# Do many people still have text-only e-mail? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 27, 2011, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-many-people-still-have-text-only-e-mail/583411 "2011-05-27T07:23:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Stan\_Shmenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/94ad74/32.png) [@Stan\_Shmenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stan_Shmenge)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2011, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-many-people-still-have-text-only-e-mail/583411/1 "2011-05-27T07:23:51Z")
Still working on my friend’s web page, and am working on the newsletter feature. It would save me a boatload of aggravation if I didn’t have to deal with text-only emails. Seems like most clients these days support html. And if they don’t, the person should be used to getting html code in their client, so not such a bad thing there either. Or am I missing something? ---
**Author:** ![tellyworth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/977dab/32.png) [@tellyworth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tellyworth)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2011, 7:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-many-people-still-have-text-only-e-mail/583411/2 "2011-05-27T07:28:45Z")
Don’t roll your own email newsletter delivery service. Use an existing provider - they’ll deal with this, plus a bunch of other problems you haven’t yet encountered. I can PM you a recommendation if you like. ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2011, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-many-people-still-have-text-only-e-mail/583411/3 "2011-05-27T07:30:42Z")
Yes you are: [Why you shouldn’t use HTML email…](http://www.freeantispam.org/html-email.php) Honestly, I just hate html e-mails. ---
**Author:** ![constanze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@constanze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/constanze)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2011, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-many-people-still-have-text-only-e-mail/583411/4 "2011-05-27T07:42:36Z")
My provider (GMX) can certainly handle HTML-Mails; but for security reasons, I prefer text mails. Sure, HTML mails look all shiny and have graphics and stuff and cool! But they can contain hidden code that executes on the PC, without even the user noticing. Pure text Emails can’t do that, so they are recommended for safety reasons. If you or your client is not able to bring across his message in text only, then simply provide a link in the text email to your site and show the cool graphics and java there. ---
**Author:** ![Stan\_Shmenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/94ad74/32.png) [@Stan\_Shmenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stan_Shmenge)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2011, 7:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-many-people-still-have-text-only-e-mail/583411/5 "2011-05-27T07:47:05Z")
> [@tellyworth](#): > > Don’t roll your own email newsletter delivery service. Use an existing provider - they’ll deal with this, plus a bunch of other problems you haven’t yet encountered. I can PM you a recommendation if you like. Sure, but I am not expecting to have thousands of even hundreds of subscribers. Right now, I just want to send out a confirmation e-mail that has a hyperlink back to the confirmation page so the user can enter a randomly generated confirmation code to activate their subscription. Using a 3rd party seems like overkill and another layer of complexity. I already have the PHP working and a MySQL database set up to handle the list. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2011, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-many-people-still-have-text-only-e-mail/583411/6 "2011-05-27T07:54:03Z")
> [@](#): > > Right now, I just want to send out a confirmation e-mail that has a hyperlink back to the confirmation page so the user can enter a randomly generated confirmation code to activate their subscription. Using a 3rd party seems like overkill and another layer of complexity. Just put in the URL itself. HTML e-mail clients will automatically turn it into a link, and everyone else can copy and paste it manually. ---
**Author:** ![tellyworth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/977dab/32.png) [@tellyworth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tellyworth)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2011, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-many-people-still-have-text-only-e-mail/583411/7 "2011-05-27T08:14:21Z")
> [@Stan\_Shmenge](#): > > Sure, but I am not expecting to have thousands of even hundreds of subscribers. All the more reason to use something out-of-the-box. The technical and administrative problems you’ll encounter are mostly the same regardless of the number of subscribers. ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2011, 8:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-many-people-still-have-text-only-e-mail/583411/8 "2011-05-27T08:46:08Z")
> [@Stan\_Shmenge](#): > > Sure, but I am not expecting to have thousands of even hundreds of subscribers. > > Right now, I just want to send out a confirmation e-mail that has a hyperlink back to the confirmation page so the user can enter a randomly generated confirmation code to activate their subscription. Using a 3rd party seems like overkill and another layer of complexity. > > I already have the PHP working and a MySQL database set up to handle the list. Why do you need an HTML version, then? ---
**Author:** ![Stan\_Shmenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/94ad74/32.png) [@Stan\_Shmenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stan_Shmenge)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2011, 9:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-many-people-still-have-text-only-e-mail/583411/9 "2011-05-27T09:09:20Z")
> [@Reply](#): > > Why do you need an HTML version, then? Well, we would like to send graphics with the newsletter. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2011, 9:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-many-people-still-have-text-only-e-mail/583411/10 "2011-05-27T09:27:12Z")
> [@Floater](#): > > Yes you are: [Why you shouldn’t use HTML email…](http://www.freeantispam.org/html-email.php) > > Honestly, I just hate html e-mails. > [@Stan\_Shmenge](#): > > Well, we would like to send graphics with the newsletter. Why? Why must EVERY email have graphics in it? I hate html emails, and always choose not to have them. Send a damned link if you have pretty pictures that everyone MUST look at. More is NOT better. Ever seen some of the entries in the “bad webpage design” contests? What do they all have in common? More html than you can shake a stick at. If the newsletter is good, then it doesn’t need shiny flashing lights. And if it’s bad, no amount of graphics will save it. ---
**Author:** ![Heracles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heracles/32/487_2.png) [@Heracles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heracles)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2011, 9:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-many-people-still-have-text-only-e-mail/583411/11 "2011-05-27T09:45:24Z")
You may not have chosen the most representative forum to determine whether rich e-mail is desired by average folk. Most under-40 people I know wouldn’t read a plain-text newsletter, but would probably tolerate a plain-text e-mail inviting them to visit an updated Web page or blog. If you really want the e-mail to contain, uh, content, I say give people a choice, or use a delivery service that does. ---
**Author:** ![Wheeljack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@Wheeljack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheeljack)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2011, 9:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-many-people-still-have-text-only-e-mail/583411/12 "2011-05-27T09:48:10Z")
Whenever I get an email with HTML, my client displays it as text unless I click the little button that tells it not to. I never do. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2011, 9:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-many-people-still-have-text-only-e-mail/583411/13 "2011-05-27T09:58:42Z")
It’s possible to send e-mail which contains both a plain text and HTML version. Use software configured to send such mails, and they will be displayed for each user in their preferred format automatically. If you send me an HTML-only e-mail, or an e-mail which contains content in the HTML version but a blank text version (or a text version which simply says “Your client cannot view this message.”), I will delete it, and possibly report it to SpamCop as unsolicited bulk e-mail. I know that many people do likewise. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Knig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@Typo\_Knig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Knig)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2011, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-many-people-still-have-text-only-e-mail/583411/14 "2011-05-27T11:20:03Z")
Piling on: let your subcribers choose the preferred email format (plain text versus html). I hate html only email more than Roger Ebert hated the movie North. IMNAAHO html email is the idea with the worst computer security implications ever. ---
**Author:** ![Ruminator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Ruminator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruminator)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2011, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-many-people-still-have-text-only-e-mail/583411/15 "2011-05-27T12:00:08Z")
> [@Stan\_Shmenge](#): > > Seems like most clients these days support html. And if they don’t, the person should be used to getting html code in their client, so not such a bad thing there either. But sometimes it has nothing to do with the HTML capabilities of the client. On many corporate email systems, they strip all incoming HTML out before it ever reaches the employees’ inboxes. This is done for security purposes. All that effort of HTML graphics formatting went to the digital trash bin. > [@](#): > > Or am I missing something? You and your friend seem to be missing the fact that many people don’t like HTML emails. ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2011, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-many-people-still-have-text-only-e-mail/583411/16 "2011-05-27T12:18:50Z")
HTML Emails WTF? Really?!?!?!? … sorry, wrong thread. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2011, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-many-people-still-have-text-only-e-mail/583411/17 "2011-05-27T12:34:35Z")
Not a shill: I would like to recommend VerticalResponse as a provider. You don’t need a contract - they charge per email sent. They also provide a form so people can sign up to receive the mail, which you can plop on the website. They’re cheap, easy to use, and the reporting features are excellent. VR (and competing products) prompts you to create an HTML _and_ plain text version of the email, and it will deliver the appropriate one providing the recipient mailserver expresses a preference. As a general rule, any images in an HTML email should merely support the text. That way if the images don’t get shown, the email still makes sense and gets its message across. I too agree that the SDMB, being full of geek types, is unlikely to give you a true representation of HTML email popularity. From the sender’s side, HTML email is better because it allows you to track open rates of the email. ---
**Author:** ![stpauler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@stpauler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stpauler)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2011, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-many-people-still-have-text-only-e-mail/583411/18 "2011-05-27T12:42:39Z")
Another reason, my smartphone (Hero HTC) doesn’t like em at all in the Gmail and Yahoo apps. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2011, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-many-people-still-have-text-only-e-mail/583411/19 "2011-05-27T12:57:14Z")
I use text-only email that runs on a Linux computer in my office. Send me a real link and I can click on it. Send me a hidden link and I discard the email unread since there is nothing else I can do. Sometime it is a pain. Attach a pdf or other file and I first have to save it on the Linux machine and then ftp it to my home computer. I will do that only if you give me a convincing reason to. Bottom line: I have never caught a virus or other malware. The trade-off seems worth it. ---
**Author:** ![WarmNPrickly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d78d45/32.png) [@WarmNPrickly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WarmNPrickly)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2011, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-many-people-still-have-text-only-e-mail/583411/20 "2011-05-27T13:03:56Z")
> [@Ruminator](#): > > You and your friend seem to be missing the fact that many people don’t like HTML emails. +1 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-many-people-still-have-text-only-e-mail/583411.md?page=2)