Appendix H: LISTSERV Maestro and AOL

Recipients who use older AOL email clients (version 5.0 and older) cannot receive HTML messages, but can receive AOL Rich Text messages. AOL Rich Text is a specialized email format that uses a sub-set of HTML tags to create text formatting. Rich Text is not compatible with newer AOL email clients, and sending Rich Text formatted mail to newer AOL clients will cause formatting errors. Images cannot be embedded in Rich Text, but Rich Text can contain links to image files located on another server.

AOL Alternative Text for HTML Messages

To include recipients using older AOL email clients, create an AOL alternative message to be sent with the HTML message.

To add an AOL Rich Text alternative to an HTML message, follow these steps:

1.      Select the HTML with Alternatives option on the Define Message screen.

2.      Check the box next to AOL Format. This activates two additional tabs − AOL Preview and AOL Code.

3.      Click on the AOL Code tab to add the alternative AOL message. The message can be uploaded, pasted, or keyed directly into the box.

4.      Click the AOL Preview tab to see what the message looks like to recipients. All formatting will be displayed (bold or italic text for example). HTML tags that are not compatible with AOL Rich Text (errors in coding) will be displayed as regular text within the message and will be readily identifiable. Any drop-in content elements will be automatically added into the body of the text message.

Any trackable links in the alternative text message must be enclosed within quotation marks the same way as the trackable plain text message links are enclosed. Merge fields and drop-in content can be used in this format as described in Sections 5.1 Drop-in Content and 5.6 Merge Fields and Conditional Blocks.

Table 9 AOL Rich Text Formatting Tags

AOL and Conditional Content

In the event that recipient data is available that somehow determines the format each recipient prefers to receive, that data can be used to send the preferred format to each recipient, all within the same job. This determination is based upon a conditional statement run against the recipient data. The advantage of using conditional content is that it’s possible to prepare a single job for recipients who prefer HTML and those who prefer plain text, respecting each recipient’s choices as well as saving time and reducing the chance for errors while sending multiple jobs.

In order to use the Conditional Content feature, it must first be enabled. To enable conditional content, click on the Change link that appears directly under the tabs of the text box on the Define Message screen when HTML content with alternatives is selected. The Conditional Content Settings screen opens. Select the Enable conditional content option.

Once enabled, it is necessary to type in the condition that determines which recipients receive which type of mail. LISTSERV Maestro uses the standard LISTSERV syntax to create the condition. See Appendix E: Using Conditional Blocks for more information on constructing conditions. The condition needs to include at least one merge field from the recipient data so that the condition acts like a variable whose true/false result is different for those recipients receiving each of the different message formats.

 Figure 134 Conditional Content Settings for AOL

There are three possible situations that conditions can be used to deliver the message format preferred by individual recipients: an HTML message with a text alternative, an HTML message with an AOL formatted alternative, and an HTML message with both a text alternative and an AOL alternative.

·         HTML content with plain text alternative – one condition needs to be specified for the HTML content.

°   If a recipient fulfills the condition, the full HTML email including the plain text alternative is delivered to that recipient.

°   If the recipient does not fulfill the condition, a simple plain text email is delivered instead, containing only the plain text alternative.

·         HTML content with AOL format alternative – one condition needs to be specified for the HTML content.

°   If a recipient fulfills the condition, a pure HTML email with no alternatives is delivered to that recipient.

°   If the recipient does not fulfill the condition, an email in the special AOL format is delivered, containing only the AOL format alternative.

·         HTML content with both AOL format and plain text alternatives – two conditions need to be specified, one for the HTML content and one for the AOL format content, evaluated in the following order:

°   If a recipient fulfills the HTML condition, a full HTML email, including the plain text alternative only, is delivered to that recipient.

°   If the recipient does not fulfill the HTML condition, but does fulfill the AOL condition, an email in the special AOL format is delivered, containing only the AOL format alternative.

°   If the recipient does not fulfill the AOL condition, (neither of the two conditions are fulfilled) a simple plain text email is delivered, containing only the plain text alternative.

If attachments are present, then LISTSERV Maestro adds the attachments to each of the messages, without applying conditions.