Ugly HTML Mail Sample
Here is what HTML mail looks like to a client that doesn't render HTML:
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
<META content="MSHTML 5.50.4919.2200" name=GENERATOR>
<STYLE></STYLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY bgColor=#ffffff>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Hey Brad;</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> 1) From your FAQ page at Webalizer.com the README
file link in question 19 to <A
href="ftp://ftp.mrunix.net/pub/webalizer/README">ftp://ftp.mrunix.net/pub/webalizer/README</A> brings
a 404 Page Not Found error message.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> 2) </FONT><FONT face=Arial size=2>My host recently
added Webalizer and I am trying to find the best way to keep the program running
correctly and to deny outsiders the ability to look at it. I would prefer not to
give others access to my stats. I do web design and at any given time have
client demos in various stages of completion and other things I'd prefer not to
have the general public see popping up in my stats. Does Webalizer have a
password protection mode or anything?</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>XXXXXX XXXXXXX<BR>XXXXXXXXX Web Design<BR><A
href="http://www.xxxxxxxxxxxx.com">http://www.xxxxxxxxxxxx.com</A><BR>(xxx)
xxx-xxxx</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>
Sending mail in a format such as above is not only rude, but
presumptuous. Not everyone can or wants to receive messages with lots of
embedded garbage that adds nothing to the content of the message, and in
many cases, distracts from the content. It shows not only a lack of
netequitte, but an arrogant assumption about the capabilities of the
recipients mail client and a complete disregard for internet standards.
This e-mail is a perfect example;
there is not a single element in the above message that required the use
of a markup language, with the possible exception of a link to a web site.
Notice the liberal scattering of <FONT> tags, all identical and
simply specifying a font that may or may not be present on the recipients
machine; the use of   tags instead of simple space characters;
and the use of <DIV> and <BR> tags when carriage
returns were all that were needed. The friend you send this to who
is trying to read it on their cell phone or PDA won't be very happy about
all the extra garbage preventing him from reading your message, nor will your
professor or aquaintance who is trying to read this on their VAX at work
using VMS-Mail, or that government worker over at the department of
transportation using a VT-320 terminal. The above is actually not too
bad in terms of the added garbage.. at least the <STYLE> verbage
was left out, which can add hundreds of lines and add nothing to the
content other than change font sizes or colors. In any case, HTML tags
are for web pages, where they can be viewed with a browser designed to
display them, not for e-mail, where the intention is to convey information,
not pretty backgrounds and cute dancing envelopes that add nothing but
clutter and may not be able to be displayed by the recipient anyway.
For additional reading about HTML in e-mail, See:
Last modified by B. Barrett
on May 9, 2008