diff --git a/content/php/confirm.php b/content/php/confirm.php
index fb0dc5e..ec92026 100644
--- a/content/php/confirm.php
+++ b/content/php/confirm.php
@@ -1,25 +1,38 @@
 <?php
 // inspired by https://www.mailgun.com/blog/email/double-opt-in-with-php-mailgun/
+$statusCode = "HTTP/1.1 303 See Other";
 
+$successURL = '/newsletter/confirmed.html';
+$errorURL = '/newsletter/confirm-error.html';
+
+// return TRUE when successful, message string on failure
+// e.g. Adresse schon vorhanden, Datenbank-Fehler, was noch?
 function AddMemberToDB($recipientAddress) {
-  /*   global $mailingList, $mgClient;
-    $result = $mgClient->post("lists/$mailingList/members", array(
-    'address'     => $recipientAddress,
-    'name'        => $recipientName,
-    'description' => 'Form Opt In',
-    'subscribed'  => true    
-  )); */
+  global $db;
+  echo "ah jup";
+  return TRUE;
 }
 
 
-require("settings.php");
+require(dirname(__FILE__) . "/settings.php");
 
 $c = isset($_GET['c']) ? SanitizeInputs($_GET['c']) : NULL;
 $e = isset($_GET['e']) ? SanitizeInputs($_GET['e']) : NULL;
 
-if (isset($c) && isset($e) && CheckConfirmationHash($e, $c) && AddMemberToDB($e)) {
-  header('Location: /newsletter/confirmed.html');
+if (! (isset($c) && isset($e) && CheckConfirmationHash($e, $c)) ) {
+  header($statusCode);
+  header("Location: " . $errorURL . "?" . http_build_query(["msg" => SanitizeInputs("Ungültiger Link")]));
 } else {
-  header('Location: /newsletter/confirm-error.html')
+  $result = AddMemberToDB($e);
+  if ($result == TRUE) {
+    header($statusCode);
+    header("Location: " . $successURL);
+  } elseif (gettype($result == "string")) {
+    header($statusCode);
+    header("Location: " . $errorURL . "?" . http_build_query(["msg" => SanitizeInputs($result)]));
+  } else {
+    header($statusCode);
+    header("Location: " . $errorURL . "?" . http_build_query(["msg" => SanitizeInputs("Unbekannter Fehler")]));
+  }
 }
 ?>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/content/php/settings.php b/content/php/settings.php
index 61eca0c..f9a49d3 100644
--- a/content/php/settings.php
+++ b/content/php/settings.php
@@ -1,13 +1,50 @@
 <?php
 // inspired by https://www.mailgun.com/blog/email/double-opt-in-with-php-mailgun/
 
-$domain = 'tobias-radloff.de'; 
-$fromAddress = 'newsletter@tobias-radloff.de';
-$siteURL = 'https://tobias-radloff.de'; 
-$uniqueKey = '***REMOVED***'; // works like password salt  
+// general constants
+$general = array(
+//  "domain" => 'tobias-radloff.de',
+  "domain" => 'localhost',
+  "uniqueKey" => '***REMOVED***', // works like password salt  
+  "confirmScript" => "/confirm.php"
+); 
+$general["siteURL"] = "https://" . $general["domain"]; 
+
+// smtp info
+$smtp = array(
+  "host" => '***REMOVED***
+  "port" => 587,
+  "username" => 'tobias',
+  "password" => '***REMOVED***',
+  "auth" => TRUE,
+  "fromAddress" => "***REMOVED***",  //  'newsletter@tobias-radloff.de'
+  "fromName" => "Tobias Radloffs Newsletter",
+);
+
+$body = array(
+  "Hallo!",
+  "Bitte bestätige die Anmeldung für meinen Newsletter, indem du auf den folgenden Link klickst:",
+  "%confirmURL%",  // placeholder 
+  "Bis bald und viele Grüße, Tobias" 
+);
+
+// mail contents
+$mail = array(
+  "subject" => 'Newsletter-Anmeldung bestaetigen',
+  "bodyHTML" => "<p>" . implode("</p><p>", $body) . "</p>",
+  "bodyText" => implode("\n\n", $body)
+);
+
+// DB constants
+$db = array(
+  "host" => "",
+  "port" => "",
+  "username" => "",
+  "password" => ""
+);
 
 function SanitizeInputs($var) {
-  return =  htmlspecialchars($var, ENT_QUOTES);
+  return htmlspecialchars($var, ENT_QUOTES);
 }
 
 function SanitizeEmail ($var) {
@@ -19,6 +56,7 @@ function SanitizeEmail ($var) {
 }
 
 function CheckConfirmationHash($confEmail, $confCode) {
-  return (md5($confEmail . $uniqueKey) === $confCode);
+  global $general;
+  return (md5($confEmail . $general["uniqueKey"]) === $confCode);
 }
 ?>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/content/php/subscribe.php b/content/php/subscribe.php
index b9a853e..017ee64 100644
--- a/content/php/subscribe.php
+++ b/content/php/subscribe.php
@@ -1,37 +1,73 @@
 <?php
 // inspired by https://www.mailgun.com/blog/email/double-opt-in-with-php-mailgun/
 
+// import PHPMailer classes into the global namespace
+use PHPMailer\PHPMailer\PHPMailer;
+use PHPMailer\PHPMailer\SMTP;
+use PHPMailer\PHPMailer\Exception;
+
+$dname = dirname(__FILE__); 
+require $dname . '/Exception.php';
+require $dname . '/PHPMailer.php';
+require $dname . '/SMTP.php';
+
 function MakeConfirmationHash($confEmail, $confCode) {
   return md5($confEmail . $confCode);
 }
 
 function SendConfirmationEmail($recipientAddress) {
-  global $domain, $fromAddress, $siteURL, $uniqueKey;
+  global $general, $smtp, $mail;
 
-  $hashedUnique = MakeConfirmationHash($recipientAddress, $uniqueKey);
-  $confirmURL = $siteURL . '/confirm.php?c=' . $hashedUnique . '&e=' . $recipientAddress
+  $hashedUnique = MakeConfirmationHash($recipientAddress, $general["uniqueKey"]);
+  $confirmQuery = http_build_query(["c" => $hashedUnique, "e" => $recipientAddress]);
+  $confirmURL = $general["siteURL"] . $general["confirmScript"] . "?" . $confirmQuery;
 
-  // FIXME
-  // use PHPMailer?
-  $to = $recipientAddress;
-  $subject = 'Newsletter-Anmeldung bestaetigen';
-  $body = '<p>Hallo! Bitte bestätige die Anmeldung für meinen Newsletter, indem du auf <a href="' . $confirmURL . '">diesen Link</a> klickst. Viel Spaß mit dem Gedicht!</p><p>Bis bald und viele Grüße<br>Tobias';
-  $headers = 'From: newsletter@' . $domain;
-  $result = mail($to, $subject, $body, $headers);
-  return $result;
+  // create PHPMailer instance
+  $mailer = new PHPMailer(true);
+
+  try {
+    //Server settings
+//    $mailer->SMTPDebug = SMTP::DEBUG_SERVER;                      //Enable verbose debug output
+    $mailer->isSMTP();
+    $mailer->Host       = $smtp["host"];
+    $mailer->SMTPAuth   = $smtp["auth"];
+    $mailer->Username   = $smtp["username"];
+    $mailer->Password   = $smtp["password"];
+    //$mailer->SMTPSecure = PHPMailer::ENCRYPTION_SMTPS;            //Enable implicit TLS encryption
+    $mailer->Port       = $smtp["port"];   //TCP port to connect to; use 587 if you have set `SMTPSecure = PHPMailer::ENCRYPTION_STARTTLS`
+
+    //Recipients
+    $mailer->setFrom($smtp["fromAddress"], $smtp["fromName"]);
+    $mailer->addAddress($recipientAddress);     //Add a recipient
+
+    //Content
+    $mailer->CharSet = "UTF-8";
+    $mailer->isHTML(true);
+    $mailer->Subject = $mail["subject"];
+    $mailer->Body    = str_replace("%confirmURL%", $confirmURL, $mail["bodyHTML"]);
+    $mailer->AltBody = str_replace("%confirmURL%", $confirmURL, $mail["bodyText"]);
+
+    $mailer->send();
+    return TRUE;
+  } catch (Exception $e) {
+    error_log("Message error: " . $e);
+    return FALSE;
+  }
 }
 
 
-require("settings.php");
+require($dname . "/settings.php");
 
 if (isset($_POST['email'])) { 
   $email = SanitizeEmail(trim($_POST['email']));
-  echo $email; //DEBUG
+//  error_log("Received subscription request for address " . $email . " ..."); //DEBUG
   $result = SendConfirmationEmail($email);
-  if  $result == TRUE ) {
+  if ( $result == TRUE ) {
     header('Location: /newsletter/subscribed.html');
+    error_log("Message to " . $email . " has been sent.");
   } else {
-    header('Location: /newsletter/subscribe-error.html')
+    header('Location: /newsletter/subscribe-error.html');
+    error_log("Message to " . $email . " could not be sent.");
   }
 }
 ?>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/content/php/unsubscribe.php b/content/php/unsubscribe.php
index 5f3c4fa..aed68e0 100644
--- a/content/php/unsubscribe.php
+++ b/content/php/unsubscribe.php
@@ -1,18 +1,18 @@
 <?php
 
-function RemoveMemberfromDB($subscriberAddress) {
-  //FIXME
+function RemoveSubscriberfromDB($subscriberAddress) {
+  error_log("removing subscriber " . $subscriberAddress . " from DB ...");
 }
 
-require("settings.php");
+require(dirname(__FILE__) . "/settings.php");
 
-$email = isset($_GET['email']) ? SanitizeInputs($_GET['email']) : NULL;
+$email = isset($_GET['e']) ? SanitizeInputs($_GET['e']) : NULL;
 if (isset($email)) {
-  $r = RemoveMemberfromDB($email);
+  $r = RemoveSubscriberfromDB($email);
   if ($r) {
     header('Location: /newsletter/unsubscribed.html');
   } else {
-    header('Location: /newsletter/unsubscribe-error.html')
+    header('Location: /newsletter/unsubscribe-error.html');
   }
 }
 ?>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/theme/templates/includes/unsubscribe.html b/theme/templates/includes/unsubscribe.html
index 551a527..f8efb8f 100644
--- a/theme/templates/includes/unsubscribe.html
+++ b/theme/templates/includes/unsubscribe.html
@@ -3,6 +3,6 @@
   <p>Komm gerne wieder, irgendwann.</p>
 </hgroup>
 <form class="newsletter-form" method="get" action="{{ SITEURL }}/unsubscribe.php">
-  <input class="newsletter-email" type="email" name="email" placeholder="Emailadresse" autocomplete="email" aria-label="Emailadresse" required/>
-  <input class="newsletter-submit" type="submit" value="Abonnieren" />
+  <input class="newsletter-email" type="email" name="e" placeholder="Emailadresse" autocomplete="email" aria-label="Emailadresse" required/>
+  <input class="newsletter-submit" type="submit" value="Abmelden" />
 </form>