How to Make an Automatic E-mail Signature File Every person posting to the List needs to have an automatic signature file. First it's time consuming for the writer to keep having to type name, e-mail address over and over. That's why we have computers-to do the drudgery! Second, and most important, it is good Netiquette. Here's how you make a signature file for Netscape [see next letter for AOL workaround: 1. *in word processor* Type your Name, next line: mailto: (no spaces) followed by your e-mail address. example: Paula Milner mailto:paula@cyberport.net The blue links you see in e-mail are caused just by writing http:// or mailto: preceeding text The browser software creates the blue link. If you have a web page, type your URL. 2. SAVE the file as a text (ASCII) file entitled "signa.txt" 3. Store this file somewhere on your computer, so the browser can use it every time you write e-mail 4. *in Netscape* Go to OPTIONS-->MAIL & NEWS PREFERENCES---> IDENTITY 5. In the Signature File area "click" on the FILE radio button. 6. Click on the "browse button" and direct Netscape to where you stored the "signa.txt" file. 7. Test drive your file. Write an e-mail and see your signature pop up! -------------- Subject: PFAFF: AOL and Hyperlinks Date: Tue, 25 Mar 1997 06:51:12 -0500 (EST) From: TBearWoman@aol.com I tried to send the following message yesterday afternoon, but it never made it to the list. Excuse me if it repeats. The AOL version I use does not give me a hyperlink option in email, and I was tired of mispelling my signature, so here was my solution ... Rudolf and other AOL Pfaffies, I've discovered another way to insert a hyper-link for your return address with AOL. Go to your Favorite Places and add a new Favorite Place. In the description line, put what you want the hyperlink to say. In the address line, put mailto: At the end of your email, go to your list of favorite places. Click on your address hyperlink and drag it into the message. Mary Jane in Williamsburg (TBearWoman@aol .com) Cool, huh! Thank you, Rudolf, for nudging me into experimenting! ---------------- Subject: PFAFF: mailto signatures Date: 26 Mar 97 01:11:29 EST From: Kenneth Porter/CA <76161.3013@CompuServe.COM> Reply-To: pfaffies@listserv.embroideryclubs.com To: Since the drag-and-drop mailto signature tip crossed the list, I've noticed a few such signatures that are malformed and won't work as expected. So it's important to test your signature by clicking on it when it comes back to you and try to use it to send yourself email. The word mailto is one word with no spaces. It should be followed immediately by a single colon and your email address. No spaces or slashes should appear. Do not use http in front of the colon. That's for a link to a web page. A web page link should have http (which, by the way, stands for Hyper Text Transfer Protocol), a single colon, two slashes, a hostname, a slash, and a directory path to a web page. It is case-sensitive. It should not have any spaces in it. (That's not completely true, but anybody with spaces in their URL is asking for trouble.) (BTW, URL stands for Uniform Resource Locator and is the name for these funny addresses.) Again, click on your own links to make sure they work, or people won't be able to reach you. Ken mailto:shiva@well.com mailto:76161.3013@CompuServe.COM http://www.well.com/user/shiva/sewing.html