Sending HTML email messages is an imperfect science. The fact is there are actually 100’s of different email programs and mail server programs installed around the world today. Each of them offers different capabilities and levels of HTML email support. Luckily a large majority of these systems support the decoding and display of HTML formatted email messages.
eNews Builder uses various techniques to make sense out of all of this chaos and deliver the best email format to the widest audience. These techniques include probing, multi-format encoding, and support for user preferences.
Despite the use of these techniques, you may occasionally receive a complaint from a recipient who is unable to properly read the HTML email you deliver. In these cases, it is likely the recipient is using an older email platform that is incompatible with the various probes and multi-format messages we send AND do not display HTML email correctly. Below you will find further information regarding these systems. In each case, the quickest and easiest solution to the problem is to change the format preference for the subscriber to ‘Plain Text’.
Eudora and Lotus Notes
Eudora and Lotus Notes are common email clients. Unfortunately certain earlier versions of these programs do not adhere to current email standards.
The details are a bit complicated, but, for example, Eudora 4.0 (or earlier) supports only a simple form of HTML lacking many layout controls like tables. Later versions of Eudora (after version 4) work much better. If these subscribers have been able to receive HTML in the past, they are probably receiving simpler HTML than that produced by the Cover Page you send through eNews Builder. The other alternative is to email out HTML paragraphs (instead of the cover page). You will see this option on the top of the Send as Email screen.
Lotus Notes sometimes strips out all the HTML and images instead of showing the plain text version. It also depends on how the Notes server and mail gateway is configured (see below).
For additional information about known problems with Lotus Notes (and possible solutions that can be implemented by the recipient's IT dept) see the following articles:
Background and Current Status of Notes/Domino R5 Native Support of HTML and MHTML Rich Text Format (more...)
Domino R5 Converts HTML into Misaligned Formatting with "[IMAGE]" Throughout Message (more...)
Recipients in R5 & Group Tools Environment Receive Internet Mail with Misaligned Text & "[IMAGE]" (more...)
If your subscriber’s IT department is unable to correct this situation, the best advice is to change the email format preference for subscribers using these email programs to ‘Plain Text’. The plain text message will then include links to the HTML version hosted online so that the full color version of the newsletter is available to everyone.
Mail Gateways and Microsoft Exchange
In addition to email programs, email servers and gateways can cause trouble with HTML email. These are the systems responsible for passing email messages from one machine to the next over the Internet and within a company. The gateway is usually responsible for providing security (also known as a firewall) and an interface between internal and external email systems.
One thing we have seen gateway systems do is intercept an incoming HTML message and change the information it contains. This happens occasionally and can cause unpredictable results. In addition, some gateways will not support multi-part email messages correctly and will end up sending the complete message through without the proper encoding.
Subscribers who receive emails passed through these gateways may see a garbled email message or may only receive the plain text version. One thing to try in these cases is to force the email format being sent to HTML. This is done by changing the subscribers format preference from ‘Unknown’ to ‘HTML’. If you are sending a test message, this can be a little tricky since there is no way to force the HTML format. In this case, the email address you are testing should be placed in a sub-list with the email format of this record set to HTML. You can then send your email to this sub-list.
AOL
AOL version 5.0 or earlier also provides limited HTML email support.
Recently AOL improved HTML email support with new versions 6.0 and 7.0 of their client software and the AOLAnywhere web service. Because of this mixture of supported and non-supported users, iMakeNews has built special functionality to handle subscribers who use AOL email. A special AOL email version is always created and sent to these users when you send your newsletter. We also perform special probing to see if we can determine which AOL version is being used. This probing works most of the time and if we can positively identify an AOL 6.0 or AOL 7.0 user, they will be sent and will receive the complete HTML version of your email. In all cases, AOL users see the best version of the email that can be delivered to them.
