Sending email using mail() that conatains images

Lauj

I am trying to send emails using the php function mail(). However, my question is how do I or is it possible to send html email that contains images? If it is possible, can anyone show me or point me to some articles that talks about using the mail() to send html email that contains images?

Many thanks in advance!

Lauj

onion2k

Theres two options.

Just make it an HTML page with absolute URLs (EG <img src="http://www.domain.com/image.gif">) to the images so they're loaded off your server when the user reads the email.
Use a multipart mime encoded email. This is very tricky to get working properly as most web mail (Hotmail etc) clients tend to mess them up. I believe theres a multipart mime object in PEAR somewhere. But I'm too lazy to look. 😉

Lauj

Many thanks for your suggestions. Yes, I have read something about the multipar MIME; however, it's not easy to setup. Still, I want to try...the problem is I don't know where to begin. On the other hand, I could use the absolute URL, the problem is, if the user is not online at the time of reading the email, those pictures will not show up.

Lauj

onion2k

Don't forget that a lot (me, for example) of users have their email client set to view emails as raw text, so they'll see HTML code as text instead of rendered like a website.

This is because of mean spammers who use absolute URLs with a unique id attached to verify whether anyone reads the email they send their spam too. More and more people are switching HTML email off every day. You might want to ask yourself if you really want to send that sort of thing to people.

Lauj

I see. I any case, I found an article that will show me how to do it. The problem is, it's quite complex...and I need this to work now..so I'll hold on that.

And yes, I myself turned off HTML email as well.

Thank you for your input.

Lauj