Now You Can Send Web Pages in E-Mail!

French translation of this page.

All of this can
be part of your
e-mail messages!

From: Jacob Palme ><jpalme@dsv.su.se>To: All e-mail users <email-users@mail.net> Date: 28 March 1998
Large heading fonts

Diagrams

Forms

Pictures

The Internet standard for sending HTML in e-mail (MHTML) was first published in March 1997 and major mail systems are now beginning to support it. The standard was developed by a team of IETF e-mail experts.

Bonus value: In addition to sending HTML-formatted messages, you can also use the MHTML format to save a web page with all its pictures, applets, frames, etc., in one single file in MHTML format.This is great for archiving web content.

Here is an example of a message as it might look like in plain text and in HTML.

Some advice on using early implementations of the standard

Since all mail systems do not yet support all the features of MHTML, you might prefer to send your messages using only features which most of the support.

The MHTML standard allows: But use today only: How to do this:

Existing web pages to be sent unchanged via e-mail, using the new Content-Location e-mail heading. Use Content-ID for links between HTML text and in-line images, all mailers do not yet (April 1998) support Content-Location. Most mailers today (April 1998) produce Content-ID links to images if you use the text editor of the mailer to produce your messages.

Images can either be sent as parts of the message, or referenced from their web locations. Include images as part of the message, do not reference their web addresses. Edit the message with the editor built into the mailer. In Outlook Express and Netspace 4: Paste the image into the text you are writing. In Eudora 4: Save the image in a GIF file. Drag the file icon into the text you are writing. Do not paste the image into an Eudora 4 message, Eudora will put the image in a format which many other mailers cannot read.

All kinds of HTML features can be sent in e-mail. Avoid advanced HTML features unless they are essential for your message. Do not use any other HTML tags than the following:

<b>, <i>, <underline>, <nofill>, <param>, <html>, <pre>, <smaller>, <bigger>, <center>, <flushleft>, <flushright>, <fontfamily>, <color>, <paraindent>, <h1>, <h2>, <h3>, <h4>, <h5>, <h6>, <em>, <strong>, <cite>, <address>, <title>, <head>, <body>, <blockquote>, <code>, <kbd>, <var>, <samp>, <tt>, <br>, <hr>, <a>, a <href>, <p>, <ul>, <ol>, <li>, <menu>, <dl>, <dt>, <dd>, <base href>

In particular, do not use style sheets, tables or background colors or images.

The same message can be sent in the same message in both plain text and HTML format. The receiving mailer will only show the HTML version, if it supports HTML, otherwise it will only show the plain text version. Netscape, Outlook Express and Eudora (version 4.0.1) all allow you to produce and receive messages in this format. Be sure to get Eudora 4.0.1, since Eudora 4.0 does not support this feature. Outlook Express sends in this format by default. Netscape and Eudora 4.0.1 allows you to send in this format.

Filled in forms can be sent either via e-mail or HTTP. Since some e-mail readers read their e-mail off-line, it may be better to use the "mailto:" URL as the submission format for forms to be filled in by e-mail recipients. A disadvantage with "mailto:" is however that it will often not work for computer shared between several people, or where the user has not correctly initialized his browser with his e-mail address. Start forms with the HTML construct:
FORM ACTION= "mailto:some-suitable-email@address"

The full ISO 8859-1 character set can be used in messages, and also other character sets if you specify them. Unusal (8-bit) character may not be handled correctly in HTML messages with some mailers. It is better to use the HTML encodings of unusual characters. For example, use "Ö" instead of "Ö" for the German character "O with two dots".

If you are sending an HTML message to many recpients: Make a test version, send it to yourself and try to read it with the mailers commonly used among the recipients.

A tip for Eudora users: When you receive a message with advanced HTML features, Eudora will sometimes not itself be able to show the message correctly. If you get a message which seems incomplete or mixed up, then use the command "Open in Browser" in the "File" menu to view the message with your web browser.

Why does MHTML not work for me

If messages, which you have created using MHTML, do not display properly for their recipients, consider the following possible reasons:

The code you produce does not use MHTML correctly in some ways.
The e-mail client does not handle MHTML correctly.

You might try the following:

Test with more than one e-mail client, and compare the results.
Test with the command "view with browser" which many e-mail clients provide, and which will show the message using a web browser.
Produce messages in the multipart/alternative format, with plain text as the first alternative and HTML as the second alternative.

For more information, see Sending HTML in MIME.
An example of how a message might look like in plain text as compared to HTML

Below is an example of an e-mail message as it may look like in plain text and in HTML format, sent according to the MHTML standard.

Letter in plain ASCII format

From: Jacob Palme <jpalme@dsv.su.se>
To: Mary Dawkins <mdawkins@foo.bar> Subject: Thursday meeting Date: Mon, 8 Dec 1997 12:58:58 -0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Welcome to the decorating committee meeting on Thursday, December 10 at 9:00 a.m. Location: Electrum building, Kista. Please confirm that you can come. :-) And please bring your new red dress, it brightens up the meeting. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Jacob Palme, Stockholm University and KTH Technical University Professor E-mail: jpalme@dsv.su.se Snail mail: Skeppargatan 73 S-115 30 Stockholm, Sweden WWW: http://dsv.su.se/jpalme Personal phone: +46-8-664 77 48

Letter in HTML format

From: Jacob Palme <jpalme@dsv.su.se>
To: Mary Dawkins <mdawkins@foo.bar>
Date: Mon, 8 Dec 1997 12:58:58 -0500
MIME-Version: 1.0

Welcome to the decorating committee meeting on Thursday, December 10 at 9:00 a.m.

Location: Electrum building, Kista, see map.

Please confirm that you can come: Yes No

And please bring your new red dress, it brightens up the meeting.

A picture of Jacob Palme Jacob Palme, Stockholm University and KTH Technical University
Professor
E-mail: jpalme@dsv.su.se
Snail mail: Skeppargatan 73
S-115 30 Stockholm, Sweden
WWW: http://dsv.su.se/jpalme
Personal phone: +46-8-664 77 48

Additional useful software
An Applescript for sending arbitrary HTML (created by some other program) using Microsoft Entourage on a Macintosh. Cached.
Examples of use of HTML in e-mail

The example above as a separate file.

An actual example from an IETF mailing list.

Discussion on whether HTML in e-mail is a good thing or not.

Pages of interest
Anandgraves HTML Email guide

Copyright ©: I claim no copyright to this document, anyone is free to use it in news reporting or in marketing of their mhtml-compliant software provided you indicate the source. / Jacob Palme, 11 April 1998 revised 22 December, 2001 .

All of this can be part of your e-mail messages!
	`From:` `Jacob Palme` `><jpalme@dsv.su.se>To: All e-mail users <email-users@mail.net> Date: 28 March 1998` Large heading fonts

	Diagrams	Forms	Pictures

The MHTML standard allows:	But use today only:	How to do this:
Existing web pages to be sent unchanged via e-mail, using the new Content-Location e-mail heading.	Use Content-ID for links between HTML text and in-line images, all mailers do not yet (April 1998) support Content-Location.	Most mailers today (April 1998) produce Content-ID links to images if you use the text editor of the mailer to produce your messages.
Images can either be sent as parts of the message, or referenced from their web locations.	Include images as part of the message, do not reference their web addresses.	Edit the message with the editor built into the mailer. In Outlook Express and Netspace 4: Paste the image into the text you are writing. In Eudora 4: Save the image in a GIF file. Drag the file icon into the text you are writing. Do not paste the image into an Eudora 4 message, Eudora will put the image in a format which many other mailers cannot read.
All kinds of HTML features can be sent in e-mail.	Avoid advanced HTML features unless they are essential for your message.	Do not use any other HTML tags than the following: `<b>, <i>, <underline>, <nofill>, <param>, <html>, <pre>, <smaller>, <bigger>, <center>, <flushleft>, <flushright>, <fontfamily>, <color>, <paraindent>, <h1>, <h2>, <h3>, <h4>, <h5>, <h6>, <em>, <strong>, <cite>, <address>, <title>, <head>, <body>, <blockquote>, <code>, <kbd>, <var>, <samp>, <tt>, <br>, <hr>, <a>, a <href>, <p>, <ul>, <ol>, <li>, <menu>, <dl>, <dt>, <dd>, <base href>` In particular, do not use style sheets, tables or background colors or images.
The same message can be sent in the same message in both plain text and HTML format. The receiving mailer will only show the HTML version, if it supports HTML, otherwise it will only show the plain text version.	Netscape, Outlook Express and Eudora (version 4.0.1) all allow you to produce and receive messages in this format. Be sure to get Eudora 4.0.1, since Eudora 4.0 does not support this feature.	Outlook Express sends in this format by default. Netscape and Eudora 4.0.1 allows you to send in this format.
Filled in forms can be sent either via e-mail or HTTP.	Since some e-mail readers read their e-mail off-line, it may be better to use the "mailto:" URL as the submission format for forms to be filled in by e-mail recipients. A disadvantage with "mailto:" is however that it will often not work for computer shared between several people, or where the user has not correctly initialized his browser with his e-mail address.	Start forms with the HTML construct: `FORM ACTION= "mailto:some-suitable-email@address"`
The full ISO 8859-1 character set can be used in messages, and also other character sets if you specify them.	Unusal (8-bit) character may not be handled correctly in HTML messages with some mailers.	It is better to use the HTML encodings of unusual characters. For example, use "Ö" instead of "Ö" for the German character "O with two dots".