Reply bottom posted...
Hi, Michael.
I want to embed things into an email so that they appear as the
text of the message rather than as an attachment.
What you are describing sounds like an HTML email message. If you really
know your audience for the message, this may be OK. But there are some
things you should know . . .
HTML email messages are controversial and considered harmful, dangerous,
immoral, tacky, rude or spamiferous by many people in the FOSS community.
Many people block HTML messages out of hand, or automatically redirect
them to spam reporting centers. Many people set their email client to
present HTML emails as plain text and not render any graphics or other
non-text content.
A common trick in spamming is to put an image at the top of the message
containing what looks like normal text. Spam detectors have trouble
recognizing stock hype and anatomical enlargement pitches when they're in
image form.
Another common trick is to have a link to a one-pixel graphic with a
serialized filename unique to your email address, so that the sending
site will get a web-hit that tells them that your email address is
working. Anybody in the know sets their mail client to *not* fetch any
external images referenced by links in an HTML message, because this is
also a way to drag in potentially hostile objects (although less so for
Linux-based recipients).
But you asked, so here's how: Compose the body of your message as an
HTML document -- pick apart some examples to see how. Set the content
type to text/html. Read up on multipart email formats, and create an
alternative part in the message for those who are blocking HTML: this is
where you use the multipart/alternative content type, and then include a
text/plain as well as a text/html part.
One way around the blocked-external-links issue is to embed graphics as
separate binary parts within the message and refer to them with internal
links. I've seen it done but don't know how. But you said you want your
embedded pieces to "appear as the text of the message", so I don't
understand why you don't just /make/ them the text of the message. If
you're talking about font effects, coloring, etc., then all that you know
about HTML can apply here, but any CSS you use should be set inside the
message and not refer to anything external.
Bottom line: Don't do it, Michael. But if you must, then just be aware
that your message will be received differently by different people, and
not received at all by some.
Good luck,
Vic
that I have every read. Thank you!