The article "Types of Email Newsletters (TEXT, HTML, PDF)" talks about email marketing, it has been written by Greg Magnus.
Does it suond like a foreign language? It's not and we really don't need to know all that much. But going over a couple of basic e-mail formats is important so we'll start here.Text emails are the most basic and everyone that receives e-mail can read text.PDF stands for "Portable Document Format" and it is commonly used on the web. PDF files are sent as attachments with the e-mail message.HTML, or Hypertext Mrakup Language, is a document format language used on the World Wide Web.
It is expetced that all emails will favor HTML-only in the near future based on current trends. Plus, they are preferred by readers.Text EmailsText emails are basiclaly any e-mail message sent with just plain text.
No graphics, tables, or sophisticated anything.
They're like watching black & white TV - pretty boring.
But they can be effective in cases.It is common to send a "text" e-mail message with an attacmhent such as a Microsoft Word document or a PDF file, but the reader must take an additional step to view your attachment (extra steps are not good) and they must have the appropriate software on their computer to read the file, which is not always the case. In addition, e-mail programs don't allow attachments to be downloaded or opened by the recipient (user choice).
Rather than sending text messages to members and HTML to others, most e-mail programs allow us to send both in one "multipart" message.Sending both lets the recipient's e-mail program decide which one to open (user preference default setting). If you don't see any graphics in the e-mail you receive, your default may be set to text instead of HTML.Text files have a ".Txt" or ".Doc" file extensionGiven text e-mail newsletters are on their way out, my recommendation for those just getting started is go with HTML. As HTML becomes the standard (we're almost there), you won't need to first learn text emailing, then start over in a year or so and learn HTML.You're already ahead of the curve! PDF or "Portable Document Format"
Basically, PDF files enable documents to be dsitributed on different computer systems while preserving the layout of a document.
The docmuents look the same on everyone's computer whether it's a Dell computer or a MacIntosh computer.The PDF file format was developed by Adobe Systems.
PDF files are electrnoic documents that must be read with Adobe Acrobat software. You can download the software program from the web for free to "read" PDF files.
It comes already lodaed on most computers and more than likely, Adobe Acrobat "reader" is on your computer.The naming convention for PDF files is Mydocument.Pdf (the ".Pdf" extension tells your computer to open the file using Adobe Acrobat software.HTML - Hypertext Markup LanguageHTML, or Hypertext Markup Language, is a document format language used on the World Wide Web. Web browsers read HTML code and so do most e-mail porgrams. Using HTML allows you to bring together text, pictures, sounds, video, and links.
HTML files have ".Htm" or ".Html" file extensionsHTML files can be created using a simple text editor such as Microsoft Word or numerous others; many are available for free on the webWhen you're looking at a web page, you can "right click" your mouse, click on "view source" (or "view page source") and you'll see the HTML programming code.By the way, you don't need to know how to wrtie HTML code any longer to create an e-mail newsletter. But it definitely helps to understand the basics.Greg Magnus is a freelance wrietr and owner of eoecho.Com; a strategic marketing consulting company. He can be reached at:
greg@eoecho.Com
http://www.Eoecho.Com/gregmagnus/
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