RE: [epub] Email: HTML vs. Text?...

[Brian Alt <brian.alt@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Geof,

>I am an old, tired geek (at 21).

Geez. You're making me feel ancient (at almost a quarter-century old)! :)

>I have seen more badly-written HTML than
>I care to think about.  The thing that scares me with HTML is my experience
>with it -- people bringing it into areas like Usenet, where it has no
>business.  I don't much like it in my email inbox, either -- in fact, few
>should be surprised to know that my email client is Eudora Pro (v.4.3.2,
>thanks) and that I have font *forced* to display Courier New, the font I
>consider the best fixed-width font.

I have it set up the same way. For composing and sending the majority
of the ezines I'm involved with (in plain-text format), its necessary to
see them in a monospace font, like Courier New. I guess I've come to
prefer all my email like that. The exceptions to this rule are
well-designed HTML newsletters.

And to qualify my own experience a bit: I spend the great majority of
every day on a high-speed Internet connection (although I'm slugging
away on a modem right now... ugh). So reading HTML email while
"connected" is a given for me. Many folks won't have this. On the other
hand, more and more people are getting broadband access (in the US
anyway), and HTML publications won't be such a nuisance as people make
this move.

>Having said all that, what I fear is that people new to electronic
>publishing in general and ezines in particular are going to take your
>wonderful advice on moving to HTML whole hog, Brian.

That's an interesting point. I should clarify, then. I don't recommend
publishing *exclusively* HTML email to anyone. Or at least, I didn't
mean to :)

If anything, I would recommend first learning how to publish an
excellent, well-formatted text ezine. Then check out HTML publishing
on the Web. Only after you've mastered text email publishing and
have an excellent Web site should you even *think* about HTML
publishing. And at that point, continue to offer the text version
for those who prefer it, and offer the HTML version as a optional
"upgrade."

Thanks, Geof, for helping me clarify this position :)

>Your articles on the
>subject have been excellent, although the reader feedback one was a wee
>biased against those of your readers who wrote in to disagree.

Probably more than a wee bit biased :) The main reason I'm such an
HTML email torch-bearer is that the number-one objection I hear to
HTML publishing from publishers is that they themselves don't like
HTML email. But perhaps their subscribers, or some of them, could
benefit from and would appreciate a well-designed HTML version.

I guess the question for these publishers becomes: Are you publishing 
for people like yourself, or might some of your subscribers have 
different preferences?

>The barriers to entry have not yet risen for ezines, much like the book
>you recommended in Ezine-Tips, Net Gain (which I'm reading -- good book,
>even thought it's publication date is ancient 'Net-wise), seems to want to
>predict.

Cool! I'm glad you checked it out. It is a good read for anyone
interested in relating email publishing to online community building.
Here's the review: http://Ezine-Tips.com/articles/resources/20000623.shtml

>It's easy to publish in this space, but it's also *very* easy to
>mess up.  Too many people screw up with plain-text ezines because of
>formatting issues -- it's part of the process, and I've made my share of
>mistakes.  I just fear that newbies will ride the HTML wave and kill the
>desire for HTML eziens for millions of potential readers out there.

EXCELLENT point. Maybe I should start discouraging HTML publishing
after all ;-)

Cheers,

Brian Alt
http://Ezine-Tips.com/




------------------------------------------------------------------------
Failed tests, classes skipped, forgotten locker combinations. 
Remember the good 'ol days
http://click.egroups.com/1/7076/2/_/327135/_/964503075/
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Learn a new word every nychthemeron!
http://VocabularyMail.com/

To subscribe to Epub, mailto:epub-subscribe@onelist.com
To unsubscribe, mailto:epub-unsubscribe@onelist.com
Digest version: mailto:epub-digest@onelist.com
Epub archives: http://EzineSeek.com/archives/