David Godfrey wrote: > Hi Everyone, > > The reason for this poll is below (for those that are interested) > > I would like to know how many people > a) are happy to receive html > b) prefer plain text > c) require plain text > > At the end of the week (Friday GMT+8) I will post the results > > Regards > David Godfrey > > ======= > > Just recently I have had two people on the lists query me, > Asking if I intended to send email in HTML > > Well actually, yes, I guess I did. > Partly because most people have HTML capable browsers, > and long before I sent an email on the list I had noticed that many > contributors also sent in HTML. > This made me think it was not a problem. > > I understand why mutt users may not like HTML, in it's standard form > mutt displays the html source. > There are probably other clients that this is also a problem for. > > One problem with plain text and modern clients, is that text is > wrapped at the senders end. > Normally to something like 72characters. There is a not so obvious fact about column width. This has been known for a very long time. All newspapers have narrow columns. It is because the eye-brain system that humans have is very uncomfortable with wide width columns. If you don't believe me, try reading a long article in your web browser with a narrow column or the same article with a wide setting. Once you try it, it becomes clear. It turns out that roughly 72 is close (not exactly right) to ideal. 300 characters is simply unproductive to use. > This is a huge waste of screen space where you may easily have 160 to > 300 or more characters available on a modern screen. > Worse is when the sender has changed the default to something large, > then you often have to scroll left and right as well as up and down to > see the whole message. > HTML on the other hand allows for dynamic rewrapping of the text by > the receiving client. > The sentence before last was all one line. > Change the width of this window, it should rewrap the text dynamically. > As I just thought about this, I realized that I was reading this with my email client fullscreen, I just manually narrowed it. It is a much nicer layout. I am going to do this for now on! > HTML also allows simple formatting changes (_/*like this*/_) that can > often assist with readability. > When I first learned to use xhtml for a website, I took a particular interest in also making it accessible. It just seemed proper to learn that too. One thing I learned was that there is a huge variety of differing needs, therefore, html should only encode meaning, never style. Some people are color-blind, some (especially older people) see diminished contrast, some need bigger fonts, etc.
Basically, I think it is better to send pure, clean, well-thought out words. Anyone with special needs almost certainly has worked out their own personal solution. My "perfect" html formatting may just be a big problem to get rid of. Anyway, I'm glad this topic came up. I just realized I need to re-format my workspace at my end :) Narrowing my email client is good! > Either way the poll will tell us what everyone prefers. > > Regards > David Godfrey > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > The Planet: dedicated and managed hosting, cloud storage, colocation > Stay online with enterprise data centers and the best network in the business > Choose flexible plans and management services without long-term contracts > Personal 24x7 support from experience hosting pros just a phone call away. > http://p.sf.net/sfu/theplanet-com > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > _______________________________________________ > Ledger-smb-devel mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/ledger-smb-devel > -- A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects. -- Robert Heinlein ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Planet: dedicated and managed hosting, cloud storage, colocation Stay online with enterprise data centers and the best network in the business Choose flexible plans and management services without long-term contracts Personal 24x7 support from experience hosting pros just a phone call away. http://p.sf.net/sfu/theplanet-com _______________________________________________ Ledger-smb-devel mailing list [email protected] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/ledger-smb-devel
