Robert Seeberger wrote: > > > Maybe because MUAs aren't the sole clients? There are > > digests, and archived lists available through the Web, > > and ... > > This deserves discussion. > Call me stupid, but whats a MUA?
Not stupid at all. 'MUA' == 'Mail User Agent', the interface used by sentient to access mail. As opposed to MTA, Mail Transfer Agent, which is something that moves mail from hither to yon. Common MUAs include Netscape, MS Outbreak, mutt, pine, elm, ... There are fewer MTAs, such as sendmail, qmail, et cetera. > > As for the 'biggest ISP in the world,' well, they want > > everyone to bow to their *opinions* simply because of > > their size. A few years ago they blocked almost half the > > Web sites on the planet from access by their users because > > in AOL's *opinion* the servers weren't speaking HTTP > > correctly. They were, of course, wrong. > > Yes, I recall that event with much amusement. <URL:http://httpd.apache.org/info/aol-http.html> for those not familiar with it. Particularly click on the 'shortcut to "what's the big deal"' link. It's relevant here. > Great reply Ken! > I think the idea that some want to keep email in the form it > held in the past is what I find aggravating. I can go along with that. Most HTML-capable MUAs will try to be helpful by sending HTML messages as 'multipart/mixed', with one part containing the message in text/html and another part including it as text/plain -- this is an appropriate migration path that does no-one (except the network bandwidth) any harm. Text-only MUAs can read the text/plain part, and more capable ones have a choice of which to display. (Whether they pass the ability to make a choice along to the user is another rant..) I just wish my MUAs could be told 'if you get multipart/mixed that only contains text, show me the plaintext part; only show me HTML if there's no alternative.' Because replying to an HTML message from an HTML-capable MUA typically causes the the reply to be HTML as well. I just happen to prefer text/plain for mail that doesn't require richness. Since a lot of what I read/send in email is source code, constant-width aids readability. YMMV. 0100100100100000011000010110110100100000011000010010000001101101 0110010101101101011000100110010101110010001000000110111101100110 0010000001100001001000000110001101101001011101100110100101101100 0110100101110011011000010111010001101001011011110110111000101110 -- #ken P-)} Ken Coar, Sanagendamgagwedweinini http://Golux.Com/coar/ Author, developer, opinionist http://Apache-Server.Com/ "All right everyone! Step away from the glowing hamburger!"
