[Irl-dean] An old question from a newbie - plain text email is better?!

[Laurence Veale]

Hi Ross,

you've pretty much nailed it there. They may even make a HUGE comeback
with the new Outlook 2007 release (read this for a background
http://tinyurl.com/2qwkww)

One point though is that those with the purse strings, or those that
influence those with the purse strings (marketing) may prefer the
"richer" experience of HTML emails. So user requirements and business
objectives can actually be at odds.

So, the best approach is to give users a choice between the two when
they subscribe.

Just been notified of a response by Josh, so I echo whatever he said,
he usually makes a lot of sense ;)

Lar

On 1/22/07, Ross Geoghegan <ross.geoghegan at tcd.ie> wrote:
> Apologies if this is a well-worn (or even tiresome) question...
> Is plain text better than HTML for email?
> I believe so and below are my reasons.
>
> If anyone has any feedback on this or can point me to a place where this
> debate has been argued out (preferably with evidence rather than (my)
> conjecture) I would appreciate it.
> Thanks in advance, Ross Geoghegan (TCD)
> --
> Plain text email is better because:
>
> 1. Plain text is by far the most universally accessible format for sending
> email.
>
> 2. HTML emails are dependent on the user having a email client capable of
> rendering HTML - otherwise the will receive HTML source code which is a mess
> of angle brackets and font attributes and completely inaccessible.
>
> 3. Plain text emails are quicker (and cheaper if using a mobile device) to
> download and take up less space.
>
> 4. The user has more control over the display settings - they can view them
> at whatever font size they like and against a coloured background - they are
> also not bound to the senders idea of taste!
>
> 5. Most modern email clients will recognise a complete web address (URLs)
> and make it clickable.
> (The exception is files on a shared network drive - but users can copy and
> paste a network address (which may contain spaces) into the run command and
> access the files in this way)
>
> 6. Given the number of viruses and bugs associated with HTML email some
> users have choosen to turn HTML off.
>
> In short HTML is for writing webpages Plain Text is for writing Email.
>
>
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>



-- 
Laurence Veale
Senior Analyst
iQ Content Ltd

Usability | Accessibility | Training | Search

iQ Content is a Google Enterprise Partner

Blog: www.iqcontent.com/blog
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Email: laurence.veale at iqcontent.com