[Helpdesk] question: creating html email messages

[Andrew Main]

On Apr 4, 2006, at 9:23 AM, Sherri Silverman wrote:

> The html emails just look so good, and as an artist, I appreciate  
> maintaining fonts, colors, and formatting---so I would like to be  
> able to use this option. It is also much easier and faster to send  
> emails to a large group without attachments---just one step.

There's no law against sending HTML email, you're simply gambling  
that your recipients will see what you sent the way you want it seen.  
Probably many in "a large group" will not, as they will have  
different OS, email client, fonts, etc. than what you have. Some may  
have turned off graphic display in their email client (as I have) to  
avoid "Web Bugs"; see <http://home.earthlink.net/~bobbau/email/more- 
tips/>.

> Andrew, are you saying near the end of your message that Tiger's  
> Mail gives you the choice to convert emails to html that does  
> maintain fonts, colors, and formatting, regardless of what email  
> application the receiver has? Please let me know. I have 10.3.9,  
> which doesn't do this.

The last 5 paragraphs in my previous message were quotes from "Take  
Control of Apple Mail in Tiger",  as noted. For 10.3.9 Mail, see  
<http://www.takecontrolbooks.com/email-apple-mail.html>.

> I tried sending the email with a Word doc converted to html: my  
> friend who received it said it did not maintain the colors, fonts,  
> and formatting, although the one I sent to myself did.

Q.E.D. Your computer has the same OS, software, fonts, etc., that  
were used to create the message; your friend's probably does not.

It would be nice if html email could be counted on and used regularly  
(and if it weren't used by spammers to harvest your email address --  
so long as we're on a roll, how about if spam didn't exist at all?),  
just as it would be nice if all web pages looked the same in all  
browsers -- try <http://www.rigdzin.com/> in Safari, then in Firefox,  
then in other browsers -- but in the world we have today, none of  
these is the case, so we have to make do with what we have. On the  
other hand, I find html in email mostly gets in the way of the  
information. In a world where most seem to be obsessed with style  
over substance, I rather like text-only email, wherein real  
informational content is about all we have to work with. Believe it  
or not, there's an art to doing it well. See <http://www.tidbits.com>  
for some good examples of both a well-done web page and text-only  
email that gets the message through.

<http://www.webfoot.com/advice/email.top.html>
<http://www.birdhouse.org/etc/evilmail.html>
<http://www.georgedillon.com/web/html_email_is_evil.shtml>

Andrew Main