Features

Creating and sending HTML-formatted emails using the layout features found in all decent web page layout tools is something most web designers will be asked to do from time to time, but few are sure quite how to do this. Just dropping an image into a page and applying basic text formatting might be enough, but for control over object positioning, you need to use true HTML layout tools and an email client that can convert the results into an email message. Some specialist commercial tools have this facility, but anyone can do it free of charge with a copy of Netscape Communicator and their favourite website layout software. Download it from the bottom of the page at www.netscape.com. We do not recommend this as your primary web browser or your main email client, but it is a useful tool for creating fully formatted HTML email.

The technique used here creates emails with the images encoded as in-line MIME parts. There is no need for a live Internet connection to load remote graphics whenever the email is viewed, as everything is entirely contained within the message itself. This does mean that the recipient has to download all the data encoded in the page before they can continue, so do make sure you optimise the images well and do not make extremely large pages. You should also try to restrict your page width to a normal email message

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window's width, which is generally about 570 pixels. Here, we have worked within 550 pixels just to keep things comfortable.

We've also avoided CSS formatting, even for text, and kept page alignment to the left. Remember that the more tricks you try in this kind of work, the more likely it is that people will not see what you hope they'll see.

Limited options

Getting your HTML structure into an email message is where the real problem lies. If you paste raw HTML code into the body, that's what everyone will see: raw, uninterpreted HTML code. If you attach an HTML file, that's what will be delivered - a linked HTML document waiting to be read by a browser. This is why you have to use Communicator, as it has features designed specifically to weave HTML structure into the email fabric itself rather than as displayed code.

Unfortunately, if you want to manage a large or constantly changing list of recipients, Netscape Communicator might not be good enough for the job. It is, after all, really intended to be for general use rather than as the specialist hub of a communications system. In addition, although it has HTML layout features, it is not really a serious design tool by any means. The trouble is, there are few other software options around that are any good. Most concentrate on database-merging features rather than providing flexible layout abilities, being generally over-complicated and simply not very design-friendly.

Creating decent layouts seems to be beyond the abilities of most email applications. We're not in favour of using rich, structurally complex emails for the sake of it, as we prefer messages to be as simple and clear as possible almost all of the time. However, there are reasons for wanting to present a far more sophisticated appearance than plain text can offer. Given that, there is a clear need for a decent email layout tool that offers some design features as well as list management and perhaps database merging abilities as well.