HTML vs Text E-mails
Hello,
I am in the process of designing an e-mail newsletter. I don't need it to be anything fancy, and I know HTML e-mails are often perceived as annoying, so I was thinking it might be refreshing to just make a plain-text-only newsletter. But then I wondered if screen readers would choke on the non-text parts—I know ASCII art would [sadly] be out of the question, but I was thinking of using Markdown syntax or similar—and might actually be better off with a minimalist (read: non-table) HTML approach, since at least it'd have semantics. Or do I do two plain text versions: one literally text only, and one text + visual aids?
Thanks!
-Hugh
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HTML e-mail has to use inaccessible techniques. Otherwise there is no hope of making it display with any consistency across current e-mail systems. It's still worth supplying alt text but that's it.
The good news is that plain text is more accessible. This literally means raw ASCII characters, no formatting whatsoever. It lacks some of the clear structural elements of accessible HTML but there are conventions about what's what.
Markdown is likely too informal and niche for any ATs to specifically look for those structures.
E-mail distribution tools usually let you package a HTML version with an embedded ASCII version. The recipient's e-mail settings will determine whether they see the HTML one or the plain text one.
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What if the HTML were limited to paragraphs, links, and sparing use of images? Say, a single logo at the top; maybe a representative photo that doesn't contain crucial information… the rest would be default styling. Basically using it like plain text+? I don't really care about backgrounds or columns or layout of any kind.
Also, Markdown is supposed to be a formalization of existing plain text e-mail conventions… some of the more advanced HTML equivalence features may start to get confusing, like links and inline code, but perhaps the most basic subset, like headings (#), quote blocks (>), horizontal rules (---)?
In either case, is there a best practice guide for accessible plain text? Do AT users not mind the phrase "greater than" being read out for each new line of quoted text, even though it's meaningless and presumably disrupts the flow of the paragraph? Or are there e-mail-specific settings to avoid these things?
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Oh I see. If you don't care what it looks like then sure, you can totally use the basic, semantic HTML elements. 
If you want to style them, that still means going back to 1990's techniques. namely, using a style attribute on each and every element. (You sometimes can't even rely on inheritance.)
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This styling will take forever. Is there any other way?
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Sadly not. The lack of support for efficient styling of HTML e-mail is well-known. It is tracked by the E-mail Standards Project.
There's some good news for the future, with efforts like this being noticed and responded to by big players. But for now and for the business-relevant future, we're still stuck in the previous century.
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Go with plain text because not everyone can read Html emails with their email accounts.
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I would use plain text instead of html. I think nobody likes html emails, and it's less standard.
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I think Text Mails are fast so i use it while internet surfing are slow..
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I would go with text only because it's easier to inbox in my experience (HTML email end up more often in the spam folder)
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You can get the email to look half decent just using colours and no images. Still requires putting styling on individual elements. Not a bad half way house though.Design, development and marketing for the web.
Edge Three Sixty Ltd: Web Design Liverpool
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Receiving an email that is all dazzled up in HTML feels like spam the second you open it. If you write text in a correct manner (personal, brief, etc.) you will probably have much more success. That's just my two cent.
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Speaking of Html, how are people getting their signatures to have custom link text rather than a plain link?
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@4thecause: At the top right of any forum page you'll see your name which is a link to your personal profile.
Follow the link and scroll down the page until you come to the section called 'Signature'. Place any text you wish to appear in your signature into the text box. When you're finished, click on the 'Submit' button which is further down the page.
To give you some idea of the code you can use, this is the code for my signature which includes a link:
| Code: |
| [size=9]Blogging at: [url=http://www.awts.eu/blog/]AWTS[/url] (Accessible Web and Training Solutions)[/size] |
The forum uses BBCode.
Any problems, just send me a Personal Message.
HTH.
Cheers!
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Gary,
Sorry for the time lapse, I got slammed with work from all angles which I think everyone can understand. I will use your example for my profile and while I haven't been extremely active with forums in some years, I feel like a code noob with BBCode. Thanks for the heads up though, its much appreciated!!
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