|
|
george |
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Setup Create Templates Sending Emails Lookups Delivery Status Troubleshooting |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
HTML stands for
"Hyper-Text Markup Language" HTML tells your
computer, what a page on the web or an HTML email should look like -
what fonts to use, where to get pictures from, etc. It's no
more difficult to create an HTML document than it is to use a word
processor, thanks to WYSIWYG ("What You See Is What You
Get") HTML editors such as Microsoft Front Page. FrontPage has three tabs in the lower left corner of the screen that control it's three views "Normal", "HTML" and "Preview" The Normal Tab is where you do your layout and typing, the HTML tab is where you can look at and modify the HTML code, and the Preview tab allows you to preview what it will display like on a recipient's computer. Inserting Pictures You can insert pictures into your merge document using either a "web reference", consisting of the full "URL" (Web address) of a picture, or you may insert pictures from your local hard drive, which e-BLAST! will physically embed into your email. Example For Inserting a Web Referenced Picture: [Insert] [Picture] [From File]
Example For Embedding a "Local" Picture: Embedding
pictures located on your local hard drive, into your
Emails you would select:
Best Practices for Embedding Pictures Many HTML Editors (including FrontPage) like
to treat your HTML email template as though it were a web
page on a web server. This means that
when you insert a reference to a picture, either on the
web or on your hard drive, you have to be careful to
preserve the full “absolute” references to them, such
as:
For pictures “pulled” from
the web: If
your pictures don’t show up in your emails, your
references are not in the correct format, due to your HTML
editor taking liberties with them. Make
sure by checking the HTML source code that they look like
the above, rather than: Note:
The best way to
maintain correct local references, is to keep your pictures
in a separate folder tree than your HTML Email template. Saving Files in FrontPage When you save pictures with FrontPage that are references correctly you will be presented with a dialog that looks like this:
Click the "Set Action" Button You will then see a second dialog on top:
Click "Don't Save. Don't save this file and leave the references in the page as is." Then click OK. This will preserve the correct local references. Pros and Cons of Embedded vs. Web Referenced Pictures: If you use a web referenced picture, the size of
your email is minimal and hence they are much faster to
send. However, if someone
downloads an HTML email with pictures on a webserver to a
laptop then takes it on a trip, they won’t be able to
retrieve the pictures without a live connection to the
internet. On the other hand, if you embed your
pictures, they will take more time and bandwidth to send,
and for the recipients to download, but will deliver the
pictures with the email. Inserting Merge Fields In FrontPage You can select merge fields or entire address
blocks using the e-BLAST!
Merge Field Picker:
The
Current ACT! User's "My Record" Merge Fields are
inserted and marked with the prefix "User's_",
such as: ~User's_Field_Name~ The HTMLBody Field The HTMLBody Field is entered as: ~HTMLBody~. Intelli-Fields One the many advantages of e-BLAST! is it's "intelli-Fields" These are fields on the Merge Field Picker's list that have leading or trailing punctuation, such as: ~,_Title~ These fields merge both the correct data and indicated punctuation, such as a comma and space and the data, if there is data in the contact record, but not if there isn't, so you never have to worry about doing multiple lookups and merges to account for every contact with or without a title, department, etc. So, the correct insertion of the ~,_Title~ merge field would be: ~Contact~~,_Title~ e-BLAST! will automatically insert the correct data and formatting, so you don't have to worry about it - you get the job done in one pass every time! The Salutation Intelli-Fields e-BLAST! has 4 Salutation Field Intelli-fields, in addition to the standard ~Salutation~ merge field:
Note: If you have changed the name of
your Salutation field, to “Dear” or something else, then
use the new name in the construction of the Salutation
Intellif-fields, such as ~Dear;~ or ~Dear_Dear,~, etc. Attachment Fields There are two
attachments intelli-fields - both insert the appropriate
headings based on whether or not the attachments have been
"auto-zipped" into a zip file as the attachment
and the number of attachments.: 1.
~Attachments~ If you place
this field into an HTML document, e-BLAST! will
enumerate the list of file attachments to the merge document
and insert them into your document below the bolded heading
"Attachments:" if there is more than one, or “Attachment:”
if there is only one: Attachment1.doc If the attachments have been "auto-zipped" the ~Attachments~ merge field produce results like this:
Attachments in MyZipFile.zip:
Attachment1.doc 2.
~Attachments_w/Path~ If you place
this field into an HTML document, e-BLAST! will
enumerate the list of file attachments to the merge document
and insert them with the full path and file name into your
document below the bolded heading "Attachments:"
if there is more than one attachment or “Attachment:” if
there is only one.
C:/My Documents/Attachment1.doc If the attachments have been "auto-zipped" the ~Attachments_w/Path~ merge field produce results like this:
Attachments in MyZipFile.zip:
C:/My
Documents/Attachment1.doc Note: An Attachments Merge field should be a standard part of most templates - especially your default letterhead template, as it reassures your contacts that any attachments you send are intended to be sent and are not viruses. Distribution List Fields There are 4 Distribution List Intelli-Fields, all of which will automatically trigger e-BLAST! to remind you that the field is in the document and to ask if you want e-BLAST! to automatically build and insert the list if recipients under the Bold Heading "Distributon List:" This type of field should be a standard field contained in your default letterhead template.
~Closing_Salutation~ and ~User's_Signature~ Fields Using the User's My Record Merge Fields in combination with the user's preferences for preferred closing salutation and signature graphic URL, will allow your organization to build a single template used by multiple users, that automatically tailors itself to the person using it, based on each User's e-BLAST! User Preferences! The FortuneFlow Merge
Field Picker is easy to use and makes fast work of any HTML
Email Template. It even has a drop-down list of
preformatted inside address and closing salutation blocks,
so you can complete the merge fields for a template in a
matter of two clicks! Now you're ready to send your email with e-BLAST! © Copyright 1999 - 2004, FortuneFlow, Inc. All Rights Reserved |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
