Sending HTML Formatted Email

Have you ever received an e-mail which, upon opening, looks somewhat like a web page with images and stylized text? Have you ever wanted to send such a message to make your message more effective or stand out?

These messages, called "HTML formatted" e-mails, are used more frequently as e-mail applications become more sophisticated and users are able to read these types of messages. Newer e-mail programs such as Eudora Pro 4.0, Microsoft Outlook, Outlook Express, and Netscape 4.0, as well as many web-based e-mail applications (Hotmail, Yahoo, MSN, etc., e-mail) support HTML formatted e-mail.

Examples of HTML formatted e-mail as received in Eudora v. 5.1 follow: (click the image for a larger version):

 

 

However, not everyone may receive an HTML formatted e-mail as you intended. By default, most e-mail applications send and receive messages in plain-text format. Additionally, some users choose to switch "off" the option of sending and receiving HTML formatted e-mails. Other e-mail applications are simply not sophisticated enough to support HTML formatted e-mail. HTML formatted e-mails also take up more bandwith than plain-text e-mails. So, consider your audience carefully before sending an HTML formatted e-mail.

This documentation will outline the steps to follow in order to send HTML formatted e-mail using the college's preferred e-mail application, Netscape Messenger (or Netscape Mail).

Section 1: Configuring Netscape Messenger or Netscape Mail to send HTML formatted Email

Netscape 4.x

  1. Launch Netscape Messenger.
  2. From the Edit menu, select "Preferences" The following menu will appear:



  3. From the left, expand the "Mail & Newsgroups" menu and select "Formatting."
  4. On the right under "Message formatting," make sure that "Use the HTML editor to compose messages" option is selected. Aslo verify that the "Ask me what to do if the message has HTML formatting, otherwise send plain text" option is checked.
  5. Click "OK."
Netscape 6.x or 7.x
  1. Launch Netscape Mail.
  2. From the Edit menu, select "Mail/News Account Settings." The following menu will appear:



  3. From the left, select the e-mail account you wish to use. Then, make sure the "Compose messages using HTML" option is selected in the box at the bottom of the menu. Click "OK."
  4. From the Edit menu, select "Preferences ..." The following menu will appear:



    On the left, expand the "Mail and Newsgroups" menu and then select "Send Format." Make sure that the "Ask me what to do (Mail prompts you to choose a format)" option is selected. Click "OK." This option allows Netscape to prompt you before you send an HTML formatted e-mail. If you do not wish to be prompted, select the third option, "Send the message in HTML anyway."

Section 2: Creating and sending HTML formatted e-mail

Composing and HTML formatted e-mail is a cross between composing a regular e-mail and creating a web page. You may wish to review "Switching to Netscape Messenger" and "Building a Web Page at St. Olaf" for additional background on either process.

Netscape (v. 4.x or greater) Messenger/Mail:

  1. To compose a new message, select "New Message" from the file meu, or click on "New Message." Navigator will display a composition window.

  2. Compose your message as usual, and if you wish, use the text formatting tools in the toolbar.



    The formatting toolbar includes a variety of buttons and dropdown boxes that quickly allow you to format e-mail in HTML.. Applying most of these formatting functions is very simple. Just type in the message area, highlight the text, and then apply the formatting by clicking the appropriate button or selecting an item from the available dropdown boxes. For example, to bold text, highlight the text and click the button; to change the font size, click the Font Size dropdown box and select a new size.

  3. If you would like to insert a link, anchor, image, horizontal line or table into your message, click on the last icon on the right on the formatting toolbar. The following menu will appear:

    If you are inserting an image, you may wish to already have that image stored on the St. Olaf web server so that you may type its location into the image field. Make sure to use absolute URL references (the full path, e.g., http://www.stolaf.edu/admissions/images/students.jpg) for your images links, or your images will not appear in your e-mail message. For information about transferring images to the St. Olaf web server using Fetch or FTP, refer to "Using Fetch for File Transfers on the Macintosh" or "Transferring Files Between The PC And UNIX Using WS_FTP."

  4. If you prefer, from the beginning you may create your entire e-mail message in Netscape Composer or your favorite HTML editor, and "paste" the HTML code into the body of your message. This would replace steps 2 and 3.

  5. When you have finished composing your formatted e-mail message, click "Send." The following prompt will appear:



    Select the third option ("Send in HTML Only") if you would like to send the HTML formatted e-mail as it appears. If you'd like to send the message in both Plaintext and HTML, select the first option (note that the receipient will receive your message twice in the same message, just formatted differently).

Section 3: Additional Resources

You may find the additional resources helpful when deciding whether or not to use HTML formatted e-mail and tips for sending it:

If you find additional resources you'd like added to this section, please send an e-mail to webmaster@stolaf.edu.

 

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