Ability to edit HTML in email campaign

[OperationA1]

Arghh not dig'n it. How can I view a new account in the old editor? The new editor is like the new social social sharing tool... a wicked drag.

[GlennR1]

Hi Candace. Really the biggest issue is getting the Illegal character thing. I spent almost four hours recently to get an email to be accepted. When I called tech support they informed me about deprecating html. I then tried to create banother email using imported html (which I have been doing for 6 year) and again got the illegal character thing. Onto a new service. 

[Candace_M]

@MCHT-Collier,

Thank for chiming in with your opinion on this! We did recently add some additional Google font options into our editor recently (Learn more here). 

I'm interested in hearing if this addition doesn't help in your case. 

Is there a font we do not currently offer that you use frequently?

[Candace_M]

Thank @GlennR1 you very much for letting me know more about your situation. That is very helpful information for us.

[BrianD069]

I think I am almost ready to leave Constant Contact because of the inability to edit HTML. The types of issues that come up for me most is taking away extra characters, formatting, spacing, etc. Getting a clear look at WHY something's formatting looks funky, rather than trying endless attempts in the WYSIWYG editor and it not working. The ability to just find what random code got copied and pasted from somewhere, and delete it. As it is, I am still using your old, clunky templates because of this feature, which means I can't use A/B testing. It's all very inconvenient.

Please tell me. Is an HTML editor in the works, if I just hang on long enough? Why are you so hesitant to roll out this feature?

[MCHT-Collier]

BrianD069 hit the nail on the head.

(A perfect example in this very post. I copied BrianD069's name from the previous post. Along with came a link. When I tried to post, I got a warning that no HTML could be used. Multiply that by every single time someone posts text from Word into a CC campaign.)

[ShravanR0]

I would like to be able to see the source code to be able to work with changing field names for integration with other companies eg: eztexting

[PaliWomensHealthCenter-MediSpa]

Is there any way to edit the HTML inside an email?

It looks like there used to be "Advanced Editor" which I don't see anywhere.

I wanted to link the phone number to tel:5552121212 so it would dial when clicked on when viewing on a phone, but the linking options are limited. I also want to tighten up the line-height for certain elements. 

Am I crazy? How come I don't see any HTML editing option? 

[JulieL34]

you're not missing anything. They took it away. If your account still gives you access to the 2nd generation editor you can use that, but there are a lot of features in the 3rd gen you won't have access to. Just depends what's most important to you.

My experience is that the phone operating systems will link the phone number anyway (whether you want them to or not), so you may not need to worry about that aspect of it. (Also dates, and words like "today.")

This has been under discussion by many of us Constant Contact customers pretty much since Day 1 of the new editor. It seems pretty clear they are not going to restore the html access feature. And you really need it, especially since CC has not fixed the various glitches like randomly changing background color of text blocks in an email. With html access, you could go in there and fix it, rather than trying to trick the interface into doing what it's supposed to do.

[LaToyaS4]

PLEEEEEEASE enable HTML editing for desktop and mobile versions of emails. I'm begging you.

[BarbaraP388]

Begging doesn't work. I started begging over two years ago when they did it. Their constant answer is why do you need it. I've just told my clients to use other platforms. Sad to say because CC is a really good one outside of this issue. 

[LaToyaS4]

@BarbaraP388, lol. Is "because your automatic mobile styling looks really bad and I could fix it if I had HTML access" a good enough reason?!

[BarbaraP388]

It certainly should be but apparently no. There's the constant pushback of please be specific. I gave up. It wasn't worth it. But you are 100% right that the automatic styling leaves a lot to be desired and the access to HTML did allow me to fix those. Best of luck. I don't even know why I'm still signed up for notifications except I hope one day they listen and I can clients back on to the platform. 

[DonnaP2]

People have literally been asking code access for five years. Or at least the ability to add an additional style sheet to override styles. MailChimp here we come.

[user38346]

It would be extremely helpful to have custom html block in Template builder left-side tool bar menu on a line with text block or image block. That means that I can still use drag&drop approach for building template but have possibility to insert very specific part.

[DavidG080]

I have called several times regarding great options you used to have and now not available in latest editor. It is too limiting for a higher level or customization our contacts expect. Here are some issues we came across: Can’t see or edit html, css Can’t see image sizes. An issue if you want to match several. Buttons, Dividers, Background - same color, need to be able to customize Can’t see text-only version Can’t add a border to a row - may have to use more custom images, but not seeing how can add an image background with text overlay Buttons - entire button not linkable, just text. Dynamic variables are not allowed on links Much of the above would be accomplished if we could see the html of each block as we used too. Please add it back, thanks.

[KrisR1]

Your new interface does not allow access to HTML AT ALL. We use a banner tracking server that generates an invocation code that must be placed via the HTML editor as there is not other way to add it to any CC template. As long as HTML access is restricted, we will not be moving out of the legacy templates any time soon. If you disable legacy templates without updating this option in the new interface, we will have to find a different service provider.

[KeithN340]

Other services such as Vertical Response and YMLP allow you to view and edit the raw HTML code, even when using a pre-made template in a visual editing "canvas mode" -- they have a tab to switch to (editable) HTML view -- much like a product like Adobe Dreamweaver.

It would be great if you could add this capability.

[ChiltonF]

The drag and drop editor does have benefits, but it also lacks the control we need to display the emails accurately. While I understand not allowing 100% complete HTML access, what if...

- you create more controls to allow fine tuning: ability to align multiple items within a column together, ability to adjust corners of buttons, ability to create as many columns rows with better ability to adjust spacing,

- you allow a custom CSS area. No HTML, 

- you allowed emails built with the drag and drop method to easily be 'copied' into a customizable area, where HTML is completely editable. By taking it outside the editor, the admin signs off that visuals may not work as expected. 

[KarenD67818]

ChiltonF,

These are some great suggestions! The drag-and-drop editor has some definite advantages, however we, too, have issues with:

* the corners of buttons (WYSIWYG is NOT what you get...rounded in the editor and preview, squared in the actual emails??)

* needing additional columns: we send out pricing emails with product number, description, MSRP, discount, and notes columns, so I'm constantly creating those emails in the old editor

* the ability to align multiple items would be great!

I don't need/want to edit lots of HTML code, but having the ability in the past was helpful to fine-tune sections of the email.

[SusanS3]

I wish we could have the usefulness of the 3rd generation editor AND the ability to get into the back end of the HTML - it is very frustrating to be restricted in this way