What's the value of "view as HTML"?

Vickie Johnson

What is the advantage of turning on the "view as HTML" option?

c.stauffer

If you are referring to the WYSIWYG editor, this allows you to see the HTML code of the email you are creating.

Vickie Johnson

c.stauffer :

If you are referring to the WYSIWYG editor, this allows you to see the HTML code of the email you are creating.

No, I mean the "view as HTML" as one of the configurations in email campaigns. I'm on the email lists of other organizations, and when I receive an e-newsletter, there's a link to "view as HTML" - along with links for TellAFriend, Unsubscribe and Update Profile. If I click on "view as HTML", it appears that the e-newsletter is dropped into the website wrapper of the sending organization. I thought perhaps the "view in HTML" was actually a link to an online version of the e-newsletter, but the URL is .convio.net/site/MessageViewer?em_id=4641|http://organization].convio.net/site/MessageViewer?em_id=4641] . . . So I wondered about the value of "view as HTML" - is it to avoid the awful red x's when browsers block images, or to provide an option for users whose email programs convert everything to plain text?

c.stauffer

Vic :

No, I mean the "view as HTML" as one of the configurations in email campaigns. I'm on the email lists of other organizations, and when I receive an e-newsletter, there's a link to "view as HTML" - along with links for TellAFriend, Unsubscribe and Update Profile. If I click on "view as HTML", it appears that the e-newsletter is dropped into the website wrapper of the sending organization. I thought perhaps the "view in HTML" was actually a link to an online version of the e-newsletter, but the URL is .convio.net/site/MessageViewer?em_id=4641|http://organization].convio.net/site/MessageViewer?em_id=4641] . . . So I wondered about the value of "view as HTML" - is it to avoid the awful red x's when browsers block images, or to provide an option for users whose email programs convert everything to plain text?

Sorry, my misunderstanding. We always use it for these reasons:

• For those subscribers of our emails who just opt to receive Text-Only emails, this link would allow them to view the email in its full glory online.

• Also, if someone was not the world's most accomplished HTML coder and generally had problems with viewing the email "as designed" in various email clients (Outlook, Eudora, Entourage) or webmail (Yahoo!, Hotmail, Gmail, etc.), this would allow the end-user to view the email as it was originally intended to look.

Those are the only two really good reasons I can think of.

Vickie Johnson

c.stauffer :

Sorry, my misunderstanding. We always use it for these reasons:

• For those subscribers of our emails who just opt to receive Text-Only emails, this link would allow them to view the email in its full glory online.

• Also, if someone was not the world's most accomplished HTML coder and generally had problems with viewing the email "as designed" in various email clients (Outlook, Eudora, Entourage) or webmail (Yahoo!, Hotmail, Gmail, etc.), this would allow the end-user to view the email as it was originally intended to look.

Those are the only two really good reasons I can think of.

Thanks! So, if the "view as HTML" option actually puts the email into the wrapper, I have a question re the wrapper. Our site sits on a CMS platform, with links to CRM modules. The site wrapper was created in CMS, but we've also got a CRM wrapper for donation forms, surveys, etc. I would expect the "view as HTML" option to put the email into the CRM wrapper. Is that correct?

Kirsten Suhr

Vic :

No, I mean the "view as HTML" as one of the configurations in email campaigns. I'm on the email lists of other organizations, and when I receive an e-newsletter, there's a link to "view as HTML" - along with links for TellAFriend, Unsubscribe and Update Profile. If I click on "view as HTML", it appears that the e-newsletter is dropped into the website wrapper of the sending organization. I thought perhaps the "view in HTML" was actually a link to an online version of the e-newsletter, but the URL is .convio.net/site/MessageViewer?em_id=4641|http://organization].convio.net/site/MessageViewer?em_id=4641] . . . So I wondered about the value of "view as HTML" - is it to avoid the awful red x's when browsers block images, or to provide an option for users whose email programs convert everything to plain text?

Just found this old conversation... I'd like to link to one of my emails from a web page in CMS. Where can I go to get the URL for it, or how do I form it?

Thanks!

Kirsten Suhr

Kirsten Suhr:

Just found this old conversation... I'd like to link to one of my emails from a web page in CMS. Where can I go to get the URL for it, or how do I form it?

Thanks!

Just figured out the answer to my own question, so I'll share. I don't know if there's an easier way to find this, but here's what I did.

The URL will start with http://org_name.convio.net/site/MessageViewer?em_id= where org_name is the account name in your Convio admin area.

Where do you find out what your org_name is? Log in to Convio admin. The URL with start with https://secure2.convio.net/org_name/ In my case the URLs start with https://secure2.convio.net/choice/ so I sub in choice for org_name



Now you just need the em_id number to go after the = at the end of the URL. Get to the Preview of the email message. The URL will be something like https://secure2.convio.net/org_name/admin/CommCenter?email=em_preview&ec_id=3481&action=preview_email&em_id=56841.0 At the end of the URL see how it also says em_id=? Use that number, and be sure to include the . if there is one. (The em_id is probably in the URL for pages where you're editing or setting up a message as well, the Preview page is just the first I clicked to.)

So the complete URL in this case would be: http://choice.convio.net/site/MessageViewer?em_id=56841.0

If someone else has an easier way to get this URL, please chime in!

Sally Heaven

Kirsten Suhr:

Just figured out the answer to my own question, so I'll share. I don't know if there's an easier way to find this, but here's what I did.

The URL will start with http://org_name.convio.net/site/MessageViewer?em_id= where org_name is the account name in your Convio admin area.

Where do you find out what your org_name is? Log in to Convio admin. The URL with start with https://secure2.convio.net/org_name/ In my case the URLs start with https://secure2.convio.net/choice/ so I sub in choice for org_name



Now you just need the em_id number to go after the = at the end of the URL. Get to the Preview of the email message. The URL will be something like https://secure2.convio.net/org_name/admin/CommCenter?email=em_preview&ec_id=3481&action=preview_email&em_id=56841.0 At the end of the URL see how it also says em_id=? Use that number, and be sure to include the . if there is one. (The em_id is probably in the URL for pages where you're editing or setting up a message as well, the Preview page is just the first I clicked to.)

So the complete URL in this case would be: http://choice.convio.net/site/MessageViewer?em_id=56841.0

If someone else has an easier way to get this URL, please chime in!

Kirsten, I was just about to reply to tell you how to do this and you've gone and already figured it out.  Bravo!  A couple of notes:

- if you're using the WYSIWYG and adding CRM content to your CMS page, you can choose the Links menu and use the graphic-driven interface to choose your message without having to go into Preview for the message.  This will give you the numerical ID of your message and create a link with whatever text you specify.

- if you've delegated a subdomain of your website to Convio then you don't have to use http://choice.convio.net... - you can also use http://action.prochoiceamerica.org... - just a note for branding purposes if you don't want "convio" in your URL.

Michael

Sally Heaven:

Kirsten, I was just about to reply to tell you how to do this and you've gone and already figured it out.  Bravo!  A couple of notes:

- if you're using the WYSIWYG and adding CRM content to your CMS page, you can choose the Links menu and use the graphic-driven interface to choose your message without having to go into Preview for the message.  This will give you the numerical ID of your message and create a link with whatever text you specify.

- if you've delegated a subdomain of your website to Convio then you don't have to use http://choice.convio.net... - you can also use http://action.prochoiceamerica.org... - just a note for branding purposes if you don't want "convio" in your URL.

I just posted a question related to this (http://community.customer.convio.com/thread/3336).  Since it's so closely related, I think it would be appropriate to cross link the threads.