1.  Text Box =  the area for the text of the email.

2.  Padding = a fancy term for where the text is to be placed within the text box or text area.

3.  Code = the HTML that makes up your Incredimail stationary.

4.  Flavor.htm = every letter you make will have an html code, whether it is a scrolling letter or a regular letter. For the purposes of the scrolling and expanding letters we have to take the flavor file, open it up in an html editor and change, add to or remove parts of the code to make the letter.

5.  Cab file = cabinet files are used in every application in your computer. An Incredimail IMF file is a cab file that your computer recognizes as belonging to and only to your Incredimail program. So, when we take a flavor file apart we are opening up a cab file. When we are all finished with our cab file we repackage it back into an Incredimail cab file, (an IMF file characterized by the little orange envelope) so we can get it into IM as a new letter, and we do this with our archiver programs. It isn't hard, just different.

6.  Scrolling Letter = a letter with a fixed text box and a scroll bar within the text box to view the text of the email.

7.  Expanding Letter = a letter with an expanding textbox. It is not a fixed textbox and there is no scrollbar. The textbox just continues to expand as needed.

8. Archiver programs = the programs that open up the flavor and html files for us so we can change the code around. Then, the archivers repackage everything back into the cab files for us. There are several good ones that are free. Look in the "Programs Section" I have discovered that Power Archiver is hit and miss with Vista so I have switched to ALZip and like it very much and you don't have to deal with an annoying window when the free trial is over like with Power Archiver and it is easier to use, I believe.

9.  HTML editors = they open up the flavor files and and codes into text for us. Notepad is the most common and simplest but it is without any 'preview' to see if everything is as it should be. Many of the HTML editors provide an actual preview to see what your letter is looking like as you are doing it. Front Page and Dreamwearver are 2 of the most popular. They are called wysiwyg (what you see is what you get) editors, but they aren't free by a long shot. NoteTab Lite is a very nice FREE html editor.

Without an html editor that has a preview pane, you must save the the changes in the code in NoteTabe Lite or whatever other editor, then you can view your changes in your IE browser or in an email and go back and forth that way. There are some excellent free editors also which are listed in the "Programs" section. Page Breeze and NoteTab Lite are 2 of my favorites. Page Breeze is a wysiwyg editor and it is free, but it sometimes changes the code, just why I haven't found out yet! So, I am very leary of using it exclusively because I have had to do letters over because the code didn't save right........but sometimes it has worked. So it's up to you if you want to download it and play around with it.  

10.  One last very helpful tip is this: Get it out of your head that you are going to be assembling and making your letters just the way you always have........in Letter Creator.......because you will not be. It's a different process, a little harder at first, but then what isn't? Just go step by step in the lessons, take your time, and I think you will find that once you get the first one under your belt you are home free!

And, you know me............... let's have fun!!!!