On Dec 31, 2007, at 1:22 AM, Mike Dano wrote:
> Whether you like it or not I can assure you that HTML mail is the
future. I predict that in ten years
> it will account for over 90% of the mail that you receive in your
inbox. You may not like the way that
> people abuse it, or like the fonts that people try to force upon
you today, but those issues will be
> resolved as the technology matures. I suggest embracing it sooner
than later, otherwise your emails
> to your grandkids may seem as funny to them as using a rotary
phone. :)
I'd be careful about certainty on futurist predictions and
prognostications.
I've been hand coding websites since the mid 1990's, and HTML is not a
thing of beauty. Or stability. It evolves constantly, and nobody
follows the rules. Netscape ignited the internet by violating rules.
Microsoft is notorious for violating the rules, leading to a decade of
litigation and government scrutiny. Not just U.S. Department of
Justice (which fizzled out), but also European Union.
Also the rules change, and dramatically. HTML of today is almost
unrecognizable compared to HTML 5 years ago.
There is a certain minimalist simplicity to plain text. And a thriving
market for text editors like BBEdit. The paradox about HTML is the
best way to author it is with a text editor. That may not be the mass-
market solution anymore, but it is certainly the way experts work with
HTML.
Text is compact and self-contained. What some people find lacking in
esthetics, others see as beauty in stark, essential design.
Maybe the most beautiful thing about plain text is it is self-
contained and does not break. HTML, on the other hand, frequently
relies on external calls to embedded elements, which may be transient.
The message is only good so long as URLs remain valid, etc.
HTML has all the potential in the world for abuse. You can't hide a
phishing link in plain text the way you can in HTML:
<a href="http://www.phishing.com";>Your Bank</a>
Finally, a bit of overconfidence in what our grandkids will even see.
Judge for yourself:
Exhibit A: Grand Dad's Biography
1) A printed manuscript on acid-free paper
2) A spectacularly formatted, word processing file created on a
Radio Shack TRS-80,
and handed down through the generations on an 8" floppy disk.
Exhibit B: Family Photographs
1) Great great grandparents pictures made in black and white on
silver emulsions.
2) Mom and dad's color wedding pictures from 1961, already turned a
horrid magenta
because the yellow dye layer vanishes at a different rate than
magenta and cyan dyes.
Besides, there is a beauty in language devoid of graphics. This may be
lost on the video game generation, but there are a lot of questions
and concerns there with atrophied development. It is painful to talk
to many young people who are involved in immersive alternate realities
about their ideas for leading a constructive and productive life. Or,
to put it bluntly, to consider what they propose to bring to the table
in exchange with a farmer whose day begins at 5am, just as the
overnight online gaming crowd's day is winding down.
Shakespeare's work may be enhanced by typography and presentation, but
that is a minor point.
Danny Grizzle
"The latest and greatest is not always an improvement."
P.S. - I have no idea if this message is being sent in plain text or
in HTML. My laptop was stolen in Houston recently, and I'm treading
water with Apple Mail.app until Office 2008 arrives.
--
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/>
