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If you have a newsletter, or plan to start one up, you may be
wondering if you can send out those 'pretty? HMTL ezines. Well,
of course you can. But SHOULD you?

If how you spend your time is important, then I think not.

When crafting a text-only newsletter, you take time to outline,
draft, and edit your work. When it?s correct, you format a
65-character line length to prevent email ugliness, and voila!
your email newsletter is ready to send.

However, if it?s going out as HTML, you?re not done yet. Not by a
long shot.

First, you have to create a web page to hold your text. Even if
you have a pre-made template with your logo and other graphics
ready to go, you still need to format headings with the correct
fonts, and that?s only if you?re using cascading style sheets. If
you don?t use CSS, you?ll probably have to add more than just the
header tags.

Next, you?ll need a weekend - a week if you?re a newbie - to sort
out how individual email clients and Internet service providers
handle various HTML codes and objects.

Some email clients can?t read HTML email at all, while others
accept only a limited number of codes and tags. AOL is
particularly finicky.

If you want to reach your subscribers who use AOL, you need to
know that the following HTML objects are not supported by the AOL
client mail.

?       ActiveX
?       Audio
?       External Style Sheets
?       Frames and IFrames
?       Java
?       Meta Refresh
?       Scripts: JavaScript, VBScript, Perl, etc.
?       Tooltips
?       Video

Seems simple enough, doesn?t it? Just use pure HTML and avoid the
bells and whistles.

Not so fast!  To get the body portion of the page to render
correctly, you?ll have to include a MIME-type header, which is
used to send non-ASCII information, and allows email programs to
display images instead of a garbled mess that looks like this:

#&?A?ڌ쵁ӭ0``g???LI??:?Ei?��
?=r`fס!gi9a­㭦lt;颖H䒦copy;Պ+Φ?Q?總`& ?t-ͪᦡmp;/gE3?]$?E; &UD痹k,!
eʑl?~?ա܂,%sؓ!E­ྼNܗv??ඹ­?m*%s
?Ō2ΰٰ-

Oh, yes. You?ll also to include a Content-type header too! ? and
those are just AOL?s requirements.

Even if you learn how to make HTML email work, some folks
specifically choose to receive only ASCII email. They know that
HTML email can expose them to viruses and intrusive programs.
These folks might be annoyed to receive the garbled mess that is
your newsletter. Annoyed enough to click that unsubscribe link,
which was the only thing in your ezine that was legible.

Let?s assume your ezine survives the trip through cyberspace and
arrives in all its HTML glory. Will your subscriber be able to
read the text? Are the fonts large enough and dark enough to see
without a problem? Maybe you can see the page, but sight-impaired
readers have no way to apply user-accessibility options in an
HTML document. They too will unsubscribe, even if it means
digging out the magnifying glass to find the link.

Here?s yet another way that HTML email wastes time. It takes as
long to download as any other web page, and some of your
subscribers are still on 33 - 56K dial-up connections. Your
over-sized email is costing them money; and that fact is costing
you subscribers.

Honestly, is 'pretty? email worth the time and challenges? That?s
up to you.

If the appearance of your newsletter is that important, upload it
as a page to your server and email the URL to your ezine
subscribers. That way, you may prevent a few unsubscriptions.
Better yet, you?ll have more time to play with your kids, or
whatever you like to do.

Your time is much more than money - it?s your life.