[thelist] Newsletter as HTML Email

[Max Schwanekamp]

Steven Streight wrote:
> Hassan, how well do you really know your audience? It's not that the
> audience fears HTML email and the viruses that can be contained within them,
> it's more that certain email clients will reject HTML email via filtering.

Which email clients, by default, will automatically filter HTML email? 
External images get hidden by default in, e.g. Thunderbird and Outlook 
2003+, but the message is still there, and one click allows the images 
to be loaded if the user so desires.  I've never heard of a mainstream 
email client automatically filtering HTML email without the user 
explicitly setting up a filter/option to do that.

Further, why is it that nearly all major organizations (commercial and 
otherwise) use HTML email for marketing purposes?  I'd have a hard time 
believing that eBay, for example, has done zero testing on the 
effectiveness of their marketing efforts.

I'm not arguing that HTML email newsletters are the better option, but I 
  entirely agree with Hassan to get real -- HTML email is 
better-supported by the majority of end-users, and thus should *not* be 
dismissed in favor of RSS, which is gaining, but slowly[0].

[0] Outlook 2007's retrograde step to use Word's HTML renderer may 
actually speed up the adoption of RSS.

-- 
Max Schwanekamp
NeptuneWebworks.com
541-255-2171