Third Generation Editor Is Too Limited

[simmonslm55]

I'm sorry, I have been using CC for about 6 years and I find the new editor really lacking. It may be fine for inexperienced designers or some do-it-yourself business owners but for the rest of us professional graphic and web designers it really sucks. I'm forced to use it because the company I work does not want to migrate to another vendor. I got so frustrated using the editor that I finally ended up designing it in HTML/CSS in the custom code editor. That works well but if any of my non HTML colleagues need to edit text they have to call on me to do the slightest text edits. The previous version allowed you to get under the hood of each module and fine tune the HTML/CSS to fit your needs. What happened to that?! The new editor seems to have been designed to be idiot proof and for the lowest common denominator and the resulting emails look like it.

Mark Goings
Graphics Specialist

[simmonslm55]

Hi everyone,

Thank you to everyone who has shared their feedback on this editor with us! The good new is some of the things mentioned for this thread has been addressed in our Cross Device Editor. These features include - custom font sizes and inserting tables. With that said, because we are moving forward with our updated editor and are dedicating resources to making this cross device editor the best it can be we are going close this idea. This doesn't mean that we aren't listening to your feedback! Please feel free to comment or vote on any of the other open ideas to let us know what you would like to see.

In fact here are some related feature request threads we recommend sharing any feedback on:

• HTML Blocks
• Custom fonts
• Block padding
• Different button types
• Image search tool in editor
• Paragraph indentation

[Frankie_P]

Hi @simmonslm55 what about our current Third Generation Editor does not fit your needs? What features are you looking for that may not currently be available?

[Berno]

Hi @Frankie_P,

There might be too many to list, but I'll submit what I can think of. It seems that for every user-friendly convenience you added, you subtracted a feature of more importance. In short, you've stripped away a lot of the control that we used to have.

The Design panel is way too limited. I am not able to define styles specifically for headlines or subheads. As designers, we should have much more control over size, color, or font. And then in the builder, I want to be able to highlight the text and apply the style. This was something we could do in the old builder. We could set separate font styles for captions, links, etc. Now there is only one thing we have control over: Body.

Same with Buttons. The only choice I have is to select the button color. I want to be able to define the corners. Round vs. straight. Size of rounded colors. I want to set a style for the font and not just accept what the chosen template offers. 

Dividers are paired with Buttons, but I want to be able to define a different color. And I want to define a specific divider size and padding. As it is now, I have to change the divider settings manually each time. Full disclosure, I happen to want the buttons and dividers the same color, but I would still want the ability to treat them as different elements.

The images panel is a nice feature, but there's no search filter. 

In the builder, there are several short comings. Probably more than I'll be able to remember. First and foremost, I no longer have the option to work with the HTML. As Mark noted, we're not all novices.

When placing a picture, I cannot specify a size. I suspect that that has something to do with responsive design, but I want to at least be able to define the max width.

There doesn't appear to be a way to insert a table matrix.

I can't adjust the padding of a block.

I'm sure there's more, but this is a good start. 

What it comes down to is you should allow as much control as the user want to have. The novices can ignore most of it. But it's invaluable for the professionals. 

Thanks,

Ernie C.

Marketing Manager

Neotech Products

[SalP809]

   I totally agree.  Does not even support paragraph indent?   Ridiculous.

   Forcing me to switch editors in this way is basically forcing me to switch to an inferior platform.  Given that choice, I will have to now compare Constant Contact to what else is available in the marketplace, whereas before, I was just a happy 10-year customer doing my thing.

[LaurieM24]

I am also a 10+ year customer and working furiously to find another program that will work for me. Any recommendations? .. is just not as detailed as I am accustomed to. The new CC software is worse than .. though!! : ( We send 3 emails per week to 2 lists of 600+ who count on us for our information and I am just about hobbled right now sending the bare essentials.

[MikeF12184]

Can't agree with these comments enough. The new builder is HORRIBLE and clearly made for customers who just want a super basic click-and-drop sort of design. There's nothing wrong with that, but I'd hazard to guess that many long-time customers have a template they've been using, that they enjoy and that is associated with their business, and now we're finding that under the new builder we can't do the same looks and feels that we are used to - and that OUR customers / readers are used to.

Huge failure on the part of CC to roll this out the way that they have. I've spoken to different customer service agents about a dozen times on different issues and some of them have clever workarounds for issues (like how the new builder won't allow you to tab text over... so I was told to insert a bunch of hyphens to move my text over the desired amount, then change the hyphen color to white to blend into the background - that's super clever BUT it's a complete joke that any client would have to do that workaround for something as simple as tabbing text over!), but the question remains as to WHY these are issues in the first place.

Why did so many of the features of the old builder go away? Why can't I copy over a press release written in Microsoft Word and trust that my formatting will copy cleanly (it does not in the new builder - often removing things like underlining, randomly turning parts of text grey instead of black, adding random spacing issues, etc... things that were never issues in the old builder)? Why do I have to drag and drop preset boxes rather than having enough control of my own press release to add in photos where I want them, what size I want them? Why doesn't formatting look the same between the desktop release and the mobile release?

I really can't express how frustrated I am with this new builder. We are longtime customers but are also searching for a new system at this point, because the new builder in CC does not allow us to build the types of emails we are accustomed to and were previously able to build. Not okay.

[StJohnsAZ]

Firstly I only discovered that there was a new Builder when a chat person told me that in the legacy builder copy and edit was no longer working and that I would have to hand copy all 25 pages of my newsletter. But the NEW Builder doesn't have half the options that I had until today. CC have replaced a good builder with one with half the options and are still charging the same. I have never heard of a supplier replacing current software with a rewrite that is only 50% as good. I had to create all my images paste ready using Paint and text no longer wraps round images but is in oblong boxes. We have lost the Feature Article wrap and the whole Edit Image facility just like that. There is no way to grandfather in existing Legacy Campaigns, which is important when you send out a 25 page newsletter every week. That is just what I've found in feverishly trying to rebuild my 25 pages for next week. I need a supplier with a Builder at least as good as what we used to have. I will start looking tomorrow.

[ElizaO0]

Pretty ridiculous how they asked you what problems you have and you tell them.. then, no response. The 3rd gen editor is not viable and pretty much every template needs to be jerry rigged together. 

[AmyC03]

100% agree and I hope some from CC is reading this as I've given the same feedback in calls/emails with customer service. Really, I must ask - Is any of this feedback actually being utilized to improve the editor?

As another longtime, 10+ year user of CC, with almost 45,000 people on our email lists, I am very frustrated at being forced over to the very-limited third-generation editor. While I understand the attempt to build a simple tool anyone can use, savvier marketers/web designers are paying the price with no capabilities to adjust HTML or CSS, and very much limited options in the editor to do any design customization whatsoever. It's baffling that one is not able to even do simple things like adjust padding or specify image dimensions.

Reading the Community posts on this, it looks like people have been providing this same feedback to CC since 2017, and yet it seems no improvement have been made and another post had a response from CC saying they are not planning to add HTML control to the editor. Personally, I'm shopping for another email marketing software that better suits our needs, as I suspect are many long-term customers who are used to having these capabilities and not willing to sacrifice design quality. 

[CynthiaL82]

Is CC reading any of these comments?? I am one of the long-time previously happy and loyal customers who is now looking elsewhere for a similar program because I cannot copy and edit previous emails made with Legacy.

WHEN and WHY did these changes happen?  I had no idea anything so drastic was changing.

ConstantContact, could'nt you  just make previous campaigns copy-able and edit-able or at least able to copy old ones into the NEW templates so we could just continue life??

There are MANY unhappy people here that you could mollify by bringing back Legacy--or just by letting us copy into NEW templates with the new system (that I hear is awful.) HELP!!!!

[Frankie_P]

Hi @CynthiaL82 I apologize while we may not respond to every comment – it is acknowledged. So thank you for submitting your feedback on our templates. We are always open to ways we can better our user’s experience! In fact, here is a section of our Community that helps explain what we do with our customer’s feedback.

As for your templates, the ability to copy Legacy Newsletter templates has been disabled since we are moving forward with our updated editor and are dedicating resources to making this editor the best it can be. If you'd like we also offer live, one-on-one guidance and screensharing, our friendly phone support staff would be happy to assist you while you make the transition. They can also collect info on what template(s) you'd like to have transposed into the current editor, or get an order written up if you'd like a wholly different, branded template created. This up-to-date editor does have the ability to be copied.