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HTML Email Basics
by Brian Alt
[September 27, 2001]
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The debate rages on concerning whether text or HTML email is the
"ideal" email publishing medium. Text is the "universal format,"
ensuring that the greatest amount of your readers will be able
to see a properly formatted email message. HTML, on the other
hand, offers a number of features such as color, font variations,
and embedded graphics at the expense of universal compatibility
with all email programs.
For an introduction to ezine format and design, a discussion
of the advantages of text versus HTML, and an overview of the
basics of text email design, see this article.
This week's article looks at the basics of HTML email
formatting, while future articles will cover the more advanced
issues of good HTML email design.
To understand how to accomplish the delivery of an HTML email
message, it's important to first understand the basics of email
"headers." A basic email message consists of two parts. The
"headers" contain the information needed for the message to be
sent through the various Internet servers on the way to its
destination, as well as the "To:" and "From:" fields and the
message's subject. The second part of a basic email message is
the message body, which contains the actual "content" of the
message. The headers and the body of a message are separated
by the first blank line that occurs in the message. It's also
important to note that most email clients do not display all
of the header information; many show no more than the subject
and the "From:" field. Depending on what email application
you use, there are various methods of viewing the full headers
of your incoming email messages. (Eudora Pro, for example, will
display the full headers of a message if you toggle the "blah
blah blah" button on the individual message.)
Text and HTML email messages have one distinct difference in
their headers. The "Content-Type:" header defines how the
information in the message body should be interpreted by the
receiving email client. A text message usually contains the
following "Content-Type:" field in its headers:
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
An HTML message, on the other hand, will not contain the
above line, but will instead replace it with the following:
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/html; charset=us-ascii
These two lines tell the receiving email client that the body
of the message should be interpreted as HTML code rather than
plain text. Assuming that the email client is sophisticated
enough to display HTML correctly, it will do so. If it is an
older email client that can't display HTML, it will probably
display the HTML code as text, which results in a garbled
mess of code.
That's it in a nutshell. However, most email clients don't
make it very easy to replace the "Content-Type:" header or
define the content type of outgoing messages. Email
publishers are forced to be pretty creative in their methods
of actually accomplishing the delivery of HTML email. We'll
look at several of these techniques in an upcoming issue.
Many list hosting providers -- notably Lyris
and PostMaster General -- make it very easy to
send HTML email to your mailing list. The level of control
provided by the Web interface of these companies' software
applications is far superior to the relatively small amount
of control you have when sending email with a basic email
client.
If you're currently sending an HTML version of your ezine, I
would like to hear about your method of sending HTML email.
When sending feedback, be sure to include your website URL
so I can give you credit if I use your comments in a future
issue. And any questions or suggestions for future articles
are always welcome. To send feedback on this week's EPDigest,
email [email protected].
Until next time,
Brian Alt, Publisher
Email Publishing Digest
Brian Alt is the founder and CEO of Email
Possibilities, a provider of comprehensive email publishing solutions. He
also publishes the weekly Email Publishing Digest
and is the author of several
ebooks on email publishing-related topics.
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