Very nice. HTML email and horribly arcane <table> code are like peanut butter and chocolate - messy to assemble, but you can't argue with the result.
When I saw the first pic, I wondered if this would just be generating an image, or using complicated CSS (which can be problematic for older email clients), but using tables to achieve a result that should work in most clients, and show up even with images turns off, is pretty sweet.
The only thing better would be some screenshots as to how this actually appears in various versions of Outlook, Thunderbird, GMail, etc.
"The result is a bad first impression for new mail-ees."
What's a "new mail-ee"? I hope it's not a spam target.
Sending HTML email is what gives a bad impression. If you want to send an HTML document, or an image or PDF file, send an attachment. If it's HTML, then, in the unlikely event I want to see it, it'll open in my browser, and this ridiculous hack won't be required.
We have this discussion here every time someone posts about email marketing, and someone else says email is stupid.
Your average HN user does not statistically resemble your average business customer to any degree. People here may hate email, especially HTML email, but there are orders of magnitude more people out there who are thrilled by emails full of cat pictures and inspirational quotes than there are of us.
Email marketing prints money. Well-managed email lists are often rated as one of the best business assets a small business can have. The OP presents a good way to show customers interesting content that they may enjoy, without requiring them to open an attachment, or risk privacy issues by allowing images.
It may be a "ridiculous hack," but only because of the ridiculous state of affairs of rich-text email. And besides, most of what we applaud here on HN could be termed "ridiculous hacks." :)
[+] [-] wikwocket|12 years ago|reply
When I saw the first pic, I wondered if this would just be generating an image, or using complicated CSS (which can be problematic for older email clients), but using tables to achieve a result that should work in most clients, and show up even with images turns off, is pretty sweet.
The only thing better would be some screenshots as to how this actually appears in various versions of Outlook, Thunderbird, GMail, etc.
[+] [-] saryant|12 years ago|reply
Sure thing!
http://imgur.com/a/C7XIX
Outlook 2010, Apple Mail 6, Thunderbird and iOS 6. Any other's you're interested in?
(Tip: Litmus is a terrific tool for email testing. Not affiliated, just a happy customer)
[+] [-] leephillips|12 years ago|reply
What's a "new mail-ee"? I hope it's not a spam target.
Sending HTML email is what gives a bad impression. If you want to send an HTML document, or an image or PDF file, send an attachment. If it's HTML, then, in the unlikely event I want to see it, it'll open in my browser, and this ridiculous hack won't be required.
[+] [-] wikwocket|12 years ago|reply
Your average HN user does not statistically resemble your average business customer to any degree. People here may hate email, especially HTML email, but there are orders of magnitude more people out there who are thrilled by emails full of cat pictures and inspirational quotes than there are of us.
Email marketing prints money. Well-managed email lists are often rated as one of the best business assets a small business can have. The OP presents a good way to show customers interesting content that they may enjoy, without requiring them to open an attachment, or risk privacy issues by allowing images.
It may be a "ridiculous hack," but only because of the ridiculous state of affairs of rich-text email. And besides, most of what we applaud here on HN could be termed "ridiculous hacks." :)
[+] [-] gwern|12 years ago|reply
A/B tests or GTFO.
[+] [-] eglp|12 years ago|reply
Could I have an invite? Or process your incoming requests at once (;
[+] [-] saryant|12 years ago|reply