# 30-Jul-2026 — markdown template shells, shorter welcome email, and usable link and source editing [#303](https://github.com/nbarrett/ngx-ramblers/issues/303)

## [build 805](https://github.com/nbarrett/ngx-ramblers/actions/runs/30537275334) — [commit b45acd1](https://github.com/nbarrett/ngx-ramblers/commit/b45acd1fa4cded9de38af39907a0a6e3193a756a)

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## Email templates

Delivered email templates are now markdown rather than HTML. Markdown was already
the working format everywhere a person touched a template: the body editor converted
the delivered HTML to markdown before showing it, the content-block editor did the
same for every block default, and sending rendered that markdown back to HTML.
Wording therefore made a lossy round trip, and the delivered files were the only place
HTML was hand-authored. The shells are now the same format as the editor that edits
them, and markdown renders to HTML only when sending.

The welcome email is now a welcome rather than a manual. It ran to eight sections,
most of them about logging in. Walks and social events, including walk leader contact
details, are public, so an ordinary new member has no reason to sign in. Committee
members and walk leaders, who do need a login, already receive their details through a
separate email.

- All nine email templates are markdown; no HTML remains in the templates directory
- The welcome email covers the group, the walks programme, social events and how to
get in touch, with no login, activation or admin-page content
- The two membership expiry emails show membership id and expiry date as labelled
lines instead of a table
- Tables added in a content block get borders that survive email clients
- Empty merge fields no longer leave stray blank space in the sent email

## Editor

Editing links in a long document no longer throws you back to the top of the page. The
link bar is now part of the sticky editor header, so it stays in view wherever you are in
the document, and it lets you change the link text as well as the address. Links can be
opened from the editor in a new tab, either from the bar or by Cmd/Ctrl-clicking a link,
so checking where a link goes never disturbs what you are editing.

A Markdown button switches the content area between formatted editing and the raw
markdown, for the times when editing a run of links by hand is simply quicker. Edits made
in source view save without switching back.

An empty column now shows its placeholder text, so there is something visible to click
into. Asking for text on a column that holds an image puts the cursor straight into the
new editor rather than needing a second click.

Resetting an email body to the delivered template no longer loses the images a group has
set up. Images already in the body are kept, and any image the template has no section for
is listed above the editor with Insert and Discard actions, rather than being silently
dropped.

- Link bar edits link text and address together, and stays pinned while scrolling
- Open a link in a new tab from the link bar, or by Cmd/Ctrl-clicking it in the editor
- Markdown source view, sized to its content, with the toolbar staying available
- Empty editors show their placeholder, so the input is visible and clickable
- "add text" sits inline in the column heading and focuses the editor immediately
- List spacing in edit mode matches the rendered page
- Reset to default keeps the images a group has set up
- Images with no matching template section are listed for insertion or discard