If you are an email user, you have probably received emails that look like a Web page with images and stylised text. Have you ever wanted to send such a message to make your message stand out?

Here's a guide on how you too can send stylish email messages.

Introduction to HTML email

Whenever an email contains text formatting and images within the body, it is referred to as an HTML mail. Most email clients like MS Outlook, Outlook Express, Eudora and Netscape Mail have the capability of sending and receiving email in HTML form. If you don't use any of these email clients, you need not despair. Most Web based accounts like Yahoo!, RediffMail, Hotmail and MailCity also support HTML formatting.

You need not be a HTML guru to send mails with images and formatted text. All it takes is a few mouse clicks and you have a well-formatted mail ready to send.

When your mail client is set to compose messages in HTML or rich text format, you can see an additional tool bar with various options to enhance your message. Using these, you can underline parts of the text if you feel it is important or make it bold or italics to emphasise your point. You can also change the font, size and colour.

If you're sending a party invitation or making a special announcement, you can insert images and make the whole email look very bright and colourful. This is how your mail will be displayed:

It's Party Time!!

You are invited to my birthday party

Date: 1st August 2003
Venue: Office Canteen

You could include pictures of balloons, party hats to give it a more festive look. You can even send neatly formatted tables. (See Additional Links section below for information on how to set up different mail clients to compose and send formatted emails).

The same goes with Web based email. RediffMail, for example, has a small button called Show Tools above the message box in the compose mode. When you click on it, you will see a different page with additional buttons and options used for formatting your messages.

You can view and edit the HTML source code if you are comfortable with it. Besides being visually attractive, HTML mails allow you to add hyperlinks, tables and a lot more features.

That was easy, wasn't it?

Plain text vs HTML

There are also a few issues with sending HTML formatting. Not all email programs may support formatted messages and text. You need to know if the recipient will receive your mail the way you send it. Some email reads like Pegasus simply don't read HTML; others (like Pocomail and even AOL) have difficulties displaying it properly. If the receiver's mail program does not support HTML, then this is how the message will be displayed:

It's Party Time!

You are invited to my birthday party.

Date: 1st August 2003
Venue: Office Canteen

The message will be in plain text and any images that you might have added will not be visible. There are other programs that cannot understand formatted text and will simply display the underlying HTML code. In that case, what your friend will see is:

There are also many things to keep in mind before sending/receiving HTML emails.

• HTML formatted emails can be dangerous as there is the possibility that they carry viruses. The I Love You worm exploited ActiveX vulnerability and was executed just by viewing or previewing the email message without opening any attachment.
• Formatted mails allow the sender to use unreadably small or non-standard fonts, jarring colours, and bad images.
• They are at least twice as big as plain text messages and they can be many times larger. Downloading such mails take up a lot of bandwidth and even slow down mail clients.

Consider all these points carefully before sending HTML formatted emails.

Additional Links

A beginner's guide to effective email
How to create formatted messages using MS Outlook
Creating formatted mails with Outlook and Outlook Express
Configuring Netscape Mail to send formatted mail
HTML formatted email issues