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HTML Email - image content shows up as an attachment

         

5moke

6:54 pm on Apr 4, 2003 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



Hi, I sent a html email to my users but they complained that the email includes attachments of the images found on the html email. Any idea why this is happening? I have inserted the complete URL to the image source. Can anyone shed some light to this? Thank you and I appreciate it.

threecrans

8:27 pm on Apr 4, 2003 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



What is their mail client? For example, some versions of Outlook, & OE (Outlook 97 comes to mind) do not support receiving HTML email.

<added>Is this a "self-contained" HTML email (i.e. SRC attribute references embedded images contained in the message) or are the SRC attributes referencing resources on the Internet?</added>

5moke

9:58 pm on Apr 4, 2003 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



I appreciate your feedback.

"Is this a "self-contained" HTML email (i.e. SRC attribute references embedded images contained in the message) or are the SRC attributes referencing resources on the Internet?"

At first, I tried the 'self-contained' HTML email and users complained that they received image attachment.

So I attempt the other way which the SRC attributes are referencing resources on the internet. However, it results in a broken image. This is how the source code looks for the image: <IMG SRC="http://www.example.com/sm_pic1.jpg>

The email reaches mostly to Yahoo, Hotmail, Microsoft Outlook, Express users.

Kindly advise. Thank you.

[edited by: tedster at 10:19 pm (utc) on April 4, 2003]
[edit reason] remove specifics [/edit]

DrDoc

10:06 pm on Apr 4, 2003 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



There's no ending quotation mark... Or, was that just a typo in the post?

Also, is the e-mail sent as text/html?

g1smd

12:16 am on Apr 5, 2003 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member Top Contributors Of The Month



I hate HTML email. Email is supposed to be for plain text only.

If you have any other content to send, images, program files, documents, presentations, web pages, etc, then please send them all as attachments, or if there are multiple elements then encapsulate them in an archive file (e.g. ZIP file) and send those as attachments instead. That's why MIME types were invented.

Mardi_Gras

3:17 am on Apr 5, 2003 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



Aside from the previously mentioned missing quotes, your tag is correct - at least it is the same as I use with no problems.

What program are you using to send your e-mail? I presume you tested this to yourself first - how did it come to you when you tested it?

Mardi_Gras

3:27 am on Apr 5, 2003 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



By the way, welcome to WebmasterWorld, 5moke. :)

threecrans

5:16 pm on Apr 7, 2003 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



Could it be a security setting on the receiving mail client?

Filipe

12:22 am on Apr 8, 2003 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



I hate HTML email. Email is supposed to be for plain text only.

Heh, who are you to decide? If it's for plain text, then you're saying Email can't do something that Snail Mail can (except for the personality associated with it). Plus, I like bolding parts of my email. Cleaner way to delineate sections and such.

A possible solution

I've had problems sending out HTML emails with Outlook Express. The best way I've found to get images to work properly is to

(A) Upload the pictures to a web server and include them from the web (I can't remember if you have to edit the HTML of the email itself to do this properly)

(B) Deselect "Send Pictures with Message" under "Format" in the "New Message" window when you click "Create Mail".

g1smd

6:25 pm on Apr 8, 2003 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member Top Contributors Of The Month



The email body should contain only plain text. Anything else should be sent as an attachment, with appropriate MIME type. HTML files should be sent as an attachment. Multiple files should be sent in some sort of compressed archive format. Large files should be uploaded to an FTP server, and just the URL sent instead.

eWhisper

7:08 pm on Apr 8, 2003 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



If there is only a small number of people having the problem, it could be a security setting in their mail. Another solution is to add:


<!--
To read this article online, go to
http://ww.yoursite.com/mail
-->

<html>
<head>

at the top of the mailer, so people who can't see html will still know where togo to read it online.

axisoftime

7:31 pm on Apr 8, 2003 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



The email body should contain only plain text.

Not true at all. There are many situations where HTML text/content is a much better choice than plain text. Plain text is boring most of the time.

You don't have a lot of control over how the message will appear in the recipient's inbox. Mail client, security settings, personal settings, etc. To successfully send your message, you should look into using a script (many freebies out there) to determine the settings of the receiving email client. Basically you create a text message and an HTML message - if the client's settings allow HTML, they receive that message. If the only accept plain text, they get your plain text message.

tedster

7:35 pm on Apr 8, 2003 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



Let's keep this thread focused - the issue was HTML email images showing up as attachments.

The conversation about if and when to use HTML email is a valuable, and ongoing discussion. But that conversation deserves its own thread.

Thanks, all.

Filipe

7:52 pm on Apr 8, 2003 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



I understand the very puristic view of e-mail as pure text, especially from people in my office who use text-only browsers. HTML is just a markup language anyhoo, so it's not that bad. Embedded images in e-mail is another issue entirely, and I do believe that e-mails should be ASCII and not BINARY, and that images should either be attached or linked to a web server (as I suggested earlier).

HTML in e-mails though is just a way to format an email in a way that is more attractive to, perhaps, potential buyers. (I prefer newsletters and daily things I get in pure text format when possible, but I don't mind if they like to add a colored background or the occasional image or table). It's not as good for the blind, or people with text-only clients that don't support HTML e-mail.

I believe wholely in HTML e-mail, but I likewise believe that users should have the option of going with text-only e-mails. More power to the users.