Re: [epub] HTML ezines

["Dr.MANI Sivasubramanian, M.D." <sivaraj@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

From: "Dr.MANI Sivasubramanian, M.D." <sivaraj@giasmd01.vsnl.net.in>

Hi Brian

> (Quiet list lately. Is everybody on vacation all at once? ;-)

I was wondering if my subscription had been accidentally deleted :)
 
> Here's a question: Have any of you successfully implemented
> an HTML-format ezine? If so, do you also offer a text version?

No, my ezines are all only text.

> What do you see as the advantages/disadvantages of each?

HTML could be spiffy and have more bells and whistles than text
only zines, though I've seen some really cool art work on ASCII
 alone.  Personally, though, I think HTML ezines are specially
useful for two kinds of ezines:

* those which have many advertisers, who insist on banner ads
as opposed to text only ads, to make their ads more attractive
to viewers

* the zines that offer content on their website and would like their
ezine links to be clickable - though most text only ezines would
have clickable links in many email clients, there are some,
including AOL, where special coding for these links is needed.
HTML ezines, when created using a HTML editor, might avoid
this inconvenience.

Of course, there's a third category which provides a lot of action,
flash animations, and visual content on their ezines itself, but I
haven't come across many of that genre - and even there it might
be better to have the viewer come to the website and take a look,
rather than loading their inboxes.

> great HTML newsletters, and it seems that they're becoming
> more widely accepted.

Not to me, no.  When you download email paying per minute of 
online time and telephone calls, and read your email OFFLINE,
most of the advantages of HTML mail disappear.  Worse, if your
email client is non-HTML compliant (I used an old version of PINE
for many years before shifting to Pegasus, thanks to a wonderful
series of articles by Paul Myers on Effective Email that taught me
of the wonders of a dedicated email program),  HTML email
looks like the VIEW>SOURCE of a webpage !!!!  Very 
unprofessional, and makes you lose credibility, esp. to new
subscribers.

JMTBW - just my two bits worth ;)
**********************************************

Dr.MANI Sivasubramanian, MD
Subscribe FREE to'The HEART BEAT' Health-E-Zine
http://www.drmani.com/ezine.shtml

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