`admin/customize/email_templates` page should include brief documentation of those templates

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AI-generated summary

The admin/customize/email_templates page should include brief documentation for each email template. jessicest suggests adding two features:

  • A one-sentence description of when each template is emailed to users, as the template names can be unclear without context.
  • A list of available interpolation keys with one-sentence descriptions to help admins understand their purpose and usage.

This would improve the usability of the page, making it easier for admins to understand when templates are triggered and how to use interpolation keys effectively.

1

The request:

the Admin page for customizing email templates should include:

  • a one-sentence description of when the currently selected template will be emailed to users
  • a one-sentence description of each interpolation key that can be used on the current template.

The rationale:

On this page, I often run into two problems:

1: not understanding what will trigger the template to be sent

The name of the template isn’t sufficient to understand when an email template will be sent. Great examples:

  • Custom Invite Forum Mailer
  • Custom Invite Mailer
  • Invite Forum Mailer
  • Invite Mailer

These names only make sense retroactively, after we understand the distinctions between them. So it would be great for these (and all of the templates) to add a little one-sentence description to the page, to let the admin know what the template is for.

You could directly use the text from a useful how-to post on this forum – the content is already written up, at least for the English localization.

2: not knowing which interpolation keys are available or what they do

For example, here’s the template for User Replied:

%{header_instructions}

%{message}

%{context}

%{respond_instructions}

The problem here:

  1. I don’t know what %{context} means.
  2. If I delete these keys it can be hard to bring them back again.

So it’d also be great if there were one-sentence descriptions of each of the keys available for each email template. Perhaps as an expandable/hideable list on the page?

for reference, here’s a couple of posts seeking this information: one, two

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