WebAIM - Web Accessibility In Mind

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Re: Poll: HTML Emails vs. Plain Text Emails

for

From: Jared Smith
Date: Sep 20, 2017 10:54AM

We've always provided a plain text and HTML option for the WebAIM
e-mail newsletter subscriptions - https://webaim.org/newsletter/.
10.5% of subscribers have opted for the plain text version.

In general, I think that plain text is only beneficial if the HTML
version doesn't have accessibility implemented. We always send a text
version with the HTML e-mail - and the e-mail client can then present
the text version based on user preference.

For e-mail discussion lists, like this one that rarely necessitate
formatting or images - sending in plain text can provide benefits,
especially when the message is archived online (and doubly especially
if authors properly trim the messages they are replying to).

Jared