What makes an email link clickable?

[tedster]

Sometimes I get confounded by what I thought was a simple issue. What makes an email link clickable? The email clients I use automatically do this for a properly formatted URL, and I just assumed it was standard.

I have a client who started sending (very low volume) email newletters through an AOL account, and we can't figure out how to make a link work. Any help?

[mivox]

I beleive the only reason an email link is clickable is because the email client interprets it as such. AOL is probably screwing it up somehow.

I'd recommend that your client get another email account (using a regular ISP/email client) to send out the newsletter... Or get a browser-based script to send the email out through. I use RobMail for our newsletter. It's free and works fine for small mailing lists. It's entirely administrated through the browser, and run on the website server. If the website host is on a non-AOL server, AOL will never actually touch the outgoing messages, and therefore won't be able to screw them up.

[Drastic]

I have a lot of aol/hotmail format type users subbed to my ezine. This type of link usually takes care of them, plus the regular email client subs, but it is a little bulky.

Check out this site: [domain.com...] <a href="http://domain.com">Click Here</a>

HTH

Added:
Not sure how this will work *sending* from aol, haven't done that. May be worth a try, though.

[tedster]

Now that you mention it, I know that someone I get a newsletter from always includes a special "AOL" link that looks about like that.

This site is a very non-tech bunch. I'm concerned about some of them getting visible HTML code. We may be better off to forget altogether about using AOL for sending.

Thanks for the help -- it jogged me!

[Drastic]

One thing to think about, is how many of your subs are on aol/hotmail type accounts?

If an aol user gets the standard http:// link, they will have to copy and paste it into the browser. Not a good thing for non-savvy (aol in general) users.

[tedster]

OK, so what is the "AOL" format for links in emails? Anyone know?

[Marcia]

From what I've seen AOL does not support clickable links - even email forwards come in as attachments. It's probably all proprietary. There are also special ways to send photo attachments, which this week is maddening, they are not arriving.

I just got an email sent through egroups, but originally from an AOL user. This is how the link looks (altered):

<A HREF="http://searchengineworld.com/">Click here: www.searchengineworld.com</A>

There are many AOL users on that email list, and there is always a separate notice: AOL users copy and past into your browser.

I think mivox is 100% correct. Being a non-AOL user makes it very difficult to receive from AOL users except for just straight text messages.

I'm dealing so much with AOL people lately it's almost tempting to use their service to figure out what they're doing but frankly, I am downright afraid to.

[rcjordan]

>I'm dealing so much with AOL people lately it's almost tempting to use their service to figure out what they're doing but frankly, I am downright afraid to.

I'd sign up in a heartbeat. I've been thinking about doing it just to see how I might leverage my sites in AOLsearch. Familiarity with AOL might be a big, big plus when dealing with your target market, Marcia. If you're afraid, just tie a rope around your waist, give a tug if you go to deep and we'll pull you out.

[Marcia]

>>we'll pull you out

LOL..first you'd have to find me if I disappear. Why I am afraid: with my first windows computer I installed AOL and the first time I logged on, after I got off, it went into safe mode and nobody could get it out, no matter what.

The BIOS somehow got messed up, and at one point neither the hard drive or the cd-rom drive could be found.

It had been purchased on auction when a local hard drive mfr went out of business and was fully loaded, MS Office, Photoshop 4, the works. I had to go out and purchase all new software, including the OEM for Windows95 - fat32, and probably the most stable - much better than 98. When I found a tech who could get it together, he had a heck of a time getting Windows to install -he said a few things had been badly messed up. I almost lost the computer altogether.

I actually get a lot of AOL users making inquiries, and I think you can have their service for $10 a month if you continue with your own ISP connection.

This newer computer is a bit over a year old and I'm just afraid of having the same thing happen - it's almost like whan a kid gets chased or bitten by dog and is afraid of dogs for the rest of his life.

[minnapple]

Watch out I seen AOL invade a PC and it is hard to get rid of it.

I have been thinking about buying a cheap, cheap second hand computer and installing AOL on it, along with every other program I am leery about.

[rcjordan]

>I actually get a lot of AOL users making inquiries, and I think you can have their service for $10 a month if you continue with your own ISP connection.

Hmmm.... That's worth checking into, do they have a website somewhere? ;)

>got messed up
Oh, I know just how gun-shy that can make you, I'm still recuperating from Registry Hell Week.

Hey, you're making the big bucks now, go buy yourself a 2nd system for AOL. Walmart has 2 HP complete systems piled in the aisle here for $798 w/ 17" monitor. Tax deductible as a business expense.

[BoneHeadicus]

I beleive you can rest at ease Marcia.

AOL answered to the complaints they were getting and they have one of the most user friendly installs I've ever seen. Even if you go in and knock out the AOL adapter in Network Neighborhood, it will fix itself next time you open it.

AOL is definitly on the radar screen of the future. Their email system sucks.. Period. Not to mention their butchering of your graphics with that compression they use. But they are a large chunk of the users out there.

Just plain text emails...KISS.

[rcjordan]

Oh, I forgot... if you DO go in, you'll only be allowed to post in FOO for a week or so while we keep you under observation.

[BoneHeadicus]

>>>>Hmmm.... That's worth checking into, do they have a website somewhere?

rc friendly hypertextual link to aol [aol.com]

[WebSpinner]

AOL 6.0 now accepts HTML emails. You can now send a full graphical email to 6.0 users and they will get it as intended.

Give it some time before a good percent of the users upgrade.

-Spinner

[Brett_Tabke]

Just use raw text and place the link at the left side of the screen:

[webmasterworld.com...]

Must be in column one. That is if you are using text mail.