Sending HTML Messages from Eudora

>Disclaimer: I am against HTML email, but I can be bought.
>
>I have a project that requires sending an email newsletter with
>formatting more complicated than Eudora's tools allow. [snip]
>
>[You can't just paste HTML into Eudora's message window, because it
>won't know to send the message with the appropriate headers. There
>are ways of tricking Eudora into sending full HTML, but they aren't
>trivial (as I remember, it involves attaching the HTML document with
>some very specific hidden settings). The easiest approach is
>probably to send from a program like Netscape that includes a full
>HTML editor. Lots of testing with reading the mail in all the
>difference email clients is required, of course. -Adam]

Here's another trick that may be more straightforward.

Send yourself an HTML-formatted message. When you receive it, open
it and choose Edit (pencil button at top of message) and Show Source
(Blah blah blah button). Replace the source HTML with your own, and
save the message. Now use the Message/Redirect menu command to send
your message with its "new DNA" inside. As far as I know, Eudora
won't touch your HTML.

Dave

At 07:40 -0700 2004.10.28, Dave Friedman wrote:

>I have a project that requires sending an email newsletter with
>formatting more complicated than Eudora's tools allow.

Prepare your HTML as a separate file and send it as an attachment.

Better, if you have Adobe's Distiller, is to send your message as
an attachment in PDF format.

Art Evans

At 7:40 AM -0700 10/28/04, Dave Friedman wrote:
>I have a project that requires sending an email newsletter with
>formatting more complicated than Eudora's tools allow. If I hand
>code a layout that makes use of tables then copy and paste the HTML
>into a new message in Eudora, will other email clients interpret the
>email properly?

I'm not aware of user-type Mac tools for sending 'real' HTML in
email, with the proper MIME headers and all. If you need to send
'real' HTML, I'd look to PHP or Perl or pretty much any scripting
language with a Web-ish affiliation.

http://www.phpbuilder.com/columns/kartic20000807.php3

  With PHP (or perl or...) you could assemble a Web form that accepts
an uploaded HTML file (and a text variant of the same content, if you
want to be really nice) and sends an email with all the proper MIME
segments and headers. Actually you could do it with pretty much any
scripting language (even AppleScript, with the right osax), but PHP
comes with OSX (as does perl), and there are tons of books
available...

--
Andrew Laurence
atlaurenuci.edu

If you really have a need to send HTML, you might give Thunderbird a try
<http://mozilla.org>. I've been using Thunderbird as my main mail
client for a few weeks now, although I have as much of the HTML stuff
turned off as possible (I like Thunderbird because it can seamlessly use
gpg by installing an extension). Since it evolved from the mail part of
Mozilla, I'll bet it does outbound HTML properly. It certainly displays
the HTML mail I receive as well as Safari does.

--
Paul Schinder
schinderpobox.com

Mozilla or Mozilla Thunderbird can send HTML messages. Works just fine.
They also import Eudora address books without too much trouble, so it
might be a useful solution. Both are free/open source.

<http://www.mozilla.org/>

--Nik

Unfortunately Eudora *will* mangle complex html content when it's sent.
This is true even when you reply to a complex-html email sent to you, so
for instance one cannot forward a newsletter with the expectation that
the recipient will get it inviolate.

There are several newsletter/bulk-mailer applications that can handle html:

<http://www.versiontracker.com/php/search.php?mode=basic&action=search&plt%5B%5D=macosx&str=newsletter%20html>

There are a couple of AppleScript osaxen that can send html email (one
freeware, one shareware), but you have to know what you're doing.

http://www.24usoftware.com/EmailOSAX

http://lestang.org/osax/XMail/

There are also plug-ins that can send email directly from FileMaker Pro:

http://www.acmetech.com/products/mondomail/mondomail.html

http://www.cnsplug-ins.com/products.htm?product=SMTPit

It is also possible to enable a mail-server on Mac OS X and roll your own.

Christopher Stone

Another approach which will not cost you anything is to use Thunderbird (free download at Mozilla.org)

All you need to do is create a new message, then select "Insert" from the menu, paste in your HTML and click OK.

It supports full HTML, including CSS and linking to an external source so you don't need to send all the graphics, etc. in the email.

I have been using this approach for several clients who want to send email newsletters. A nice benefit to using CSS is that if the recepient has HTML turned off or has an email client that does not support it, the text degrades into basic formatted text and is still readable.

Hope this helps - Ed