On Mon, 08 Jan 2001 17:58:21 +0200, Or Botton wrote:
> Ben Hood wrote:
>> As much as I hate HTML mail, it is the accepted norm. Of course
>> that doesn't mean I won't try and stop it.
> Example from life: I'm running a mailing list for Anime
> (japanese animation) fans. Luckly, most of the list members are
> "advanced" so most of them dont like the idea of having hebrew fonts
> and HTML mail used in the list.
> Unfortunatly, we're thinking about expanding the club, which may
> require moving the mailing list form to a web-forum instead, and
> in a popular place where most typical people can find it. This
> means, that everyone will start using hebrew. Also, the only popular
> israeli web-forum site allows only IE5+ to access their site. So..
> Because they all allready use only outlook and explorer, saying that
> "only IE is allowed" wouldnt mean alot. And because they all got
> hebrew support in their browsers, saying "hebrew will be used" wouldnt
> matter alot, either. So its a lost case.
> Thats life. :)
Or:
Your particular example of HTML mail is not a typical one. In your case
the HTML is used for the purpose of displaying special fonts and characters
not found in ordinary ascii text. My criticism of the use of HTML email
applies to the annoying variety only. I am speaking of a message in which
the ascii text is the same as the HTML rendering, and where the HTML
attachment does nothing at all to aid in the understanding and comprehension
of the basic message. The HTML attachment in this case is just a redundancy
and it wastes bandwidth and disk space. Hence, the HTML attachment is just
a nuisance. In some instances there might be a good reason to include an
HTML attachment, but the HTML rendering in such cases would have to be
somewhat different from the ordinary ascii text version. For example, if I
were to send you an email message to explain how to safely perform a
dangerous task, then it might be helpful if I were to include an HTML
attachment having the precautionary statements in large fonts and red
letters, so that you would know all the points where you should direct your
utmost attention. The problem with most HTML email is that it isn't being
used for a good reason. If you don't have a *reason* for sending HTML email,
then you just should not do it.
All the best,
Sam Heywood
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