Hi Kelly >How do they do it? We recently used a company called TargetInteractive to >send an email blast. The blast was in HTML, but, they also prepared a text >version for those whose email client does not accept HTML. How does the >mailserver determine what the users email software will accept (HTML/text)?
I just don't know. I don't think it's possible. What did TargetInteractive claim they could do? It sounds like miraculous mind-reading to know which users in a list of x,000 wanted/could/prefer text over HTML. You simply can't know that in advance unless the user joined the list for text vs HTML, nor is there any standard, agreed convention for users to communicate back to whom? or what? as to what message format they want. If they sent HTML and the user rejected it, how would they know the user rejected it or preferred non-HTML? If the user received HTML mail, and just deleted it because they weren't interested, couldn't read it because the HTML code screwed up the msg so bad it was unreadable?? Again, technically, the sending mailserver sends to the receiving mail server, and hangs up. Then the user's mail program contacts that mailbox server to read its mailbox. The sending mailserver has no direct dialog with any user's mail client program, so can't determine whether ... a) the mail client program can handle HTML mail nor b) even if it could, whether the user wants to receive HTML mail. What I can say is that for the Ecartis joke list server I manage, they send HTML mail without giving the user the option choosing. It works ok. However, it seems that there are some anomalies how web mail like AOL, MSN, Yahoo, etc handle HTML messages. Using HTML to color text and change text sizes, and no more fanciness, is probably ok. What many people who receive HTML mail now is to disactivate any java or javascript or other scripting that could be included in the HTML. Since HTML mail 4 to 10 times bigger than non-HTML mail, to use HTML mail has an impact on both the end user (wants it? rejects it?) and on your list server's performance and your monthly bandwidth volumes. This is my opinion: a nicely formatted, and spaced non-HTML msg is perfectly capable of communicating your message. It is the "least common denominator" most acceptable to all people. I'm more of a Jakob Nielsen type, than a special FX type. Do you have hard evidence that HTML mail is more "successful" than text mail? What is your schedule for implementing a new list server? Len Please visit http://www.ipswitch.com/support/mailing-lists.html to be removed from this list. An Archive of this list is available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/imail_forum%40list.ipswitch.com/
