Dreamweaver Code

[mhardy]

Has anyone had any experience creating an email in Dreamweaver and bringing the code into marketo? I am interested in hearing some of the issues as well as the positives of using Dreamweaver for coding an email. 

[Phillip_Wild]

Yep, we did this exclusively. 

There is only one drawback: you can't use Marketo templates in tandem since copying and pasting code into a Marketo email detaches it from the template. 

Overall I would say there are two scenarios that are reasonable:

1. Your marketers / marketing team are comfortable managing their templates in Dreamweaver and are comfortable in code. The visual editor is not used at all, and your workflow is - build in Dreamweaver, paste into Marketo, QA and send. 

2. Your marketers are not comfortable with HTML and they prefer to use the visual editor. With a large decentralised team this is likely the case. In that situation, Marketo templates are preferable for quality control, and to allow non-technical users to build freely in Marketo within set guardrails.

I hope that helps. No reason you can't do this, but I would certainly utilise inherited tokens HEAVILY so you can update content in those emails in one place. Without a template, you really don't want to be updating the same footer in 100+ emails....but if you make the footer an email script token at a top-level folder, you can update it in one place all the same.

[mhardy]

Phillip,

Thanks for the help! 

I have one more question for you. Have you run into any issues with not having specific market needed code with the code from Dreamweaver? I guess the fear that I have is missing the needed code that a marketo email code requires.

[Jo_Pitts1]

@mhardy ,

As I often do, I'd step back and ask WHY are you doing it this way?

Would it make more sense to use Dream Weaver to design a stunning base template, then put some effort into getting into Marketo as a base container and series of modules, and then be able to work in Marketo natively?

Regards

Jo

[mhardy]

The reason why is a new member on the team has Dreamweaver code knowledge and was interested in seeing if it was something that is possible to do. As always what are the pros and cons to do something in Dreamweaver 

[SanfordWhiteman]

Can’t think of any substantive pros vs. any other HTML editor with version control integration + local preview features.

Like I said, in order to build working HTML(4) emails, you can’t just drag-and-drop as if it’s an HTML5 webpage. The boilerplate a product like DW puts together isn’t tested for email client compatibility.

[Phillip_Wild]

If you're designing outside of a Marketo template, then there is no Marketo-specific code that is needed. However, it would definitely be wise to plan out tokens to minimise any pain in the future. 

As @Jo_Pitts1 has said, it would be worthwhile thinking about the pros and cons here. There are advantages to using Marketo templates that may be more important in the long term. 

[SanfordWhiteman]

Another point is creating HTML markup in Dreamweaver doesn’t magically mean it’s going to be compatible with all mail clients. Building in DW as if you’re building an HTML5 webpage is not going to create a usable email.

So my reaction to using Dreamweaver as the sole source for email markup is: Don’t Do It. On the other hand, if you merely start in DW, following proper HTML email (not HTML5) principles, and then transplant the code to a Marketo Email Template to build it out using Marketo’s module system, that may work.

[Jeff_Morgan1]

I would suggest building a robust, responsive, modular email template that can be used to create any email you could need/imagine without having to code every time.

This will allow you to do all the hard work, including cross client testing up front, so that in the future you can just drag and drop, stay on brand, and avoid arduous testing every time.

I'm not sure what the rules of the forum are, but if it is allowed I could show you an example of what is possible.