Forums

by Mike Maynard >> Sun, 16 Sep 2001 23:22:41 GMT

We have an application that sends out emails, formatted using spaces to get fields lined up correctly, and marked as HTML format.

When these emails are read with Outlook Express the formatting is fine. We have a user who has Lotus Notes and the line-up is not the same - it appears that the spaces are treated differently, like non proportional fonts.

Has anyone had any experience with Lotus Notes and formatting HTML text so it works considtently with Outlook ?

--
Mike
Ph : (03) 365-1299 extn 3175
EMail : mmaynard@vertex.co.nz

by Stephen Persson >> Mon, 8 Oct 2001 1:50:08 GMT

Hi,
For HTML emails in the past I have always used the <div> tag to position the text/table/graphic or whatever exactly on the page where I want it.
E.g.
<div id="header" style="position:absolute; width:150px; height:50px; left:10px; top:10px; z-index:1">....</div>
<div id="message" style="position:absolute; left:40px; top:80px; z-index:1">....</div>

The space padding like you said isn't all that realiable. I don't know about users with Lotus Notes though - Outlook and Netscape email clients are OK - although anything with Netscape can be a real dog.
The biggest netscape issue with layers (cause there are a few....) seems to be when a <form> tag is also used within the html as well (If users are to send any info back to you). The form tag can not span a layer - it will cause an illegal operation and crash Netscape everytime.
E.g.
You can't have:
<form ...>
<div...>
</div>
</form>
The form tag must be contained within the layer:
<div...>
<form ...>
</form>
</div>

Hope this helps
Stephen