Help! InDesign file to HTML for email

[Guest]

Yes, I know, I do everything with InDesign and have successfully for years.  When I had to design an email blast, I designed it in InDesign, and sent it to a company to convert it to html for me, and then they sent it out with our list as a blast. 

My new company, does everything internally, and wants me to do a email blast, and they're real cheap on sending anything to a vendor for help.  I don't work at all in DreamWeaver, and know nothing about html. 

Is there any 'easy' way to take a document in Indesign and get it into html, or something suitable for an email blast?????  Or save it in such a way, it can be brought into Constant Contact?????  Arghhhhhhh...... 

[BobLevine]

Easy? No…especially if you don’t know Dreamweaver.

Bob

[tim.hughes]

Hi there

Does your "blast" need to have working links/live text or can it just be an image?

Tim

[Guest]

It will have text, graphics and a few links.  I typically at my other job, took it to an email vendor, and they turned everything into html for me, I wonder how long that takes to do, if you know what you're doing, and I assume, they're doing it in Dreamweaver.  How come Indesign doesn't convert? 

[BobLevine]

Because it's not supposed to.

Bob

[MW Design]

For a few clients I have used HighImpact to design their templates, turn it over to them for their use. This has worked well and it isn't rocket science. HI is made for this task.

But really, if I need a modern car worked on, I take it to a mechanic and so do your bosses most likely. There are good services for you to go online, design the email blasts and use their services for the list management. It is good, effective use of your time and the company's money both now and down the road.

Take care, Mike

[rob day]

InDesign's HTML export exports DIVs and CSS, which is a problem for many email clients (last time I checked there are 25). Typically the HTML code for an email blast uses tables with no CSS so that it can be read by any email client.

[Rik_Ramsay]

The best advice I can give you is to use Constant Contacts free HTML email templates: http://www.constantcontact.com/email-marketing/html-email-templates/index.jsp

These templates are easy enough to edit and have a foundation already set for email clients. Typically they will be constructed in tables with inline CSS. Constant Contact also have basic templates without any design: http://www.constantcontact.com/email-marketing/html-email-templates/basic.jsp

Using InDesign for this job is really not the way to go. In fact, using any graphic application other than an HTML editor is only going to give you a headache. If this is going to become a regular thing in your job, start learning HTML and make your life that little bit easier. There are a vast amount of resources available online to help you get the basics down.

@2. timm.hughes, don't even go down that road!

[Guest]

all I know, is the company I used took exactly what I designed in indesign and turned it into html easily, and sent out the blast.  I tried constant contact, but it seemed counter intuitive to me, coming from indesign, and I hate templates.  I like to design freely.  And it was just clouding my brain.

But, then again, I hear what you're saying, that I need to learn something new, but is the way to go, to force myself to learn dreamweaver or constant contact...????  Or just keep sending it to this company?

thx for your feedback.

[Rik_Ramsay]

You learn HTML and CSS - not Constant Contact or Dreamweaver. Dreamweaver is an editor but you need to know the basics of HTML to even understand what Dreamweaver can do. Constant Contact is just your Service Provider so it will take what you create and send it out.

I understand what you are saying about the templates but as you have already designed your email, why not find a template that is similar to your design and then adjust it to suit? "It will have text, graphics and a few links" does not sound like a complicated email so it should be fairly easy to find a template that fits.

As for the company converting it, yes it's fairly easy to "convert" what they see in InDesign to a HTML design if they know what they are doing. I would be surprised if they actually converted it though - more like taking your elements but creating the structure from scratch. If you had designed the email in InDesign using tables, it would be a little easier to "convert".

[BobLevine]

Or…just making a JPG and embedding it into an email.

Bob

[Rik_Ramsay]

As per my first post here, don't even go down that road! Of all possible solutions to creating an HTML email, this is the worst one to use. Your receiving rate will be badly affected, your open rate very low, it has a high chance of being blocked and for anyone who uses webmail (Gmail, yahoo, Hotmail) they see a blank white screen until they decide to download the images. In fact as he is using Constant Contact, the only thing webmail users will initially see is an "Unsubscribe" link with an address (legal requirement).

Only use this method if you don't want people to read your email, which makes the whole process rather pointless.

[BobLevine]

You'll get no argument from me.

Bob

[Guest]

Wait, which one is the worst road to go down?  Confused?  Do you mean, which way exactly???

I still am really concerned, because Dreamweaver, and coding is NOT my forte, at all.  It's either go to an expert, or do simple constant contact, which I detest. 

[MW Design]

You can design a table-based email in ID. Which is what you are going to be sending in CC or any other blast mail interface or software, like the application I mentioned.

You can do so with this simple interface, mail it to your self and then off to your list. Your images need to be on your web server already:

http://ctrlq.org/html-mail/

If you design and upload your ID blast to your server, you can preflight it here:

http://premailer.dialect.ca/

You can even use Google Docs:

http://www.labnol.org/internet/send-html-email/19672/

The "worst road to go down" is the static image mentioned above.

Take care, Mike

[rob day]

and coding is NOT my forte, at all

If you want to style the email I don't think you can avoid coding. You could wrap all of the content inside of a table, but styles still get exported as a linked CSS doc and many email clients can't deal with CSS, so styles should be inline.

[rob day]

Safari has a nice feature, Mail Contents of This Page..., that lets you mail a web page, which could be a single image uploaded to a folder on your server. I use it for small group emails that I want designed but with no attachments. It's a poor person's Constant Contact.

[Steve Werner]

Locking this thread - old and out of date