HTML in posts to the list

[Magnus Danielson]

From: Scott Gravenhorst <music.maker at gte.net>
Subject: HTML in posts to the list
Date: Sun, 07 Jan 2001 10:45:23

> I don't want to be a crank or anything, but some of the
> posts have been coming written in HTML.  Many of us
> use text email programs that do not support HTML.  The
> HTML posts just look like a mess and are difficult to
> read.  IMHO there is no good reason to use HTML on the list.
> HTML just makes the data packages fat as well.  Also,
> plain text works on a web style email reader as well as 
> does HTML.
> 
> What is the consensus here?

Dont use HTML in email.

Some mailtools can do Text and HTML and use MIME encoding to separate
them. Now, that *sounds* like a good thing, except that it just wastes
more bandwidth. Also, I have noted that some mail tools (notably on
Macintoshes) has such a broken MIME implementation that mailtools that
follow the MIME standard can't dechifer the MIME encoding. One common
problem is that they put an space after the end-tag. You are not
allowed to do that (I've read the MIME RFC my friends). So, when you
encounter such emails, first fire of an email asking the sender to
please have their program fixed or replaced and then you can open up
the file in an ASCII editor, delete the space and reopen the email.

Oh, there are poor bastards out there that use tools which stuff all
emails into one file... that is *seriously* broken.

Conclusion: Don't use HTML in email. Use MIME only when called for.

Cheers,
Magnus