On 12/30/07 3:50 AM, Mike Dano wrote: > Everything needs formatting! :)
You're opening a can of worms here that I'm not sure is appropriate for this group. But since the worms are wriggling, I'll add my two cents that for personal email, Plain Text wins. > I work with type design all day as part of my job. As do I, and I use and prefer to receive Plain Text email. I often delete HTML email without reading it, especially when it arrives on a troubleshooting list. With database-based email apps like Entourage, in which an HTML mail is significantly larger than a Plain Text email (bloating the size of my database much more quickly!), using HTML where Plain Text will do is somewhat disrespectful of fellow listmembers. > In my opinion it is almost always more pleasing to read HTML text, I completely disagree. You have very little control over your HTML -- you can set a font and a background color, but you have no assurance that the font you choose is resident on my computer, and will show up the way you expect it to in your message. OTOH, I have my Plain Text set up in a font and size that I personally enjoy and find easy to read. While HTML email has a place in the world, I firmly believe that "less is more". I feel *so* embarrassed for someone when I receive an email and their sig is twice as large as their message text, because their carefully chosen font isn't open on my computer and so is substituted for something strange and unreadable, breaking new lines and misaligning their clever little ASCII artistry. I feel even worse for those whose messages turn into gobbledegook because I have Helvetica Fractions open on my computer for a client project, rather than Helvetica, and their message turns into a strange conglomeration of 1/4s and ##$ and § and whatnot. They tried so hard to be pretty and it's such a waste. :-) Then there are people who have one font going on in their message, take a break for an italic word, and when they go back to roman type it's a different font and size. What happened, man? You had formatted the first part, then went ital, then went back to "default" font -- which on your computer is the same as the original formatting you'd done, but on my computer is a totally different font and size, so the "default" font is totally different... Distracting, and now if this is a client, I wonder whether they're actually clueless, or what... Mark my vote *firmly* in the Plain Text email camp! Along with these folks: <http://www.zeldman.com/2007/06/08/e-mail-is-not-a-platform-for-design/> and the followup <http://www.zeldman.com/2007/06/12/eight-points-for-better-e-mail-relationsh ips/> <http://www.birdhouse.org/etc/evilmail.html> (even though the author has changed his mind since 2006, he still speaks for many of us) <http://antivirus.about.com/od/securitytips/a/plainttextemail.htm> peace, Linda (who also works with type and design all day -- since January 1984, as a matter of fact) -- Just released: _This Water Goes North_ from Mániténáhk Books. Hardcover, nonfiction. 240 pages + 16-page color photo insert. Order at <http://www.thiswatergoesnorth.com>. Thank you for supporting small/independent publishers! -- 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/>
