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Date: Thu, 9 Mar 2000 03:28:08 -0500 (EST)
From: Alfred M Kriman <akriman@darwin.helios.nd.edu>
Message-Id: <200003090828.DAA22158@darwin.helios.nd.edu>
To: classics@u.washington.edu
Subject: Re: Sending attachments (HTML)

Leo Curran:
> This is a request for help from list members who are familiar with  sending
> HTML documents as email  attachments.
> 
> As webmaster for the CAAS site,  I  have a big problem. The person who has
> been sending me most of the information for the site used to know how to do
> so, but has now forgotten how. (Some others who try to send me stuff also
> are unable to do so.)
> 
> I do not know how to tell them what the correct procedure is. I am a
> Macintosh person and I write my HTML code from scratch, so I can't instruct
> people who use Windows and/or programs that generate HTML code
> automatically.
> 
> What they send me is a text file with no HTML code and with formatting by
> tabs and carriage returns or a file with lots of garbage (which I assume are
> word processing documents with the codes for that word processor).
> 
> I would assume that all they have  to do is save the formatted document as
> an HTML file (with the extension ".htm") and send it as an email attachment,
> but it  apparently it is not so simple.

It is that simple.

> 
> Just how should I tell them to send an HTML document  as an attachment?
> Help!!!

There are two general approaches:

(1) If the message is written in a full-feature editor like MSWord, then
there is an option to save in html format.  [In MSWord, it's the
"Save as type:" selection in the "Save As" dialog box.  The option may not
appear at the top of the list of selections; SCROLL DOWN to
"HTML Document (*.htm;*.html;*.htx)", select and save.]  Then in the mail
software, attach the file that was saved before.  [In Netscape Messenger,
that's the Attach pulldown, File... item.]  The procedure ought to be
possible with crutches like Frontpage, too -- either by uploading the
webpage and attaching the page by URL, or saving the webpage locally and
attaching it by filename.

(2) If the document is written directly in the mailer software, then the
user can select an option or preference to send the message in text/html
format (and/or other formats as well).  E.g., in Netscape Messenger,
select pulldown menu Edit, item Preferences..., Mail&Groups, Messages
and see "Message properties" and More options.  Best: set plain text as
the default and have mail software prompt for permission to send anything
else.

[It might help to know that there is no fundamental difference between an
"attachment" and an "alternate version" of a message: an email with either
one carries a header field that defines a separator, and MIME-aware mail
software on the receiving end tries to handle each separated component of
the email appropriately.  Increasingly commonly, the separator may include
the string "ALT", which newer mailers will recognize as an instruction to
select from equivalent text versions.]

.