What is HTML and can all email programs read it?
Hypertext Markup Language is a collection of formatting commands that create web pages and HTML email documents. When you download a web page or HTML email, your browser or email agent interprets the HTML commands embedded in the page and uses them to format the page's text and graph elements. HTML commands cover many types of text formatting (bold and italic text, lists, fonts in various sizes, and so on), as well as tables and graphical elements.

Nearly all the commonly used email programs today will see well designed HTML email in a format close to how it was meant to appear. No special settings or plug-ins are required. RTS has derived its own coding rules for HTML that will minimize the variations.

Figures are hard to come by but a recent survey in the States found that 87% of 450 respondents had email programs that could read HTML quite well. Of the others, some had partial HTML capability. In Australia and for business addresses only, the figure appears to be much higher.

Is email in HTML format slower to download than plain text?
The files involved with HTML email will take longer to download than those for plain text because they are larger in size. However if the size is kept small this may be insignificant. 

The recommended practice for HTML emails is to keep the total file sizes (including images) to less than 25 Kbytes (many of the big name successful newsletters I find are usually well-over this!). RTS email stationery including text is typically 11 - 13 Kbytes. This is equivalent to about a 3 second download time (56 Kbytes/sec modem) for the recipient - well within acceptable limits. Totals for a RST newsletter are typically about 26 Kbytes with a corresponding a download time of about 8 seconds.  
 
These times mostly go unnoticed because most email programs are set to download periodically in the background. This does not apply to the images with-in the email for which the recipient may have to wait for a few seconds before they are visible.

What is email optimized code?
There are some variations in how some components of HTML are read across the range of HTML email agents. RTS has carried out extensive testing of all the common agents to see what these variations are. Others have analysed these problems as well. In this way some of the limitations of HTML email have been defined. We write code that minimizes (without entirely eliminating) these elements. This is achieved in two ways:

• by avoiding HTML elements that do not work consistently e.g. Java scripts
• rewriting parts of the code to overcome problems with specific agents.
  
  

This does not help with the problem of plain-text-only agents which need an alternative approach as indicated below.

Which email agents have been tested?
MS Outlook Express, MS Outlook 98 and MS Outlook 2000 are some of those tested. Together, according to one survey in the USA, these account for 58% of the agents used. In general they all handle standard HTML code very well requiring very few adjustments to the template code. I have never experienced any noticeable variation reading RTS templates with MS Outlook Express or MS Outlook 2000. In certain situations MS Outlook 98 cannot handle background images - the RTS optimized code can.

The other agents tested include various versions of  Netscape Communicator, Eudora 5, Lotus Notes, Hotmail, Excite, Yahoo, Opera 5 and AOL 6 (all tested with default settings). These, with minor variation, read the RTS templates as they should.

Some agents, such as Eudora Light read mail as plain text format. The older versions of AOL (pre-6) do not handle HTML (it seems very few businesses in Australia use these people anyway).  
 
Outlook 97 partly reads HTML but omits images, backgrounds and tables (text formatting and links are preserved). We modify our templates to optimize the appearance in this program.

What will RTS email in HTML format look like in a plain text only email agent?
Of all the agents tested by RTS, HTML email will be readable plain text with the paragraphing retained. However some changes will be seen in the formatting. Commonly the first line of each paragraph is indented and some agents leave blank lines where images should appear. In Eudora Light the HTML source code appears after the plain text version.

Generally recipients who see HTML email like this, either have plain text only email agents, or some older version of an HTML agent. Based on my experience of distributing newsletters such recipients are uncommon - certainly if you are sending to business addresses within Australia. (A recent survey in the US shows the distribution of agents there.)

How does RTS cater for people who want email in plain text only format
For newsletters, new subscribers request either HTML or plain-text-only formats as part of the subscription process.

If you have an established plain-text-only newsletter you may wish to change your subscribers to HTML by sending the new HTML version unannounced. In such a case the RTS template will have a small piece of text at the top a the page that instructs the recipient how to change back to plain text for future issues - if that is their wish.

Email stationery is normally sent to a new recipient in HTML format unannounced. To cover the few cases where the recipient requires plain text in future, a small piece of text at the top of the page instructs on how to request this.

What about the forwarding of HTML email to third parties?
MS Outlook Express 5 and MS Outlook 2000 do not appear to have problems forwarding RTS stationery or newsletters. These are the most common email agents used today.

Some agents, like some versions of MS Outlook 98, if incorrectly configured, read HTML successfully but convert it to plain text on forwarding. Netscape 6 and Opera 5 read HTML mail successfully but cannot forward it (few use these agents anyway). Netscape 4.7 forwrds it successfully as an attachment. Netscape 4.5 significantly reformats HTML email but this old version is rarely used today.

What happens when people reply to email that uses a template?
Their message will be at the top of the email above the template which contains your original message to them.

Can I reply to anyone using my template?
You can only reply with your template by starting a New Mail item.

How does RTS animate a company logo?
After seeing your logo we discuss with you what animation may be appropriate. We prefer something subtle so that it does not distract from the text.

To do the job we accept your current logo in digital form or off a printed page (which is scanned in). This is digitized to convert to vector format and the animation frames added. The result is an animated .gif file of small size typically 1-3 Kbytes.

If the logo is elaborately illustrated it may be possible to only create a schematic style of logo.

What technical support is offered by RTS?
Questions regarding the use of RTS templates can be sent to cameronb@iinet.net.au and will normally be answered within 24 hours. For urgent questions ring Cameron Blyth on 9457 1200.

Support is given at start up and covers items in our instruction sets thereafter. If you distribute your newsletter through the software we install in your office or via the established list host, then full support is available from the supply companies. Online help and email support is included for both.