How HTML tags and links display in automatically generated text-only email
Email marketers can use the Deliver Message Editor to generate text-only email based on an HTML email template. This feature is called auto-generating a text-only version of the email.
When Deliver generates a text version of an HTML email, it ignores all HTML formatting tags except for the <html> and <body> tags. The Message Editor converts specific parts of the HTML content to text, as listed in the following table.
| In the HTML version | In the text-only version |
|---|---|
<UAEpf/> Define personalization fields in the template. |
Personalization fields added to text and links in the HTML template are retained in the text version of the email. |
<span/> Used to define zones in the template. |
Converted only where used to define zones. Note: The Image widget is not supported for populating zones in the text-only version. |
<br/> |
Appear as line breaks in the text. Deliver adds <br/> tags to recreate line breaks in the HTML version. |
hyperlinks |
The entire link URL, including parameters, appears as plain text enclosed in square brackets. For example, a link URL in the HTML version, formatted as follows appears in the text version as Visit us today! [http://www.example.com/online?someParameter=abc] Some email clients present the plain text as a link when rendering the text email, others do not. Note: If you plan to auto-generate text-only email from an HTML template, do not format hyperlinks to separate link parameters using URL-encoded ampersands (& ). Instead, separate link parameters with a single &. |
Images |
Images contained in the HTML version of an email do not appear in the auto-generated text. If an image in the HTML version defines a zone, auto-generating a text-only version creates a corresponding zone in the text-only version that displays text in place of the image. The new zone uses the same ALT and ID attributes. The text that you define for the ALT attribute appears in place of the image. If you have not defined ALT text, the ID value displays instead. For example, if you defined an image in the HTML as: <img id="A1" class="droppable" alt="This month's feature."/> The text-only version converts the <img> tag to: <span id="A1" class="droppable">This month's feature.</span>On the Text tab of the Message Editor, the auto-generated text appears as [This month's feature] if you defined the alt attribute in the HTML. If you did not define the alt attribute, the text version displays [A1]. The auto-generated text appears in square brackets to indicate that the text is a zone. The brackets do not appear in the message preview or in the transmitted email. |
Static text content |
The text version retains the text, but does not re-create the HTML formatting. For example, text that you format in the HTML as blue, boldface text with a mouseover appears in the text-only version as plain text. |
Text email that is automatically generated from an HTML template must meet the same requirements that apply to templates created for text email. For more information about HTML tags used in text-only email templates, see Template requirements for text email.