“HTML vs. ASCII TEXT” debate; does anyone have THE answer?

[jonisolis]

Hi, I am still not sure if TEXT or HTML emails are better; are you? Right now after reading a few websites (see list at bottom) I thinking of sending out text messages.

This is a little complicated so read it carefully:

Does anyone know a way that I can send ONLY plain text emails to people that sign up for lists but then let them have the option of clicking on a link in the email to view the personized emailed message in HTML form on a web page? I know about the "linktoHTML" message code BUT is there a way that I can set my list to only send out plain text messages without the HTML message?

OR how do I let each person signing up decide which they want: text or html?

Hope I hope I have made some sense. Thank you.  
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Some are for TEXT and some are for HTML...
http://fixmypages.com/fix/htmlemail.php
http://www.sitepoint.com/print/text-html-let-users-decide
http://www.emaildoctor.info/fivetruths1.html
http://emailuniverse.com/ezine-tips/?Ezine-Tips-Readers-Ask-Chris-Knight-Questions-&-Responses&id=1264

[mr.trevor]

Someone must have the answer; unfortunately, it’s not me.
It would seem that it is easier to ‘loose’ e-mails in HTML to some ISP’s through Spam filters. People can opt for text or html on signup but if you allow the HTML option you need a text version as well. It would seem to me that text only is preferable, but that’s a personal preference.
In the posts headed ‘link to html code’ there is some useful information.
DW has done a lot of work on this and I would expect that there are a lot of differing opinions depending on what is being sent and their ISP.
The other point however:
You can send text only by not putting any HTML in. Of course if you want to ‘link to HTML’ then you need to put the HTML in.
Without choosing text or text & HTML I seem to get text & HTML as default.
If you give the option of choosing text only or text & HTML, some will choose the latter.  So I put in the line:
<input type=hidden name=htmail value=text>
…before the line:
<input type=submit name=sup value="Subscribe Me!">
…in the signup code to set the subscription to text only. Then to the HTML box of the message, added the HTML (which isn’t sent with mail as subscriptions are now text only) to use on the ‘link to HTML’ page. (You may have to ‘edit’ previous subscriptions to text only.) Of course you can put additional bits in the HTML and also the ‘message codes’ to customise it.
I would think you need to be careful with linking paths to images as they would probably be in a different folder to the ListMail folder. But you can set up a customised web page here and just leave the link in the text message…! I had some fun with this and found some other cunning things it will do. I love ListMail.! Thank you DW.
… but maybe there is another easier way to do this, but it works for me. :-)

[steve]

For my lists, the user must select if they want HTML or text messages.

Select the List Settings button and then the Signup Code button. There, you create the code that you will place on your register.htm page (register.htm is just and example).

Select the Text/HTML Option radio button and then Re-Generate the code.

You'll see additional HTML code for the form as follows:

<select name=htmail>
<option value=html>HTML</option>
<option value=text>Text</option>
</select>

I'm not sure if it is possible to show an HTML page via a link in a text e-mail to then show the HTML view that is customized for the reader - in other words show the dear !fname, ...
Then again, it's probably possible, but I don't know how to do that.

I send BOTH text and HTML e-Newsletters out with little complaint. BUT - I have had issues with ISPs just dropping my mail without notice and it is tagged as spam. This was caused because I was on a "shared" server used by a BUNCH of sites.

Now I'm on a Virtual Private Server that should solve that issue.

Steve

[DW]

Excellent responses Steve and Trevor - thanks for your input!

Joni,

If you want your users to be sent text-only by default, without having to choose, use the following form entry:

<input type=hidden name=htmail value=text>

You can then send HTML+Text email, but users will only be sent the Text copy.  Use a "Link to HTML" message code and your users can click through to the (yes, Steve, personalized!) HTML copy.

Regards!

[jonisolis]

Thank you Mr. Trevor, Steve, and Dean!

I think I will send out only text messages with the link to html option. That way if someone wants to view the HTML message all they have to do is click on the link.

Mr. Trevor, I am curious about the cunning things you can do with ListMail. Can you tell more?

[mr.trevor]

Well… you did ask.. (shhhh… don’t tell Dean this.. but.. ) if you have a member’s area on your site, which is password protected, you can use ListMail to check if they are on your membership list and then remind them of the current password. You can either subscribe them immediately (if you want, or not let them enter if it is paid subscription). This way you don’t have to worry about anyone getting or finding the e-mail with the latest password in. You can even change your password as often as you like (Daily /Hourly.!) and members can always get in without you even telling it to them.
I won't say too much more and spoil the fun, but it is very rewarding exploring how to squeeze the last ounce out of your investment. I have said it before but the way that ListMail has been put together is very impressive. (Maybe I will write a book about ListMail...some day!)

Update... ohh I forgot... you don't even need a password if you don't want one...!

[jonisolis]

OK say I give people free stuff they can download from my website when they sign up for my list. You are saying that if I password protected this webpage (with the download links) that ListMail will check for the people's names on my list and give them the updated password? You change the password daily or hourly manually or is there a way to do this automatically? By the way, is there a way to stop the search engines from listing your PDF files?

Hey, Mr. Trevor, when is that book on ListMail coming out? Soon I hope.

[mr.trevor]

OK, it’s just a logic problem.
When you subscribe, ListMail will check for subscription errors.
If you are not on the list you will get subscribed.
If it is a free list then you can give latest password out by having them use the subscription  (/verification box) and enter their name and e-mail again.!.
If you are already on the list you get a signup error message with the default ‘That email address is already subscribed to this list!’.
Just create new custom messages for that list and put the current password there.
Such as ‘Today’s password: abc123 .’
They will only get this if they are already subscribed on that list.
You could maybe put a link here and not bother with passwords, just don’t have it accessible from elsewhere. There are some notes on hotlink protection here:
http://www.htaccesstools.com/hotlink-protection
There are ways of stopping the polite robots, take a look here:
http://www.internet-promoter.com/code-stop-spiders-indexing.htm
I am not an expert on this. It was well worth buying ListMail for all the things that I have learnt in the past month.. :-)