Depending on the type of message you are composing select the format that best suits your needs from Plain Text, Text/HTML, HTML only, Web Page and Styled Text. Each format is explained detail-fully below.
Note: A comment header can be added to your message whichever format you select using the <-- START --> tag. Everything above that tag will be ignored.
Plain Text
Plain Text is the most used, most compatible and fastest format for creating and sending e-mails. It is very simple to use as only row text is allowed without styles. The only thing you have to take care of is the number of characters per line when you insert line breaks. You can just write sentences with no line breaks at all, the final result will depend on the recipient mail reader though. Modern software like Mac OS X Mail, Entourage or Eudora use to display the lines the same way without rewrapping but older software may rewrap your text to 72 characters per line following the 'Philip Bar™' formatting. This is the reason why it is usually recommended to keep lines shorter than 72 characters long to avoid unexpected results on the recipient side, when the mail reader is set to rewrap the message contents to 72 characters. MaxBulk Mailer doesn't insert line breaks for you so you are free to send long lines if you prefer and let the recipient mail reader to freely display the message. MaxBulk Mailer inserts a 'format=flowed' parameter to the Content-type header of your message to force the recipient mail reader to keep the original text format.
The Philip bar™ is a visual marker which indicates the limit of the window's visible area when the window is zoomed to fill a classic (512-pixel-wide) Macintosh screen. It's named for Philip Borenstein, former tech-writer at Symantec, who requested some indication of this width limit, so that he could write "read me" files that all users would be able to read without scrolling.
Text/HTML
The Text/HTML format is a combination of an HTML message and a Plain Text alternative. The HTML message is made of standard HTML code. The Plain Text part follow the Plain Text format explained above.
Actually the Text/HTML format is a MIME format that means HTML with a text alternative, the HTML code will be rendered by the recipient mail reader if supported else the Text alternative will be displayed. To use that format you have to create a text alternative of your message, usually a plain text copy of your HTML message and then paste the HTML code below. At delivery time the Text/HTML will be made of 3 parts:
1.- An error message created automatically by MaxBulk to warn the recipient in case its mail reader doesn't understand the MIME format. It says:
This message is in MIME format. Since your mail reader does not understand
this format, some or all of this message may not be legible.
2.- The plain text version of your HTML message that will be used in case the recipient mail reader understand the MIME format but is not able to render HTML.
3.- The HTML code to be rendered if the recipient mail reader application understand the MIME format and is able to render HTML.
Note: MIME stands for 'Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions'. It is a standard that describes how internet messages have to be formated. (RFC2045)
To create a Text/HTML message just choose the Text/HTML format from the format pull-down menu, write the Text version and paste the HTML version code below. Your document should be formatted this way:
Hello world!
<html>
<body>
<p>Hello world!</p>
</body>
</html>
Note: If you select the "Text/HTML" format but you don't provide a text version it will be created on the fly using the HTML code. You may get very poor results on complex documents though.
HTML code can be created with your favorite HTML editor. We recommend WYSIWYG tools like Adobe Golive or Macromedia Dreamweaver or a specialized text editor like BBEdit from Barebones. HTML documents are always saved as text. <HTML> and </HTML> tags are required and always included in HTML code.
HTML only
'HTML only' messages are made of HTML code only. They don't have any 'Plain Text' alternative nor a MIME alert so as a result we always assume that all recipients e-mail software is able to render HTML code. To create an 'HTML only' message just paste your HTML code to the MaxBulk message field and select the 'HTML only' format from the format pull-down menu. Note that your HTML code has to begin with the <HTML> tag and end with the </HTML> tag. Your document should be formatted this way:
<html>
<body>
<p>Hello world!</p>
</body>
</html>
Note: It's recommended to use the Text/HTML format that includes a Text alternative of your mail when sending HTML as many mail clients like old Claris Emailer doesn't support HTML.
HTML code can be created with your favorite HTML editor. We recommend WYSIWYG tools like Adobe Golive or Macromedia Dreamweaver or a specialized text editor like BBEdit from Barebones. HTML documents are always saved as text. <HTML> and </HTML> tags are required and always included in HTML code.
Web Page
You can send a web page copy using the page URL. Just select the 'Web Page' format from the format pull-down menu and paste the URL in the message field. MaxBulk will get the document located at that address and will send it to your recipients. It is extremely simple and easy to use. You can provide a BASE HREF tag to the HTML code in the second line if necessary. The BASE HREF tag converts all the relative URL into absolute. To add an alternative plain text version as with Text/HTML format, add two line-breaks and the text right below.
Styled Text (Pro only)
The styled Text format allows you to enhance your message with styles, bold, italic, underline, colors, different font and sizes. Select the 'Styled Text' from the format pull-down menu and use the formatting options accessible both from the formatting toolbar placed right above the message field and the Format top menu. Read the 'Formatting text' chapter for more information on styles.
When sending a "Styled Text" message, MaxBulk Mailer converts all the text into HTML code and also creates a text alternative version on the fly automatically so all recipients will be able to read your e-mail even though they use a text only mail reader.
