by Dr. Ralph F. Wilson, E-Commerce Consultant
The year 2000 is shaping up as a revolution in the appearance of e-mail newsletters and ads. We're seeing the advent of HTML e-mail sent almost routinely -- but not without problems.
- Some e-mail programs can't read HTML e-mail
- AOL 5.0 follows neither the HTML standards nor the MIME standards, so it sees e-mail differently. (AOL users: complain to Steve Case!)
- Maintaining three lists -- text, HTML, AOL -- is difficult for smaller companies. (Larger companies use database-driven listerservers to "sniff" the e-mail program used by recipients and send them only what they can read.)
Fortunately, the three-year-old Multi Part MIME standard enables you to send out a single e-mail message that contains both text and HTML, with your recipient's e-mail program displaying the version it can see best. This helps, but produces three additional difficulties:
- Most e-mail programs send out the HTML part first, then the text part, driving AOL recipients crazy, since they see gobbledy-gook (HTML code) first, and text only if they're patient enough to scroll to the end of the message.
- The text part translated from an HTML original by the sending e-mail program doesn't always look its best.
- Multi-Part text and HTML e-mail is more than twice as large as text alone.
Here's the solution I am experimenting with in my Doctor Ebiz (http://www.doctorebiz.com) free question and answer newsletter for small businesses on Web marketing and e-commerce topics. I've had many inquiries about the software I use to format Doctor Ebiz, so I'm giving you detailed instructions on what I do. I use three programs -- Microsoft Word 97, Microsoft FrontPage 2000, and a bulk email program Mass Mailer 2.19 http://www.mass-emailer.com This process involves four stages:
- Prepare the Copy in HTML using MS Word 97
- Beautify the HTML using MS FrontPage 2000
- Beautify the Text Version using MS Word
- E-Mail the Dual Version using Mass Mailer 2.19
Stage 1: Prepare the Copy in HTML using MS Word 97
My philosophy is to use the most powerful tool I have available when writing and editing, and for me that is Microsoft Word 97. (I don't like MS Word 2000 since the HTML it prepares is way too precise, and not generic enough. But if that's all you have, use it.)
Word likes to insert "curly quotes" that are slanted one way to the left and the other way to the right. However, these aren't interpreted accurately by many web browsers and e-mail programs. So I set up Word this way: Tools | AutoCorrect | AutoFormat as You Type, and uncheck ALL the boxes, especially the box for "Replace as you type ... 'straight quotes' with 'smart quotes' and 'symbol characters' with 'symbols.' "
Since nearly all of my writing ends up in HTML format anyway, I write in HTML format, not in Word Doc format. This allows me to insert headings (H1, H2, H3, blockquote, bullets, etc.) as I write, rather than having to insert them later. If you've never used Word's "Styles," now is the time to start. In the formatting tool bar, on the far left side, the Style indicator is a dropdown menu that usually reads "Normal." When you set this to H2, it automatically sets up a "headline" in HTML. This keeps all your headlines consistent. (Note: Heading 2 is different from H2. H2 only appears in the Web page template.) You may need to install the web page capabilities of Word 97 if you didn't do that when you installed the program initially. If your original copy is in Word Doc format, File | Save As HTML, then insert the headings as H1, H2, H3, H4 and the other formatting you need. For body text I use New Times Roman 12 pt. -- no smaller -- though Arial 10 pt. is also readable.
When I write in Word 97, I always include the bare URL at the end of a sentence, even though I may create a hyperlink in the text. This is because my readers who can see text only will need the bare URL, and so will those who print out the newsletter to read it.
I write, re-write, spell- and grammar-check, and proofread in Word 97, saving in the HTML format.
Stage 2: Beautify the HTML using MS FrontPage 2000
When I'm completely satisfied with the text, I'm ready to beautify the bride using MS FrontPage 2000. (If you're using MS Word 2000, you may want to perform this step in MS Word 2000 -- it's pretty powerful, and may do everything you need it to -- but I choose not to.)
Open your previous newsletter and delete the previous issue's contents (I do this rather than set up a template, since I'm constantly changing the format slightly from issue to issue) -- or open a blank webpage. Then Insert | File to insert the copy you prepared into FrontPage 2000. Then File | Save the document with the name you select. If you try to File | Open the version you prepared in Word, FrontPage may open it in Word again rather than in FrontPage (one of those frustrating Microsoft "we-know-what-you-want-better-than-you-do" attitudes built into Office 2000), so use the Insert | File approach rather than the File | Open approach. (The Insert | File option is unavailable in the HTML view in FrontPage 2000, but is available when using the Normal view.)
My own style in Doctor Ebiz http://www.doctorebiz.com is to use NO GRAPHICS at all. This is to mollify those who like to read their e-mail off-line, and don't like the fact that graphics in the HTML e-mail might force their modem to dial again and put them back online. You'll have to decide this for yourself, since graphics may be essential to the effectiveness of your sales presentation. But for now I'm leaving them out. If you do include graphics, make sure that the graphics URL refers to a JPEG or GIF file on your website, not just on your hard disk. :-) In other words, use an absolute URL rather than a relative one.
Even though I don't use graphics, I use color and fonts to make the e-mail attractive. For dividers between articles I use jazzed up and colored horizontal lines:
<HR SIZE="6" COLOR="#66CCFF">
When you use fonts, realize that recipients can't see a specific font unless it is installed on their computer. I usually limit headlines to Arial or Verdana, but I will list alternatives in the <STYLE> or <FONT> tags, such as,
<FONT FACE="Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,Sans-serif">
to make sure I control how it is seen if my first choice font isn't available.
I use <STYLE> tags embedded at the top of the page to control font faces and colors, though some older e-mail programs can't see effects made with <STYLE> tags.
I'd go slow on tables, since some of the HTML e-mail programs people still use are pretty crude. You'll just have to experiment to see what works for your newsletter's readers. I sometimes receive formatting complaints from users of MS Outlook 97, WebTV (make sure you specify BODY BACKGROUND="#FFFFFF"> since WebTV's default e-mail background is black), and Outlook Express 5.01 Macintosh Edition (centering problems). However, most recipients really like the level of HTML formatting used.
My goal is not to reproduce my website's standard template in the HTML e-mail message, since too many people's e-mail programs buckle under that much complexity of tables within tables within tables. I am striving, rather, for a clean, colorful, easy-to-read look. (If you haven't already, why don't you subscribe to Doctor Ebiz http://doctorebiz.com to see what this looks like.)
If you have a lot of topics you may want to list "In this issue" at the top of the page, with internal hyperlinks so readers can quickly click down to what they want. Two caveats: (1) long newsletters sent in dual HTML and text format are more than twice as long as text alone -- keep them short. (2) Many e-mail programs strip or alter internal bookmark hyperlinks on outgoing e-mail. Be careful, and test, test, test -- especially the first time you do it.
Work hard to make the best HTML page you possibly can, and have another pair of eyes read it to look for things you may have missed. Once your HTML page is perfect, you can use it for the Web version of your newsletter archived on your website, as well as the text version you'll prepare next.
Stage 3: Beautify the Text Version using MS Word
What looks good in HTML doesn't automatically translate to a great plain text appearance. In order to make my text newsletters look their best to any reader I use the following convention: 65 character lines with a hard linefeed (or carriage return) at the end of every line. Without this, the text is subject to the whims of the outgoing and reader e-mail programs, either of which may break the lines at arbitrary points. This is the process I use:
- Open the HTML version in Word.
- File | Save As a filename with type "text only." This strips away all the HTML mark-up and shows you plain text (which is Courier New 10 point).
- Close the file and reopen the text file. Now File | Save As the same filename, but this time with type "Word Document." I'll explain why in a moment.
- Set the right margin to 5.5 inches. This corresponds to a 65 character line width.
- Double space between paragraphs. I've set up a macro to do this for me.
- Convert each of the titles or headings to ALL CAPS using the Format | Change Case | UPPERCASE function to do this. (Since I do this a lot, I've customized my formatting toolbar to include the button for this feature. Tools | Customize | Commands | Format | All Caps)
- My style is to put a 65-character line of hyphens above and below each title, and to have two blank lines before every new title. Your style may vary. I also capitalize subheadings to make them stand out, since with Plain Text you don't have italics, boldface, or different fonts to work with.
- Copy your header and footer boilerplate from a previous newsletter, and change the date, issue number, and circulation numbers.
- Save the file again in Word Document format to make sure you don't lose it.
- File | Save As a filename with the type Text Only with Line Breaks. This puts a hard line break at the end of every line. Close the file and reopen it. Hopefully, it looks okay. However, I've found a bug in Word 97. If I've been working in Word a long time and save a file as Text Only with Line Breaks, sometimes when I re-open the file, the line length will be very narrow. The way to get rid of this problem is to close Word, re-open it, open the Word Doc version you saved in step 9, and save again as Text Only with Line Breaks.
- Remove the space before the line break at the end of every line. With some listserver programs, such as Majordomo, this space can come back to haunt you as =20 at the end of every line if you don't remove it. This is how to get rid of it: Edit | Replace and click on the More button. In the "Find what" box put a space followed by a Paragraph Mark (available by using the "Special" button at the bottom of this dialog box.). In the "Replace with" box put only the Paragraph Mark (again, using the "Special" button). Then click "Replace All." This step may not be necessary, but I always do it, remembering the bad old days of Majordomo. I've set up a macro to perform this operation for me in an instant.
Now your text version should look dressed up for his wedding day, and ready to go.
Stage 4: E-Mail the Dual Version using Mass Mailer 2.19
The final stage is to marry the text version to the HTML version into a single e-mail message using a special mailer program that allows a separate file for each version.
You just have to set the right content-type and use a separator eg.
Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="_----------=_1069196889144930"
this is placed in the mail headers
text article version after this
--_----------=_1069196889144930
Content-Disposition: inline
Content-Length: xxxx
Content-Transfer-Encoding: binary
Content-Type: text/plain
your text content
html content after this
--_----------=_1069196889144930
Content-Disposition: inline
Content-Length: xxxx
Content-Transfer-Encoding: binary
Content-Type: text/html
Your HTML content
- Many e-mail programs (such as MS Outlook 2000) strip out or break certain features of HTML, such as internal bookmarks and style tags.
- You can control the "From" field and the "Reply to" field more easily.
Complaints
I learned long ago that I'm never going to please everybody. Even doing nothing, people will criticize. So I try to do my very best, continually improve, and learn from those who complain without letting them paralyze me.
At least for now, this method of sending a dual text/HTML message works well for the vast majority of subscribers. There are a few for whom a dual text/HTML message doesn't work well. A year from now, the problem will be lessened, since more people will have updated e-mail programs and be able to see HTML e-mail clearly and accurately. The dual text/HTML message works for me because (1) I send the text part before the HTML part, (2) I keep the HTML simple, and (3) the file size of the e-mail message is under 25K. If you have messages with a filesize of more than 30K or 40K you're going to run into trouble from recipients whose ISPs won't deliver long e-mail messages or who have slow, dial-up modems that are sworn enemies of long file downloads.
We Internet marketers are all learning together how to do this. Please pass on to me what you're learning, and I'll try to do the same.
