Complex HTML signature

[Steve Johnson]

Hi and Happy New Year!

After a recent corporate rebranding, I'm trying to recreate our Outlook
email signature for our Mac Entourage 2008 users (why was it decided to move
the signature files into a database and not allow direct editing of HTML in
Entourage?! That's just unbelievable...)

The signature code is a two-cell table with a hyperlinked graphic in one
cell and CSS-styled text in the other. Here's the code, which works just
fine in an Outlook signature file:


<style type="text/css">
<!--
..sigtext {
font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;
font-size:11px;
color: #99918e;
line-height:1.07;
}
-->
</style>

--<br><br>
<table width="450" border="0" cellspacing="4">
<tr>
<!--- signature graphic logo --->
<td width="296" valign="top"><a href="http://www.mycompany.com/"
title="Go to MyCompany's website"><img src="mycompany-logo.gif" alt="2"
width="273" height="100" border="0" /></a></td>

<!--- signature text --->
<td width="138" valign="top">
<span class="sigtext">
<p>
<strong>My Name</strong><br>
My Title <br>
(970) 555-1212 direct<br>
(970) 123-4567 cell
(970) 555-1213 fax
</p>
</span>
</td>
</tr>
</table>


I've found no way to accomplish this task. I've tried using the MacTopia
templates, I've tried editing the Signatures file directly, I've tried
converting the HTML to a Word doc and cutting and pasting. I'm getting
nowhere. Any suggestions and/or solutions would be very much appreciated.

Regards,

Steve Johnson
IT & Web Services Manager
Vision Graphics, Inc.
Loveland, CO

 

[Steve Johnson]

My apologies for the "That's just unbelievable" comment. Obviously sarcasm
is not a good approach when soliciting help. I can only plead that my
frustration level is fairly high... :-(

Your help or suggestions for my problem would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Steve Johnson
IT & Web Services Manager
Vision Graphics, Inc.
Loveland, CO

 

[Corentin Cras-Méneur]

Hi Steve,

Hi and Happy New Year!

THe same to you

After a recent corporate rebranding, I'm trying to recreate our Outlook
email signature for our Mac Entourage 2008 users (why was it decided to move
the signature files into a database and not allow direct editing of HTML in
Entourage?! That's just unbelievable...)

It's all there in the FAQ:
http://www.entourage.mvps.org/faq_topic/html_msg.html


Corentin

 

[Steve Johnson]

Thanks for the response, Corentin. I've read the FAQ and found no joy. I
have a difficult time accepting that it can't be done. :-(

What's up with editing the HTML contained in the Signatures file. Why does
the signature blow up after I replace text in the file. Is it performing a
checksum on the signature record? Is there a "record length" byte in the
record?

Has anyone successfully edited the Signatures file?

Has anyone else requested a tool or feature for directly editing HTML in the
signature? Where could I submit such a request?

Thanks,

Steve Johnson

 

[Corentin Cras-Méneur]

Thanks for the response, Corentin. I've read the FAQ and found no joy. I
have a difficult time accepting that it can't be done. :-(

Well you can cheat. You can make it in Mail for instance, save the
e-mail as draft and drag and drop it to the desktop.
This generates an .elm file that can then also be dragged and dropped in
Entourage.

Copy what you want to copy and paste as a signature in Entourage and
you're set


You can even edit one that was provided as one of the signature samples
by MS. Open it in TextWrangler and edit all you want.

I took your example and here is the code I get for the .eml file:

User-Agent: Microsoft-Entourage/10.1.4.030702.0
Date: Thu, 27 May 2004 15:27:52 -0700
Subject: Vertical_04
From:
To: <[email protected]>
Message-ID: <BCDBB978.49%[email protected]>
Mime-version: 1.0
Content-type: multipart/alternative; boundary="B_3168518752_65881"

This message is in MIME format. Since your mail reader does not understand

this format, some or all of this message may not be legible.

--B_3168518752_65881
Content-type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit

My Name
(970) 555-1212 direct<br>
(970) 123-4567 cell
(970) 555-1213 fax
--B_3168518752_65881
Content-type: text/html; charset="US-ASCII"
Content-transfer-encoding: quoted-printable

<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>Vertical_04</TITLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY>
<style type="text/css">
<!--
..sigtext {
font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;
font-size:11px;
color: #99918e;
line-height:1.07;
}
-->
</style>

--<br><br>
<table width="450" border="0" cellspacing="4">
<tr>
<!--- signature graphic logo --->
<td width="296" valign="top"><a href="http://www.mycompany.com/"
title="Go to MyCompany's website"><img src="mycompany-logo.gif" alt="2"
width="273" height="100" border="0" /></a></td>

<!--- signature text --->
<td width="138" valign="top">
<span class="sigtext">
<p>
<strong>My Name</strong><br>
My Title <br>
(970) 555-1212 direct<br>
(970) 123-4567 cell
(970) 555-1213 fax
</p>
</span>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
</BODY>
</HTML>


--B_3168518752_65881--



It seems to work like a charm.

When I get a chance, I might write a blog post about this...

What's up with editing the HTML contained in the Signatures file.

Edit the .eml in a decent text editor (BBEdit, TextWrangler...)

Why does
the signature blow up after I replace text in the file. Is it performing a
checksum on the signature record? Is there a "record length" byte in the
record?

??? Not sure I'm following you there.

Has anyone successfully edited the Signatures file?
Yep,

Has anyone else requested a tool or feature for directly editing HTML in the
signature? Where could I submit such a request?

About 2 zillion people (serach this group).

You can add your voice to the choir by using the Send Feedback command
in Entourage itself.

 

[Diane Ross]

My apologies for the "That's just unbelievable" comment. Obviously sarcasm
is not a good approach when soliciting help. I can only plead that my
frustration level is fairly high... :-(

Requests for HTML sigs is often asked for by switchers. Entourage's current
HTML capabilities is very limited. I'm glad you sent feedback. Microsoft
does listen. However, something like this is not a feature you would see
added in an update. It will be at least, the next version release before we
see improvements like this.

Good luck and if you find a good workaround, let us know so we can post it.

Happy Holidays!

 

[Diane Ross]

Create the signature as a table in Excel. Select the table, hold down the
shift key and select Copy Picture. Choose "As shown on screen" or "As
printed", whichever you prefer. Paste the picture into your signature. That's
how I created the signature below. (Diane -- sorry it's so tiny, but I hope
that Steve will find it useful.)

All attachments are stripped from the Mactopia forum. Only those using a
newsreader can view the attachment.

Thinking outside the box for a solution deserves applauding. The only
problem I see is the box outline shows up. Did you try inserting a graphic?

 

[Ed Kimball]

All attachments are stripped from the Mactopia forum. Only those using a
newsreader can view the attachment.

Thinking outside the box for a solution deserves applauding. The only problem
I see is the box outline shows up. Did you try inserting a graphic?

Since the original poster posted in HTML, I believed that he was using a
newsreader. I thought that the Mactopia forum interface posts in plain text
only.

The box outline shows up because I copied "As shown on screen", which means
that the cell borders are visible. If you don't want them to be in the
signature, copy "As shown when printed".

 

[Barry Wainwright]

I’d still be interested in doing the horizontal layout, if anyone has
thoughts on how to get a table into the signature editor.

sorry to say it can't be done - see my other message on this topic sent
just a few seconds ago.

 

[Diane Ross]

I think I¹m going to do a ³vertical² version of the signature for Entourage,
where the graphic is above or below the signature text (as opposed to a
horizontal layout, where the graphic and text are side by side and which
requires either a table or CSS style=²float:left², both of which the signature
editor chokes on). Samples of both layouts are included below; if you¹re
viewing the newsgroup as HTML, you should be able to see them.

Can you share your steps in creating the sigs? I can post them on the
Entourage Help Page.

On a personal note...I loathe bloated sigs. I can see them for first
correspondence and understand that businesses love them, but if you have
Sync Services turned on for attachments, the attached pictures multiply like
bunnies. If you could link to a graphic rather than include that would be
more considerate of users.

I admit I have done little to help users find ways to create these. I¹m a
plain text gal. Eventually the spammers are going to find ways to use this
to hide their spam links and everyone will go back to plain text again. I
can dream.

See these scripts:

Send Complex HTML with Inline Files 2004 By: Rob Buckley

<http://www.the-word-is-not-enough.com/HTML2004.php>

Send Complex HTML with Inline Files 2004 will take an arbitrary HTML file
and embed it in an outgoing Entourage message better still, it will parse
the HTML for links to files (images, etc)... attach the file to the message
with base64 encoding (using UNIX magic to guess the MIME type)... then
rewrite the HTML to reference the attachment rather than the local file. If
you run the script on a draft message, whatever text you type into the
message body will be used as the plain text alternative to the HTML (for
non-HTML compatible clients).

Send Complex HTML X or Send Complex HTML 2001 By: Paul Berkowitz

<http://scriptbuilders.net/>

This script allows you to send complex HTML via Entourage. It gets the
source of the HTML from either a saved HTML file or from the front browser
window of Internet Explorer.

 

[Steve Johnson]

Can you share your steps in creating the sigs? I can post them on the
Entourage Help Page.

The horizontal version I included was just a screenshot from an
Outlook-generated sig. Although it displayed properly in Entourage, I could
never get the signature editor to create a sig in that style.

The vertical one, yes -- I'll put steps together and send to you.

On a personal note...I loathe bloated sigs. I can see them for first
correspondence and understand that businesses love them, but if you have
Sync Services turned on for attachments, the attached pictures multiply like
bunnies. If you could link to a graphic rather than include that would be
more considerate of users.

I agree with your sentiment on bloated sigs. Unfortunately, as I mentioned,
we just got done with a rebranding effort and the owner wants to show off
the new look.

The horizontal sig version wasn't too bad, but the vertical version (the one
I'm stuck with in Entourage) is out of control and I'm not happy with it at
all. I'll probably revisit the design and see if I can't trim a lot of the
graphic portion out.

I could put the logo graphic on a web server and link to it, as you
mentioned. The scripts below also look interesting.

I'll experiment some more and see what I can achieve. Thanks for the ideas!

Steve