Hello, Deborah It wasn't clear from your previous message that your advice of "no HTML" was just for mailing lists, Deborah. Particularly as Richard Shane's message clearly was referring to personal (or business) email, not to mailing lists. So your advice to him naturally seemed to refer to the question he asked.
I can see various reasons why most mailing lists - with contributors using all manner of email clients including archaic ones that can't even read "alternative" plain text, might legislate against HTML. That's quite reasonable. This list is an exception, of course, since it can be presumed that virtually everyone here is using Entourage, as others have said. But that's neither here nor there. My comments were intended to apply only to the situation posed by Richard's original email (personal email), to which I thought you were also responding. You say below that you too sometimes use HTML for illustrative/explanatory purposes, so we seem to be on the same page. I know some of your writings and your reputation very well, and find them excellent. That didn't seem entirely relevant to the issue you were discussing or the position you were taking but sure - they're both worthy of respect. I note you say here that " I see more HTML mail done wrong than right. " That seems to bear out my own experience too. So how about an article, or advice, on "How to do HTML right" rather than "Don't use HTML"? I'm referring to personal and business email here, not mailing list messages. As you can see, I use plain text myself in mailing lists, when not sending script code. In fact I tend to do the same for personal email too. But that's because I'm usually in a hurry. If I had the time to take care to do it right, I'd send HTML more often. I like getting well-formatted messages myself. -- Paul Berkowitz MVP Entourage Entourage FAQ Page: <http://www.entourage.mvps.org/faq/index.html> AppleScripts for Entourage: <http://macscripter.net/scriptbuilders/> PLEASE always state which version of Entourage you are using - **2004**, X or 2001. It's often impossible to answer your questions otherwise. > From: Deborah Shadovitz <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Reply-To: "Entourage:mac Talk" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Date: Thu, 03 Jun 2004 13:42:59 -0700 > To: EntourageTalk list <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: Re: Reply in different colored font? > > On 6/3/04 8:50 AM, "Peter C.S. Adams" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:s >> The days are gone when HTML email was a kludgy hack that was unacceptable to >> an email professional. Done right, HTML is perfectly fine for most uses. > > I am going for one more post here. Forgive the ramble. I really need to get > back to work and don't have time to edit this well. > > My words, which started this debate were: > "Frankly I find HTML email (what you're sending) so hard to follow (can't > tell who is saying what) that I don't read it or try to help. [Indented, > outdented, smaller, larger, colored...too much work to figure out.]" > > You can all note that I said "I find..." To me and many others, the > hierarchy of: >>>> oldest >>> next said >> last said > Being said > > ...works beautifully while using colors, small text, other fonts, indents, > outdents etc are all over the place, not consistent, and *for me* hard to > follow. So hard, in fact, that I cannot and have stopped trying. I find it > takes way too long to figure out who is saying what. I have to recall the > conversation. That may be fine in a personal thread with a best friend. But > on a list when it is one of thousands of messages I glance at in a day, it > just is not going to work for me. (Me, Paul. Just me.) > > I am not calling anyone wrong. I am not calling anyone dumb. It has nothing > to do with a person being old school. > > I teach Intro to Mac, write about it, and am known in this field as teaching > Intro stuff. I've written about Outlook/E'rage in a few books. I've written > about Mail and about email in general. In my years of experience, I have > found that many people are not aware of the issues of following threads. > They are thinking "letter" and are not aware that it will appear differently > on another computer. I explain the issues and show them how to edit and show > them plain text, so they can use each feature and format accordingly. I have > never said never and I have never called a person stupid. Each has > appreciated the understanding. > > When someone sends me text to edit, I will turn on HTML and use gray > strikeout for deletion and red underline to show additions. When I write a > birthday greeting I use color, shapes, and sizes. HTML email can be fun. But > it is not so easy (for me) to follow a thread with. Thus (for me) it does > not work for lists or business. > > I see more HTML mail done wrong than right. For example, the press releases > I get that are in 8 or 9 point Times. There is no way I can read them. I > always need to enlarge that font. Clearly they are from a PC and clearly the > sender, although being paid well, does not know his/her audience. That says > a lot to me and I always let the company know my impression of its PR > company. I also receive a weekly announcement from a lay-leader of a charity > who is on a PC. Here font is so large that only 3 lines appear on my TiBook > screen at a time. It's huge and it's got many colors. It is not easy to read > the message and it's not at all possible to copy that text into my iCal. > Using either of these messages elsewhere takes extra steps. Using plain text > elsewhere does not. > > Had I realized that Dr Richard Shane was seeking a different color only in > HTML mail, and had I gone thru my 3,000 messages in the folder to see that > he's a long time poster here and had I read his mind to know that he only > wants to use HTML mail, I'd not have posted. I was simply offering a > solution that showed color. I am not sorry I posted though, as I put 1/2 > hour into that post, showed prefs which may help others here, and although > not intending to brought out this debate which may be worthwhile to others. > > Every word here has been my opinion only and my findings from students and > readers only. I make no definitive statements and am not playing god. > > > -- > To unsubscribe: > <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > archives: > <http://www.mail-archive.com/entourage-talk%40lists.letterrip.com/> > old-archive: > <http://www.mail-archive.com/entourage-talk%40lists.boingo.com/> > > -- To unsubscribe: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> archives: <http://www.mail-archive.com/entourage-talk%40lists.letterrip.com/> old-archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/entourage-talk%40lists.boingo.com/>
