We want to let users click a thumbs up or thumbs down button from an HTML email, without causing the clicking to open a browser window.
Is there a way to essentially embed limited web functionality (i.e., clicking an icon, showing confirmation) within HTML emails?
Thanks!
The short answer is no, not reliably across email clients. Usually with something like this I'd embed an image that looked like your functional element and just have it link to a web page that has that functional element.
I'm afraid such functionality, while theoretically possible, wouldn't be very practical given that most email clients strip out or disable JavaScript in order to prevent malicious code execution or other security issues. Your best bet is to use an image that looks like the thumbs up or thumbs down and then links directly back to your website. The browser window will still need to be opened, but you'll at least achieve the main part of your goal.