Set up Buttondown newsletter

Project Broadsheet integrates with Buttondown, a privacy-respecting newsletter service, through a single configuration field. No tracking pixels, no link surveillance.

Buttondown is an independent newsletter service that does not use open-tracking pixels or click-tracking by default, and offers straightforward flat-rate pricing rather than per-subscriber tiers. Project Broadsheet treats Buttondown as the default newsletter destination; enabling it requires one field in meta.js.

Create an account

Sign up at https://buttondown.email. The free tier covers up to 100 subscribers, which is enough room to get started. Paid plans begin around $9/month for 1,000 subscribers.

Configure Project Broadsheet

Open src/_data/meta.js and set buttondownUsername:

buttondownUsername: "your-buttondown-username",

On the next build, every newsletter signup form on the site will point at your Buttondown instance. Leaving the field empty disables the newsletter block site-wide. No other changes are required.

Where the signup form appears

• The site footer, in the Newsletter column.
• The blog index page.
• Any custom page that includes the newsletter partial: {% include "partials/newsletter.njk" %}.

What to do next

• Set up Umami analytics to see how readers arrive at the site.
• Customize the newsletter form to add fields or change copy.