Inkcite

Inkcite is an opinionated workflow for building modern, responsive email. Like Middleman is to static web sites, Inkcite makes it easy for email developers to keep their code DRY (don’t repeat yourself) and integrate versioning, testing and minification into their workflow.

Powerful media query and fluid-hybrid responsive support
Easy, flexible templates, variables and Helpers
ERB for dynamic content and easy A/B Testing and Versioning
Automatic link tagging and tracking
Instant compatibility testing with Email on Acid or Litmus
Automatic Litmus Engagement analytics integration
Email preview distribution lists
Automatic image optimization using ImageOptim
Failsafe rules to double-check your work

Installation

Inkcite is a Ruby gem. Ruby comes pre-installed on Mac OS X and Linux. If you’re using Windows, try RubyInstaller.

gem install inkcite

Getting Started

After Inkcite is installed, you will have access to the inkcite command. Create a new Inkcite email at your terminal or command prompt:

inkcite init MY_EMAIL

This will create a new directory called MY_EMAIL and fill it with the source files for your new email project. It includes a subdirectory called images where you store all images for your email.

Change directories into your new project and start the preview server:

cd MY_EMAIL
inkcite server

Inkcite’s preview server gives you a live view of your email as you build it by modifying the source.html, helpers.tsv, source.txt and config.yml files. Open your browser to http://localhost:4567 to see your email as you build it. As you make changes, simply refresh your browser to see up-to-date results.

The config.yml file has an extensive set of properties that influence the HTML code that Inkcite produces plus how it sends preview emails.

During development, you can refer to your command prompt or terminal window to see important warnings (such as missing images or links).

Email Previews

When you’re ready to see what your email looks like in an email client, Inkcite will send previews on demand. Make sure you have configured the smtp settings in the config.yml file so that Inkcite can send email via your SMTP server. When you’re ready to send:

inkcite preview

With no other parameters, this will send a preview version of your email to the from email address you configured. You can also use the preview command to send to your email to internal or client distribution lists for review.

Compatibility Testing

Testing your Inkcite-built emails with Litmus is easy. Make sure you have configured the litmus section of the config.yml file.

inkcite test

The will create a new email test using your default set of email clients and send a preview version of the email to Litmus for testing. Subsequent runs of the test command will update the same test. Log into your Litmus account to review the results of the test.

Production Builds

After you’ve previewed and tested your email, you’re ready to create the production-ready email files. From the project directory:

inkcite build

By default, this will create the production version of your email. This includes fully-qualified URLs for images, link tracking and tagging and a host of other preflight features.

Learn More

A step-by-step tutorial for building a modern, responsive email from start to finish is available on the Inkceptional blog.

Documentation for Inkcite is generously hosted by the friendly folks at Readme. Get started here: https://inkcite.readme.io/

Bug Reports

Github Issues is used for managing bug reports and feature requests. If you run into issues, please search the issues and submit new problems: https://github.com/inkceptional/inkcite/issues

The best way to get quick responses to your issues and swift fixes to your bugs is to submit detailed bug reports, include test cases and respond to developer questions in a timely manner.