Creating an interactive html email

[J.HooksCGGD]

I have been trying to create an interactive html email (like mailchimp) with buttons that link to the web.  I used slices.  I don't why the image is not showing in the email.  The links work, but the image just isn't showing.  Can somebody help me out?

[J E L]

@J.HooksCGGD Hard to know exactly what's going on without seeing a screenshot or getting more info. Are you seeing a broken image icon where the image should be? Where does the image live? You need to be serving the image up from a host somewhere if it's not embedded (in-line as part of the message body) into your email message. Also, there could be problems with display based on the end user's email client.

[J.HooksCGGD]

Thank you for your reply, and I must admit some of your questions have gone over my head.  I am attaching some images.  "Flyer in chrome" is what it should look like.  Flyer in email is what it looks like when I tested it in a Gmail email.

The images are in a folder where I saved the html file on my desktop.

[J.HooksCGGD]

Oh, and I forgot to say I was doing this in Photoshop.

[J E L]

@J.HooksCGGD Okay, yes, you are in the Photoshop forum and thank you for sharing those screenshots. It's just as I thought. I'll see if I can explain it a bit better. When you send an email to another person that includes images, you basically have three choices. You can attach the images as files, you can embed the images (insert or place them) into the body of your email, or, as you want to do here, you can "serve" them up an email as is the method for email blast applications such as Mail Chimp. If you try to send your Photoshop interactive email to me, and the images reside on your local computer, I don't have access to those. So, what I see on my end are broken links where the images should be. You will need to "host" your images somewhere online and then use <a href> html tags with the URL address for each image that is wrapped into your image slices. Then, when I receive the email, the images are being "served up" to me from an online host where you have uploaded the images and are linking to. Does that make sense? If you have ever used Mail Chimp or similar, you have to upload your images to their servers. That gives each image a unique address so the images can be called up and served to the email viewer on demand.

[J.HooksCGGD]

Ok.  That makes sense, but it stinks that none of these YouTube tutorials are explaining that (not that I would have understood it because they wouldn't have made it plain like you).   In the vids they have the files/images on their desktop and just insert the html into the email code and it works everytime, for them.  Not for me.  

Would my website act as a server?

Is this blocked on Gmail?

[J E L]

Oh, I'm glad I could explain it for you. Well, yes, your website could certainly act as a server. If you have a WordPress site, for example, upload images to your Media Library and then use the File URL found in the Attachment details panel. As for being blocked on gmail, that all depends on so many things such as how you are going to send your emails out and if they would be flagged as spam. Users should opt-in for email blasts as you know. Your image file addresses should be simple and your website needs a proper security certificate. Many other things to consider as well. I hope that is helpful.

[J.HooksCGGD]

Hello Jain,

Just wanted to follow up with you.  I tried what you suggested and unfortnately I still couldn't get it to work.  I don't want to make this your problem or anything.  I just wanted to let you know.  Thanks for your help.  Be well.

[J E L]

Hi, thanks so much for letting me know. While I understand what it is you want to achieve, it's difficult to test it out on my end. There are lots of different methods for doing what you want to do but when image links, email protocols, and different browsers come into play it's going to take specific development. Is there anything out-of-the-box you can start with, like a Photoshop template with slices and instructions for serving up images via email? 

[Test Screen Name]

Really, there are lots of very complex limitations on the HTML you can use in email. I hand write HTML but I would not consider doing it for email... tools like Mailchimp make this work. If it seems limited, then what you are seeing are limitations on what can be done in email, so it's no use looking for something more powerful. You can of course use Photoshop skills to make good graphics - but don't expect to be able to control the layout in any very precise way. Also remember many people view on phones and most people now block images in email. The email must make sense without the images.