Can Web Designer Premium 11 design html email?

[DGehman]

(Tried searching, but can't concoct the right search terms)

I'm looking for an application that can create attractive, graphics-heavy html email, readable on computer email clients and on mobile. Does WDP11 offer this capability?

[Verissimo]

Just replyed to follow this question, I´m interested in html email issues too. Tx

[mwenz]

No.

Either purchase a standalone HTML email authoring application, or use Constant Contact, etc., to generate, track and manage your HTML email lists.

Mike

[DGehman]

So - and I don't know the details or how this works - formatted output for the Web (which I gather is HTML) and formatted email (which I gather is HTML) are two completely different things?

[mwenz]

There are several issues with HTML emails that make them different from typical emails.

You have to reference all images form a web server. You have to have an unsubscribe link and it doesn't make sense to deal with that manually as requests come in (and the various services do that for you). They have to be (ought to be) responsive and viewable across all browser configurations and email clients. And the list goes on.

Xara products and other fixed-position HTML authoring applications are not able to do the technical aspects of the above.

Once upon a time, one could use an actual HTML authoring application such as Dreamweaver or the like and use tables to position items. The images would still be hosted on the web. And I suppose this can still work, but with new laws/regulations concerning unsubscribing, for tracking responses, etc., this method really isn't viable these days. And Xara products cannot do tables properly anyway.

Mike

[behzad]

Don't invent the wheel. Use email chimp.

[DGehman]

Thanks, Mwenz - now I understand. behzad - there are some issues with all of the online format/emailers. For some, cautious addressees have to manually click to see the graphics because each flight is sent from a new email address. For some the cost is an issue. For some others, the coding focuses on easy use at the cost of bloated code... and so on. I was hoping for an offline solution, but the issues clearly are too complex for an easy answer.

[behzad]

To be honest with you, emails and newsletters don't yield results anymore. People simply have no time to read them. I personally delete or unsubscribe from all the ones that I get because I always check the main website. Blogs is another one too, no one reads them, no one meaning people who run businesses and have no time to scratch their head. Majority of blogs in the design field are written for SEO and other designers who visit their site. Good luck with your findings.

[DGehman]

behzad, true. However, this is a newsletter for an art guild, and most of the membership has expressed a wish for *more* email from us rather than less (or none). And, because it's an art guild, the newsletter really should be pretty...

I'm doing okay with FlashIssue, at least aesthetically, but its coding is a laboratory specimen of bloat. That company has told me it won't be changing the code, probably because sales are too slow to generate enough profit to hire a real code doctor...

[behzad]

Possibly then just make a normal xara website and in your email list provide a link to it. This way your not risking getting thrown in a spam email automatically by servers.