Outlook 2007 users angry over Office 2007 HTML-e-mail changes

[Boeing 787]

A quiet change Microsoft has made in the rendering engine used by Outlook 2007 is beginning to sink in among individuals who have gotten accustomed to having the Internet Explorer (IE) engine render HTML e-mail messages. And the reaction of many is one of anger and disbelief.

"While the IE team was soothing the tortured souls of web developers everywhere with the new, more compliant Internet Explorer 7, the Office team pulled a fast one, ripping out the IE-based rendering engine that Outlook has always used for email, and replacing it with ? drum roll please ? Microsoft Word," according to a post by Kevin Yank on SitePoint blogs.

Yank continued: "Not only that, but this new rendering engine isn?t any better than that which Outlook previously used?indeed, it?s far worse. With this release, Outlook drops from being one of the best clients for HTML email support to the level of Lotus Notes and Eudora."

On the "Campaign Monitor" site, blogger David Grenier outlined some of the Outlook changes that will take effect, as of Office 2007.

In a post entitled "Microsoft takes email design back five years," Greiner said the rendering-engine changes messes up background images; provides poor background color support; and lacks support for float or position "completely breaking any CSS (Cascading Style Sheet) based layouts right from the word go."

Microsoft characterized the reports of rendering problems as "a mixture of fact and misinterpretation," in the words of a company spokeswoman.

"Outlook can still render HTML image content ? users just need to select it, as indicated in this (Office Online help) article," the spokeswoman said. "But folks can still opt to display in HTML in Outlook, the same as they did in 2003 and XP. (There are three options for displaying email ? plain text, rich text, and HTML.)"

The spokeswoman did not respond to a question as to why Microsoft made the change in e-mail rendering engines.

On a related note, certain Beta 2 versions of Office 2007 are set to expire on February 1, 2007. Testers who downloaded Beta 2 without refreshing it will no longer be able to access their test versions, starting next month. Those who downloaded updates to the Office 2007 Beta 2 build have a slightly longer reprieve.

Source: http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=200

Outlook 2007 is in bad shape, I hope they work on it a lot and offer a update for it.

[Boeing 787]

Microsoft takes email design back 5 years

http://www.campaignmonitor.com/blog/archiv...l_design_b.html

More indepth about the things Outlook 2007 has removed.

=========

[Boeing 787]

Another: http://joe.hardy.id.au/blog/2006/11/21/bro...n-outlook-2007/

.....

[Quillz]

Doesn't Outlook 2007 also no longer work with HTTP webmail and newsgroups?

[Boeing 787]

Doesn't Outlook 2007 also no longer work with HTTP webmail and newsgroups?

It still works with HTTP webmail since my hotmail address worked with it.

[osirisX]

Why didn't they just use the IE7 engine?

[Kaidiir]

Why didn't they just use the IE7 engine?

I actually just said that out loud.

And if they're concerned with continuity amongs emails, why can't they build the IE7 rendering engine into Outlook?

[Gibwar]

Why didn't they just use the IE7 engine?

Because they can't guarentee that IE7 will be installed with Office 2007, and people would moan loudly if they made it a requirement.

[Colin-uk Veteran]

Just use the IE6 engine then? :p

[Boeing 787]

Because they can't guarentee that IE7 will be installed with Office 2007, and people would moan loudly if they made it a requirement.

No Outlook 2007 would just install the engine if it needed it. The idea was to get away from the IE engine and move to something more secure like a crippled Word 2007 engine.

Microsoft is on a security jihad.

The problem with this is that HTML has been used by millions of Outlook users who will now be confused by why it no longer works properly.

Instead Microsoft should have had a security prompt when you launched Outlook warning you that you are in HTML mode and that you are more susceptible to viruses.

I mean if people want real email security then plain text is the way to go not a crippled html mode. :yes:

[+Tantawi Subscriber²]

I think it's a great move actually, email is for text, if you want to send fancy stuff (and I hate such emails), use attachments.

Thanks Microsoft, I hope you remove the HTML support completely in the next version!

[Spartan_X]

Just use the IE6 engine then? :p

and get the DoJ and the EU back in our arses again because we requiere users to install another MS app so they can render their freaking emails? no thanks! :rolleyes: :cry: :no:

[Malisk]

I also think this is a good idea... HTML should not be an important thing to have in e-mails, and it's just annoying how many security problems it has opened up in the past...

However, it shouldn't be a problem for MS to use the IE renderer, because some version of IE is already installed with Windows, and thus no more requirement than Windows itself is. Outlook 2007 also requires a Windows version that is guaranteed to have an IE renderer that supports integration with applications, and the API's to integrate is public as well so they aren't excluding competition either. Probably has something to do with the DoJ or EU not having been after Microsoft for the IE renderer plugin support, or the use of it.

[Boeing 787]

I think it's a great move actually, email is for text, if you want to send fancy stuff (and I hate such emails), use attachments.

Thanks Microsoft, I hope you remove the HTML support completely in the next version!

I also think this is a good idea... HTML should not be an important thing to have in e-mails, and it's just annoying how many security problems it has opened up in the past...

However, it shouldn't be a problem for MS to use the IE renderer, because some version of IE is already installed with Windows, and thus no more requirement than Windows itself is. Outlook 2007 also requires a Windows version that is guaranteed to have an IE renderer that supports integration with applications, and the API's to integrate is public as well so they aren't excluding competition either. Probably has something to do with the DoJ or EU not having been after Microsoft for the IE renderer plugin support, or the use of it.

Despite you guys not liking HTML mail it is hugely popular in the corporate world and companies have gotten very used to using it. It's not used just for email messages but on internal networks leaving HTML messages in a folder share for employees is something that is done all the time.

[Colin-uk Veteran]

and get the DoJ and the EU back in our arses again because we requiere users to install another MS app so they can render their freaking emails? no thanks! :rolleyes: :cry: :no:

The IE6 engine is already installed on xp machines, its part of windows :p

[lol911]

Outlook 2007 also has very poor IMAP support.

[Spartan_X]

Despite you guys not liking HTML mail it is hugely popular in the corporate world and companies have gotten very used to using it. It's not used just for email messages but on internal networks leaving HTML messages in a folder share for employees is something that is done all the time.

where do you get those ideas from? :unsure:

I'd been to so many companies (doing consulting services for MS) that I lost the count and I can tell you that email power users always use plain text when composing emails as most of them synchronize their accounts with all kind of devices like PDAs and Blackberries because they?re always on the move and they need fast access to their inbox as most of the time they only have a few minutes between meetings to do this sort of mundane tasks:happy:y:yes:s:

Regular and experienced email users use either plain text or rich text when composing their messages as they rely on formatting to highlight important facts and so on; and finally, wacky and n00b email users are the ones that LOVE html to compose their emails as they adore the fact that they can use fancy and flashy gif images to let the world know that Jesus loves you and that Microsoft and AOL are teaming together on a new study and will pay them $200 for each email they forward to everybody in their contact list?:rolleyes:yes:laugh:gh:rofl:fl: :p

The IE6 engine is already installed on xp machines, its part of windo:p :p

better safe than sorry.:shiftyninja:nja:

[HawkMan]

Yeah, Rich text is pretty much what mails should use.

HTML that's for annoying ugly badly made greeting card mails and spam mail from gaming mailing lists.

the only peopel who use HTML over Rich text are the ones who somehow ended up with html by default and don't know any better or don't know how to change.

[*John*]

I'm still undecided on Outlook 2007 myself. I think I preferred Outlook 2003 :blink:

[Brody McKee]

Read what MJF has to say on this - HTML support is unchanged, however Outlook 2007 deosn't default on HTML rendering. You can change this in the options.

Those damn whining runts... next they'll start bitching because they want to use macros (who uses them anyway?).

[Mr. Gibs]

I can read and write HTML perfectly, all you have to do is enable it in the options :s:s:S:S

Well ok its not on by default for security, but its still there. Maybe people should do some research before complaining hey?

[Allan]

where do you get those ideas from? :unsure:

I'd been to so many companies (doing consulting services for MS) that I lost the count and I can tell you that email power users always use plain text when composing emails as most of them synchronize their accounts with all kind of devices like PDAs and Blackberries because they?re always on the move and they need fast access to their inbox as most of the time they only have a few minutes between meetings to do this sort of mundane tasks:happy:y:yes:s:

Regular and experienced email users use either plain text or rich text when composing their messages as they rely on formatting to highlight important facts and so on; and finally, wacky and n00b email users are the ones that LOVE html to compose their emails as they adore the fact that they can use fancy and flashy gif images to let the world know that Jesus loves you and that Microsoft and AOL are teaming together on a new study and will pay them $200 for each email they forward to everybody in their contact list?:rolleyes:yes:laugh:gh:rofl:fl: :p

better safe than sorry.:shiftyninja:nja:

I hate to break it for you, not "all" power users use Plain Text... I work for the Ministry of Government Services, for the Government of Ontario, as a PKI / MyOPS support agent, and I constantly get emails from Tech Support, and higher level agency officials, and 99.9% off all email I get, even from Tech Support, is in HTML. Also, 90% of the perm. employees in MGS will have a Blackberry provided by the Government, and, they send PUSH email to it alot.

Also, regarding the topic, I see no difference between the emails I get now (office 2007 B2TR) then when I used 2003... then again, I don't get many emails in a day that I open, most just go to the junk mail.

Edited January 14, 2007 by _Allan_

[Boeing 787]

I can read and write HTML perfectly, all you have to do is enable it in the options :s:s:S:S

Well ok its not on by default for security, but its still there. Maybe people should do some research before complaining hey?

Did you even bother to read the articles and thread ?

[Brody McKee]

Did you even bother to read the articles and thread ?

Huh..? did you?

[Boeing 787]

Huh..? did you?

Yes I did:

Unsupported HTML Elements Compared with the HTML 4.01 Specification

The following is a list of top-level HTML elements that the HTML 4.01 specification supports, but that Word 2007 does not support. Note that Word 2007 considers unsupported HTML elements to be unknown elements.

Word 2007 does not support:

*

applet

*

bdo

*

button

*

form

*

iframe

*

input

*

isindex

*

menu

*

noframes

*

noscript

*

object

*

optgroup

*

option

*

param

*

q

*

script

*

select

Unsupported HTML Attributes Compared with the HTML 4.01 Specification

The following is a list of top-level HTML attributes that the HTML 4.01 specification supports, but that Word 2007 does not support. Note that Word 2007 considers unsupported HTML attributes to be unknown attributes.

Word 2007 does not support:

*

accept-charset

*

accept

*

accesskey

*

archive

*

background (only when there is a URL)

*

checked

*

classid

*

code

*

codecore

*

codetype

*

compact

*

data

*

declare

*

defer

*

disabled

*

enctype

*

longdesc

*

marginheight

*

marginwidth

*

media ( screen | print | projection | braille | speech | all )

*

method

*

multiple

*

noresize

*

object

*

onblur

*

onchange

*

onclick

*

ondblclick

*

onfocus

*

onkeydown

*

onkeypress

*

onkeyup

*

onload

*

onmousedown

*

onmousemove

*

onmouseout

*

onmouseover

*

onmouseup

*

onreset

*

onselect

*

onsubmit

*

onunload

*

readonly

*

scrolling

*

selected

*

standby

*

tabindex

*

title

*

valuetype

Unsupported HTML Elements and Attributes Compared with the HTML 4.01 Specification

Table 2 provides a list of all the HTML elements, along with the HTML attributes and attribute values, that Word 2007 does not support.

Table 2. Unsupported HTML elements and attributes

Element Attribute

img

alt

textarea

cols

td

colspan=0

th

colspan=0

frame

frameborder=0

td

rowspan=0

th

rowspan=0

Unsupported Cascading Style Sheet Properties Compared with Cascading Style Sheets, Level 1

The following is a list of all the top-level cascading style sheet properties that the Cascading Stylesheet Specification, Level 1 supports, but that Word 2007 does not support. Note that Word 2007 considers unsupported cascading style sheet properties to be unknown properties.

*

background-attachment

*

background-image

*

background-position

*

background-repeat

*

clear

*

display

*

float

*

list-style-image

*

list-style-position

*

text-transform

*

word-spacing

Unsupported Cascading Style Sheet Properties Compared with Cascading Style Sheets, Level 2.1

The following is a list of all the top-level cascading style sheet properties that the Cascading Style Sheet Specification, Level 2.1 supports, but that Word 2007 does not support. Word 2007 considers unsupported cascading style sheet properties to be unknown properties.

*

azimuth

*

background-attachment

*

background-image

*

background-position

*

background-repeat

*

border-spacing

*

bottom

*

caption-side

*

clear

*

clip

*

content

*

counter-increment

*

counter-reset

*

cue-before, cue-after, cue

*

cursor

*

display

*

elevation

*

empty-cells

*

float

*

font-size-adjust

*

font-stretch

*

left

*

line-break

*

list-style-image

*

list-style-position

*

marker-offset

*

max-height

*

max-width

*

min-height

*

min-width

*

orphans

*

outline

*

outline-color

*

outline-style

*

outline-width

*

overflow

*

overflow-x

*

overflow-y

*

pause-before, pause-after, pause

*

pitch

*

pitch-range

*

play-during

*

position

*

quotes

*

richness

*

right

*

speak

*

speak-header

*

speak-numeral

*

speak-punctuation

*

speech-rate

*

stress

*

table-layout

*

text-shadow

*

text-transform

*

top

*

unicode-bidi

*

visibility

*

voice-family

*

volume

*

widows

*

word-spacing

*

z-index

Other Unsupported Web-Related Features

The following is a list of all other Web-related features that Word 2007 does not support:

*

Animated GIF images. Only a static representation of the GIF image shows.

*

Flash. Only a red "X" shows in the area where the flash would display.