More TextMate Goodness: HTML emails
As everyone knows. Mail.app does not support the composing of HTML emails. The three work-arounds for this that I know about are all clunky and laborious to some degree.
Today, when I was fooling around with the latest build of TextMate 
, I discovered that it offers a fourth way to compose HTML emails in Mail.app, which is quicker and neater than any of the others.
Here’s how it works for me.
Compose your message in TextMate. I did mine in Markdown (which I am growing to like more and more) for starters:
You can quickly get the text in HTML using TextMate’s built-in converter, or you could code in HTML to start with if your fingers are younger and more energetic than mine:
Now comes the magic. The “cutting-edge” version of TextMate (build 985) includes a “Send as HTML Email [with Safari]” command in its Mail bundle:
Select it to run the command, and then sit back as your text is piped into a fully-fledged HTML email message in Mail.app.
Address it and change the subject line, which will be the name of the saved text file. Send it. It comes out looking great, bullets, numbered lists, links and all:
Obviously, HTML in email is a bad thing . But if you have to do a bad thing, it is hard to find an easier, slicker way to do it than this.
Similar Posts:
- Using TextMate to edit emails in Mail.app
- Sending HTML messages in Apple Mail
- Composing HTML messages in Apple Mail
- Viewing HTML messages in Apple Mail
- View missing text in Mail.app messages
Tags: Apple Mail, Apple Mail Tips, email, HTML, mail.app, textmate
May 11th, 2006 at 11:30 pm
I enjoy your blog, so no hard feelings, but as you yourself point out, HTML email is just wrong. Just say no. There is no reason for sending an HTML email. None. Ever. Lists work just as well in plain text, if not better. I can see thinking “it would be nice if I could send a few bullet items in this email”, but if so, then just do it in text, it honestly looks better and it will be legible and consistent to all your recipients. That and use a monospaced font. I use Bitstream Vera Sans Mono, which is beautiful, modern, and free. Encourage others to do the same!
May 11th, 2006 at 11:53 pm
If you’re already using Markdown, rendering your e-mail as HTML seems all the more indefensible. The Markdown is already well-formatted and readable. Perhaps what we need, in fact, is Markdown-aware mail *readers* — for those who want formatted messages, their mail reader runs Markdown on the message (and maybe even attaches their own stylesheet), but for the rest of us, the message is already in a human-readable (and attractive) format without extra gunk flying over the wires.
May 12th, 2006 at 5:45 am
Jeremy says “I use Bitstream Vera Sans Mono, which is beautiful, modern, and free. ”
I don’t, so the email you send me will be rendered in the default monospace font of my mail reader.
All this seems a lot of fuss when Thunderbird, which is free, supports sending hmtl-formatted email.
May 12th, 2006 at 9:32 am
Markdown rocks! I use MD for all my web CMS work, and train my clients in its use. I like the idea of Markdown-aware email readers, that’s very original.
However, I don’t understand this vehemence in the area of HTML-emails being eeeevilll. Rich typography and other things like HTML links (something Mail fails horribly at) and images can, in the right hands, clarify and illuminate better than text only.
MacLeay’s point about fonts is correct. Jeremey, you’re enjoying Vera Sans by yourself. And, Thunderbird is nice, but I’d like to use Mail.app. Why it can’t do some basic HTML formatting, I’ll never understand.
How can one say that text-only bullet lists are ‘better’? The text doesn’t indent, nor does it wrap underneath the bullet like a good list should. It looks decidedly unpolished.
I suppose a text-only world is fine for you spartans out there, and for those who are reading emails in awful readers like Eudora or (gasp!) Pine. I would say that 99% of the emails I send are plain-text. Sometimes, however, one’s point is amplified with judicious use of italics, HTML links, and a perhaps few bullet points.
May 12th, 2006 at 11:52 pm
I’m glad _someone_ likes my HTML to email commands :D
I agree with Allan about the pure text. It’s best maybe 90% of the time.
November 9th, 2006 at 12:54 am
Whether I like it or not, some of my clients require me to compose newsletters for them in HTML with photos of products and what basically amounts to the spam you get from most major vendors. The mailers I use include text alternate MIME enclosures for people who have HTML disabled, and I consider that a viable alternative. This option opens up a chance for me to take a little more control over the content and formatting of these emails without using said mailers and I’m very happy to learn about it!
Thanks,
Brett