XML, XSLT, EMail

[Scott]

Our Client wants to do a daily, weekly, monthly emailing campaign to it
registered users. Can we send an XML document through the body of an
email when the user opens it it will call the xsl template on our web
server and format the data or better yet what is the best way to do
this the best being
Lowest Maintence
Fastest building of reciepents

THe XML will be custimized to the specific users.

 

[Andy Dingley]

Can we send an XML document through the body of an
email when the user opens it it will call the xsl template on our web
server

No. Do it server-side before you send it out. Send it in plain text
format too.

Do you _want_ customers to be able to read this? Or is it more
important to apply an inappropriate but fashionable new technique, just
for the sake of it?

Conveniently, XSLT is also an easy route to generating both formats

 

[Joseph Kesselman]

HTML mail is a bad idea to begin with, and many folks now treat it as an
indication that the mailing is spam. A mail reader is not a browser;
many won't handle rich text and I don't know of any that will try to run
stylesheets.

If you want your customers to be able to read the mail, send plaintext
unless *they* indicate they want HTML. Do the rendering on the server
side rather they indicate they can handle this as well (nobody will).

Using XML as your back-end representation is a fine idea. But it's not
what you want to send out.

 

[Scott]

HTML mail is a bad idea to begin with, and many folks now treat it as an
indication that the mailing is spam. A mail reader is not a browser;
many won't handle rich text and I don't know of any that will try to run
stylesheets.

If you want your customers to be able to read the mail, send plaintext
unless *they* indicate they want HTML. Do the rendering on the server
side rather they indicate they can handle this as well (nobody will).

Using XML as your back-end representation is a fine idea. But it's not
what you want to send out.

So in summary I want to build plain text email okay but I can use XML
xslt to build the plain text on the server?

 

[Joseph Kesselman]

So in summary I want to build plain text email okay but I can use XML
xslt to build the plain text on the server?

XSLT can be told to output XML markup, HTML markup, or unformatted text;
it's just a matter of writing the stylesheet correctly to produce the
intended results.