Storing Outgoing & Incoming Messages

PHP
1

Hi, my site sends out several (21 to be precise) different emails to its users, such as “Welcome to the site”, “You have received a new PM”, “Your email address has been updated”, etc…

All of these messages are saved in a email-out.php file.

Question A: What is your view on moving and storing the emails in php syntax in the database so that i can edit the raw code from the admin section. I am thinking of leaving them in the email-out.php file as the content of the emails will not change that often, but would still like your input on the best practice / professional set up

I also receive different incoming emails everyday from users and potential users asking questions and looking for general information. These emails come from different contact forms on the site.

Question B: What is your view on storing all incomming emails that are sent from contact forms if the content is sanitised correctly, or should i just leave them in my inbox and manage them from there… like above, just looking for advise on the best practice / professional set up

Thanks in advance…

2

I think the first question to ask yourself is: does it work for me the way it is?
> If it is, why do you want to change it? Because it might work even better? Is that better worth the investment in time/money?
> If it isn’t, what is wrong with the current setup? And how might those problems be resolved?

If it is your site, and you are the only one that ever (and maybe never) has to change the text of those mails, then you might want to leave things as they are and in that very rare occasion edit the php file directly. Even if it isn’t the “correct” practice.

The same questions for the incoming mails. Do you like the way you are working now? Where would you store them if not in your email inbox? In the database? What advantages would that give? And would it be worth the time/money?