Re: Re: HTML E-mails

Steve Vernon wrote:

Look I am one of those people who hate Microsoft etc, and Linux is far better.

Me too, actually, but that's not what's at issue here.

But what is wrong with HTML email? Why not have some colour and style in an email. It's like a letter, and u can have nice paper. If it is about Linux programs, some can read HTML email.

HTML email increases filesize horribly. I once received an email consisting entirely of a couple of lines of text that would have taken maybe 2k of space. Because the luser who sent it used HTML, it was 13k in size. Maybe an extra 11k isn't that much, but at the time I was using Telstra Bigpond as my ISP... believe me, every kbyte matters. It also doesn't add anything. Pretty colours and flashing lights make it harder to read email, and even if you just restrict yourself to basic document formatting, well, is it *that* important that your text is shown as <strong>strong emphasis</strong> rather than *strong emphasis*? It can also confuse things for users of older mail clients, or who turn HTML email off. Consider those with Mutt, Mozilla-with-HTML-disabled, Eudora, Pegasus... if your HTML is automatically stripped, we don't get your nice formatting (we don't care :-), but sometimes if the person's particularly clueless, their email will be full of references to the pretty design they've concocted, which makes it utterly useless to us), and if it isn't, then we have to decipher the HTML first. I love HTML, and one day I hope my high (some might say anal) knowledge of the language will earn me a lot of money. But it doesn't belong in email.

If we cant have some colour and style, then computers will end up being only for Gurus. Say Windows XP, ok perhaps there are bugs but

I find it hard to believe that J. Random Clueneeder is so retarded that they can't enjoy email without pretty colours. I mean, /really/! Most people, once they get used to plain text (or forced to subsist on some of the worst ISPs in Australia), can handle it pretty well, even if it means their headings are 36 pixels tall.

the GUI is sooo nice, so intuitive that my 80 year old grandma is learning to use it.

A few bugs, a few glaring security holes, a few hurdles to installation that treats customers like thieves...

Just think it's rude that people would just delete an email because of using HTML will most mail programs send by default these days!

So most email programs suck. Consider that Outlook and OE are the two single most popular mail clients in existance. Then, once you've stretched out from the foetal position and stopped weeping uncontrollably, try to educate people about HTML mail :-). -- Mark Gallagher http://cyberfuddle.com/infinitebabble/