Chapter 23: E-Mail and Newsgroups Using Outlook Express

Composing in HTML

Hypertext Markup Language (or HTML) is the language Web pages are written in. Outlook Express allows you to send HTML e-mail messages or newsgroup postings. This is a great idea, but only if your recipients are set up to receive HTML messages. If they don't have an up-to-date e-mail or newsgroup reader, your recipients will probably receive either

• A text version of your message with the HTML version as an attachment.
• A text version of your message either followed or preceded by a version in raw HTML--it sort of looks like text, but includes control codes that look like gibberish to the uninitiated.

At some point, HTML may take over as the dominant language for e-mail, just as it has for Web sites. But plain text is showing remarkable staying power, especially in newsgroups; so for now, we recommend using HTML only if you are sure that your recipient uses Outlook Express or some other e-mail program (such as Netscape Mail or Eudora Pro) that speaks HTML.

Never post an HTML formatted message to an e-mail mailing list, since you don't know whether every subscriber to the list has a mail program that can handle HTML.

If your recipient can read HTML, though, some very cool possibilities open up. You can do the following:

• Use different fonts, sizes, and colors of text (which can be handy when replying to a message with corrections or further information)
• Embed pictures, charts, or other graphics in your messages
• Include links to the World Wide Web

Turning HTML On and Off

To set up Outlook Express to compose (or stop composing) messages in HTML:

1. Select Tools | Options to open the Options dialog box.
2. Select the Send tab of the Options dialog box.
3. Choose either the Plain Text or HTML radio button in the Mail Sending Format box (for e-mail) and the News Sending Format box (for newsgroups).

We recommend that you set your News Sending Format to Plain Text because few newsreaders can display HTML formatting. Choose your Mail Sending Format setting based on whether most of your correspondents have e-mail programs that can display HTML formatting.

Composing HTML Messages

When Outlook Express is composing in HTML rather than plain text, the message box contains another toolbar (called the formatting toolbar) just below the header. Most of the tools on the formatting toolbar are familiar if you have used a word processor. From left to right, the tools are the following:

• Font Name Choose another font from the drop-down list.
• Font Size Choose from the drop-down list.
• Paragraph Style The drop-down list shows the choices of paragraph style.
• Bold, Italic, Underline
• Font Color Click to see the palette.
• Formatting Numbers For making numbered lists.
• Formatting Bullets For making bulleted lists.
• Decrease/Increase Indentation
• Align Left/Center/Right/Justify
• Insert Horizontal Line Draws a dividing line across your message.
• Create a Hyperlink Links text in your message to Web addresses.
• Insert Picture Inserts any image file into your message.

Linking to the Web

If your message mentions a Web page, or if a Web page reference would back up the point you are making, why not link to it? If your recipients have HTML-reading e-mail programs, they'll be able to open the page with their Web browsers just by clicking the hyperlink in your message.

To insert a hyperlink into a message you are writing in HTML

1. Select the text you want to link to the Web.
2. Click the Create A Hyperlink button on the formatting toolbar, located below the header. The Hyperlink dialog box opens.
3. Select the Web address prefix from the Type drop-down list of the Hyperlink dialog box.
4. Type the Web address into the URL box of the Hyperlink dialog box.
5. Click OK. The selected text should now appear in a different color from the rest of the message.

Inserting Pictures

You can insert photographs, diagrams, charts, or other image files into any message you compose in HTML. These objects then appear in the body of the message the way that photographs appear in a newspaper, not as file attachments.

1. Move the insertion point to the place in your message that you want the picture to be located.
2. Click the Insert Picture button on the formatting toolbar, below the header. The Picture dialog box appears.
3. Type the location of the image file into the Picture Source box or click the Browse button and find the file with a Browse window.
4. Type into the Alternate Text box the text that recipients will see if the picture (for whatever reason) is not displayed.
5. Choose the alignment from the drop-down list. This controls where the picture appears relative to the text.
6. Type a number into the Border Thickness box. This defines the width (in points) of a border surrounding the image.
7. Type numbers into the horizontal and vertical spacing boxes. These numbers define the width (in points) of a region of empty space surrounding the image.
8. Click OK. You see the image inserted into the message window.

If you want to change any of these decisions before you send the message, select the image in the message window and click Insert Picture on the formatting toolbar. The Picture dialog box opens with all your current choices. Change anything you want to and click OK.