Editing Content

Jim

I am having problems editing the first email campaign. When I view the initial message as a preview the content looks good. When I send a test message however there are no paragraph separations. Everything is in one large block. Attempts to insert paragraph breaks do not work for me.

Rachael Ahrens

Jim,

The problem you are describing is common, I'm afraid. Every email browser reads the html code of your emails slightly differently making it all the more difficult to make your messages look perfect in each of them.

To fix this particular problem, remove your paragraph tags completely so that one paragraph is not separated from the next. Instead of using a paragraph tag, you're going to use what is called a line break represented by the html tag <br />. Two line breaks equals a paragraph break. So <br /><br /> will result in the formatting you are trying to achieve. To make a <br />, in the WYSIWYG, you can hold down the Shift key and then hit Enter. To make two line breaks, hit Shift/Enter twice. Or you can type the breaks directly into the html code where you'd like a line break to appear.

This is a fantastic topic to post to Community. It brings to light the importance of testing your emails in as many email browsers as you can and getting comfortable with the fact that your email may look slightly different no matter what you do.

Working within the limits of emails browsers may seem challenging, and it is. But there is almost always a way to code your emails so that they look great everywhere. Your task as an online marketer is to keep trying new things until you are satisfied. Think of it as a clever game you play with Yahoo, Gmail, Hotmail, and Outlook. They make your code render strangely...you find a way to make it work anyway. Also, keep in mind that new versions of the various email browsers require new testing. For instance, your email may look slightly different in Outlook 2003 than it does in Outlook 2007.

If you feel a little irritated by this, you've just joined the Official Online Marketing "Bang Head on Desk" Club.

Usually you can find workarounds by doing Google searches, but of course, you can always post those tricky email issues to Convio Community.

Best,

Rachael