 80% of use cases for startups and developers, which became incredibly successful with over 800 customers within 18 months. The project taught Munroe that most developers don't enjoy dealing with email development issues, such as cross-client support and inlining CSS, and that there's a need for easy-to-use plug-and-play solutions like HTML Email. With the site's success, Munroe plans to continue developing more developer and design tooling for email, aiming to provide tools and content that enable creators to produce high-quality emails quickly with minimal effort.