HTML & plain text in Outlook 2007
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From: Skip Evans on 4 Feb 2010 11:44 Hey all, First, let me say thanks for all the advice on Magento, and especially to Ryan who has used the beast and gave some great advice on skinning, links to some good docs and a book just for my designer. We'll be using and I'm looking forward to learning it. But anyway... I'm doing some maintenance work on a system that sends an email message using the multi-part boundaries to include both a plain text version and an HTML version of an email. I've read up on this before, but never actually done it. So implementing the code was not a big issue, and in fact it works perfectly when tested on my Ubuntu machine using Thunderbird to test the HTML and Evolution to test the plain text version. In fact, I can switch formats on both of these and all looks great. Enter Microsoft (Insert opening of Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor to send chills up my readers' spines.) On Outlook 2007 in HTML mode it renders, how can I put this... half-assedly. In text mode the whole things a bust. There is the HTML code all stuffed up at the top, boundary codes are visible, just plain awful. Googling around I see articles from 2007 when that version of Outlook came out lamenting the fact that MS pulled the IE rendering engine from it and replaced it with MS Word's renderer to plug security holes expoitable via email. Does anyone have any experience with HTML & plain text multi-part messages and Outlook 2007, or any tips how I can get this working? Still Googling, but any tips would be greatly appreciated. Skip -- ==================================== Skip Evans PenguinSites.com, LLC 503 S Baldwin St, #1 Madison WI 53703 608.250.2720 http://penguinsites.com ------------------------------------ Those of you who believe in telekinesis, raise my hand. -- Kurt Vonnegut
From: Ashley Sheridan on 4 Feb 2010 13:29 On Thu, 2010-02-04 at 10:44 -0600, Skip Evans wrote: > Hey all, > > First, let me say thanks for all the advice on Magento, and > especially to Ryan who has used the beast and gave some great > advice on skinning, links to some good docs and a book just > for my designer. We'll be using and I'm looking forward to > learning it. > > But anyway... > > I'm doing some maintenance work on a system that sends an > email message using the multi-part boundaries to include both > a plain text version and an HTML version of an email. > > I've read up on this before, but never actually done it. So > implementing the code was not a big issue, and in fact it > works perfectly when tested on my Ubuntu machine using > Thunderbird to test the HTML and Evolution to test the plain > text version. In fact, I can switch formats on both of these > and all looks great. > > Enter Microsoft (Insert opening of Bach's Toccata and Fugue in > D minor to send chills up my readers' spines.) > > On Outlook 2007 in HTML mode it renders, how can I put this... > half-assedly. In text mode the whole things a bust. There is > the HTML code all stuffed up at the top, boundary codes are > visible, just plain awful. > > Googling around I see articles from 2007 when that version of > Outlook came out lamenting the fact that MS pulled the IE > rendering engine from it and replaced it with MS Word's > renderer to plug security holes expoitable via email. > > Does anyone have any experience with HTML & plain text > multi-part messages and Outlook 2007, or any tips how I can > get this working? Still Googling, but any tips would be > greatly appreciated. > > Skip > -- > ==================================== > Skip Evans > PenguinSites.com, LLC > 503 S Baldwin St, #1 > Madison WI 53703 > 608.250.2720 > http://penguinsites.com > ------------------------------------ > Those of you who believe in > telekinesis, raise my hand. > -- Kurt Vonnegut > What about signing yourself up to some newsletters to see how they do it? Looking at the ones I get from Facebook as an example, they use the boundary codes you mentioned, and I can't see anything particularly special that's been added. What order are you sending the two message parts by the way? I think the traditional way is to send the plain/text part first, so that UA's that don't understand or support multipart messages only use the first one. As you mentioned that you're seeing HTML code at the top, I'd hazard a guess that you're sending the HTML first? Thanks, Ash http://www.ashleysheridan.co.uk
From: Richard Quadling on 5 Feb 2010 05:32 On 4 February 2010 16:44, Skip Evans <skip(a)bigskypenguin.com> wrote: > Hey all, > > First, let me say thanks for all the advice on Magento, and especially to > Ryan who has used the beast and gave some great advice on skinning, links to > some good docs and a book just for my designer. We'll be using and I'm > looking forward to learning it. > > But anyway... > > I'm doing some maintenance work on a system that sends an email message > using the multi-part boundaries to include both a plain text version and an > HTML version of an email. > > I've read up on this before, but never actually done it. So implementing the > code was not a big issue, and in fact it works perfectly when tested on my > Ubuntu machine using Thunderbird to test the HTML and Evolution to test the > plain text version. In fact, I can switch formats on both of these and all > looks great. > > Enter Microsoft (Insert opening of Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor to > send chills up my readers' spines.) > > On Outlook 2007 in HTML mode it renders, how can I put this... half-assedly. > In text mode the whole things a bust. There is the HTML code all stuffed up > at the top, boundary codes are visible, just plain awful. > > Googling around I see articles from 2007 when that version of Outlook came > out lamenting the fact that MS pulled the IE rendering engine from it and > replaced it with MS Word's renderer to plug security holes expoitable via > email. > > Does anyone have any experience with HTML & plain text multi-part messages > and Outlook 2007, or any tips how I can get this working? Still Googling, > but any tips would be greatly appreciated. > > Skip > -- > ==================================== > Skip Evans > PenguinSites.com, LLC > 503 S Baldwin St, #1 > Madison WI 53703 > 608.250.2720 > http://penguinsites.com > ------------------------------------ > Those of you who believe in > telekinesis, raise my hand. > Â -- Kurt Vonnegut > > -- > PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) > To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php > > I create HTML.Mime based emails in PHP with a plain text part which is basically a cop out saying that they should upgrade. The HTML part is a fax form. They print it out, add some stickers relating to work carried out and then fax it back (or email it as a TIFF or PDF if they have the skills/tech to do that). I use Outlook 2003 (work) and GMail via Chrome (personal). The form includes embedded images (essentially their logo as the forms are passed to their clients) and have a PDF attached ( a report from our systems about the email they are receiving). All fairly simple. 1 - Plain Text - (Please upgrade) 2 - Alternative HTML 3 - Embedded images 4 - Attachment For this, I use RMail from phpguru.org (previously known as html_mime_mail5) http://www.phpguru.org/static/Rmail The HTML I used contains limited CSS and is table based. I initially did it "properly", or so I thought. I'd used IE7/FireFox/Safari/Opera as a test of a proper HTML page with CSS to produce a nice looking form. Scaled nicely, limited shrink, etc. Looked OK in Outlook 2003 too! But when I sent them for approval to the line manager, who uses Outlook 2007, well, let's just say he didn't understand the form at all! Even when I redid it with tables, I'd used <thead>, <tfoot>, <tbody> (proper HTML at least). In O2K7? It renders in order - header, footer, body. Great! So, the HTML I ended up with REALLY looks like something from when I was first learning HTML (I just worked it out as being 13 years ago!). So, yes. The code is horribly old fashioned. But it works. -- ----- Richard Quadling "Standing on the shoulders of some very clever giants!" EE : http://www.experts-exchange.com/M_248814.html EE4Free : http://www.experts-exchange.com/becomeAnExpert.jsp Zend Certified Engineer : http://zend.com/zce.php?c=ZEND002498&r=213474731 ZOPA : http://uk.zopa.com/member/RQuadling
From: Phpster on 5 Feb 2010 08:03 Ire ently needed to do this for a client as well. I took their word doc and converted it to HTML with open office. This created a template that I just do some search and replace to fill in the criteria. This has worked very well with outlook and hotmail and gmail. Not sure if it will fit your needs, but it could be worth a try. Bastien Sent from my iPod On Feb 5, 2010, at 5:32 AM, Richard Quadling <rquadling(a)googlemail.com> wrote: > On 4 February 2010 16:44, Skip Evans <skip(a)bigskypenguin.com> wrote: >> Hey all, >> >> First, let me say thanks for all the advice on Magento, and >> especially to >> Ryan who has used the beast and gave some great advice on skinning, >> links to >> some good docs and a book just for my designer. We'll be using and >> I'm >> looking forward to learning it. >> >> But anyway... >> >> I'm doing some maintenance work on a system that sends an email >> message >> using the multi-part boundaries to include both a plain text >> version and an >> HTML version of an email. >> >> I've read up on this before, but never actually done it. So >> implementing the >> code was not a big issue, and in fact it works perfectly when >> tested on my >> Ubuntu machine using Thunderbird to test the HTML and Evolution to >> test the >> plain text version. In fact, I can switch formats on both of these >> and all >> looks great. >> >> Enter Microsoft (Insert opening of Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D >> minor to >> send chills up my readers' spines.) >> >> On Outlook 2007 in HTML mode it renders, how can I put this... half- >> assedly. >> In text mode the whole things a bust. There is the HTML code all >> stuffed up >> at the top, boundary codes are visible, just plain awful. >> >> Googling around I see articles from 2007 when that version of >> Outlook came >> out lamenting the fact that MS pulled the IE rendering engine from >> it and >> replaced it with MS Word's renderer to plug security holes >> expoitable via >> email. >> >> Does anyone have any experience with HTML & plain text multi-part >> messages >> and Outlook 2007, or any tips how I can get this working? Still >> Googling, >> but any tips would be greatly appreciated. >> >> Skip >> -- >> ==================================== >> Skip Evans >> PenguinSites.com, LLC >> 503 S Baldwin St, #1 >> Madison WI 53703 >> 608.250.2720 >> http://penguinsites.com >> ------------------------------------ >> Those of you who believe in >> telekinesis, raise my hand. >> -- Kurt Vonnegut >> >> -- >> PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) >> To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php >> >> > > I create HTML.Mime based emails in PHP with a plain text part which is > basically a cop out saying that they should upgrade. > > The HTML part is a fax form. They print it out, add some stickers > relating to work carried out and then fax it back (or email it as a > TIFF or PDF if they have the skills/tech to do that). > > I use Outlook 2003 (work) and GMail via Chrome (personal). > > The form includes embedded images (essentially their logo as the forms > are passed to their clients) and have a PDF attached ( a report from > our systems about the email they are receiving). > > All fairly simple. > > 1 - Plain Text - (Please upgrade) > 2 - Alternative HTML > 3 - Embedded images > 4 - Attachment > > For this, I use RMail from phpguru.org (previously known as > html_mime_mail5) http://www.phpguru.org/static/Rmail > > The HTML I used contains limited CSS and is table based. > > I initially did it "properly", or so I thought. > > I'd used IE7/FireFox/Safari/Opera as a test of a proper HTML page with > CSS to produce a nice looking form. Scaled nicely, limited shrink, > etc. > > Looked OK in Outlook 2003 too! > > But when I sent them for approval to the line manager, who uses > Outlook 2007, well, let's just say he didn't understand the form at > all! > > Even when I redid it with tables, I'd used <thead>, <tfoot>, <tbody> > (proper HTML at least). In O2K7? It renders in order - header, footer, > body. Great! > > So, the HTML I ended up with REALLY looks like something from when I > was first learning HTML (I just worked it out as being 13 years ago!). > > So, yes. The code is horribly old fashioned. But it works. > > > -- > ----- > Richard Quadling > "Standing on the shoulders of some very clever giants!" > EE : http://www.experts-exchange.com/M_248814.html > EE4Free : http://www.experts-exchange.com/becomeAnExpert.jsp > Zend Certified Engineer : http://zend.com/zce.php?c=ZEND002498&r=213474731 > ZOPA : http://uk.zopa.com/member/RQuadling > > -- > PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) > To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php >
From: Ashley Sheridan on 5 Feb 2010 08:08
On Fri, 2010-02-05 at 08:03 -0500, Phpster wrote: > Ire ently needed to do this for a client as well. I took their word > doc and converted it to HTML with open office. This created a template > that I just do some search and replace to fill in the criteria. > > This has worked very well with outlook and hotmail and gmail. > > Not sure if it will fit your needs, but it could be worth a try. > > Bastien > > Sent from my iPod > > On Feb 5, 2010, at 5:32 AM, Richard Quadling > <rquadling(a)googlemail.com> wrote: > > > On 4 February 2010 16:44, Skip Evans <skip(a)bigskypenguin.com> wrote: > >> Hey all, > >> > >> First, let me say thanks for all the advice on Magento, and > >> especially to > >> Ryan who has used the beast and gave some great advice on skinning, > >> links to > >> some good docs and a book just for my designer. We'll be using and > >> I'm > >> looking forward to learning it. > >> > >> But anyway... > >> > >> I'm doing some maintenance work on a system that sends an email > >> message > >> using the multi-part boundaries to include both a plain text > >> version and an > >> HTML version of an email. > >> > >> I've read up on this before, but never actually done it. So > >> implementing the > >> code was not a big issue, and in fact it works perfectly when > >> tested on my > >> Ubuntu machine using Thunderbird to test the HTML and Evolution to > >> test the > >> plain text version. In fact, I can switch formats on both of these > >> and all > >> looks great. > >> > >> Enter Microsoft (Insert opening of Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D > >> minor to > >> send chills up my readers' spines.) > >> > >> On Outlook 2007 in HTML mode it renders, how can I put this... half- > >> assedly. > >> In text mode the whole things a bust. There is the HTML code all > >> stuffed up > >> at the top, boundary codes are visible, just plain awful. > >> > >> Googling around I see articles from 2007 when that version of > >> Outlook came > >> out lamenting the fact that MS pulled the IE rendering engine from > >> it and > >> replaced it with MS Word's renderer to plug security holes > >> expoitable via > >> email. > >> > >> Does anyone have any experience with HTML & plain text multi-part > >> messages > >> and Outlook 2007, or any tips how I can get this working? Still > >> Googling, > >> but any tips would be greatly appreciated. > >> > >> Skip > >> -- > >> ==================================== > >> Skip Evans > >> PenguinSites.com, LLC > >> 503 S Baldwin St, #1 > >> Madison WI 53703 > >> 608.250.2720 > >> http://penguinsites.com > >> ------------------------------------ > >> Those of you who believe in > >> telekinesis, raise my hand. > >> -- Kurt Vonnegut > >> > >> -- > >> PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) > >> To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php > >> > >> > > > > I create HTML.Mime based emails in PHP with a plain text part which is > > basically a cop out saying that they should upgrade. > > > > The HTML part is a fax form. They print it out, add some stickers > > relating to work carried out and then fax it back (or email it as a > > TIFF or PDF if they have the skills/tech to do that). > > > > I use Outlook 2003 (work) and GMail via Chrome (personal). > > > > The form includes embedded images (essentially their logo as the forms > > are passed to their clients) and have a PDF attached ( a report from > > our systems about the email they are receiving). > > > > All fairly simple. > > > > 1 - Plain Text - (Please upgrade) > > 2 - Alternative HTML > > 3 - Embedded images > > 4 - Attachment > > > > For this, I use RMail from phpguru.org (previously known as > > html_mime_mail5) http://www.phpguru.org/static/Rmail > > > > The HTML I used contains limited CSS and is table based. > > > > I initially did it "properly", or so I thought. > > > > I'd used IE7/FireFox/Safari/Opera as a test of a proper HTML page with > > CSS to produce a nice looking form. Scaled nicely, limited shrink, > > etc. > > > > Looked OK in Outlook 2003 too! > > > > But when I sent them for approval to the line manager, who uses > > Outlook 2007, well, let's just say he didn't understand the form at > > all! > > > > Even when I redid it with tables, I'd used <thead>, <tfoot>, <tbody> > > (proper HTML at least). In O2K7? It renders in order - header, footer, > > body. Great! > > > > So, the HTML I ended up with REALLY looks like something from when I > > was first learning HTML (I just worked it out as being 13 years ago!). > > > > So, yes. The code is horribly old fashioned. But it works. > > > > > > -- > > ----- > > Richard Quadling > > "Standing on the shoulders of some very clever giants!" > > EE : http://www.experts-exchange.com/M_248814.html > > EE4Free : http://www.experts-exchange.com/becomeAnExpert.jsp > > Zend Certified Engineer : http://zend.com/zce.php?c=ZEND002498&r=213474731 > > ZOPA : http://uk.zopa.com/member/RQuadling > > > > -- > > PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) > > To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php > > > It's the testing part that takes the time though. You've got the email clients that are only available on Windows, the ones that are only available on Macs, those that are only around on Linux, and then those that are only accessible online. There are companies that test emails for you and send you back screenshots of your emails, but to my knowledge, they all charge for this service. Thanks, Ash http://www.ashleysheridan.co.uk |