> I've run into several now that know full well the difference between
> text/plain and text/html for email, and strongly prefer text/html.
> (In fact they gripe at me for sending only text/plain). ...
I've mentioned this before but it appears to be a bit of history that
some of us would like to ignore: There has been a *GENERAL* un-
satisfaction with "plain text" email for virtually as long as there has
been email. There have been at least a dozen schemes over the years
[probably more] for doing one flavor or another of 'enhanced' email. It
was just a matter of time before one scheme had all the right pieces in
place. We don't have plain-text email because it is *right*, but only
because the email-world-at-large hadn't managed to settle on a standard
for something better, and not for lack of trying or for lack of users
wanting it.
"normal folk" [perhaps even many of you] use 'fancy' text for essentially
everything _else_ they do, from memos and notes to letters [both personal
and business], quicken charts, spreadheet annotations, IM clients, etc.
Web pages in plain-text are a real anomaly. Altogether 'plain text' is
really a relic of what almost everyone considers to be a bygone era.
My point is that I think *WE'RE*WRONG* -- the view that the desire to
have nicely formatted email, in a readable font employing normal
typesetting conventions, is somehow anomalous and/or that the folk who
want/expect such a thing are terminally unclued is _off_the_mark_. It is
*WE* who are shovelling against the tide, trying to make sure that it
stays 1970 forever.
Now, I'm a *staunch* hater of HTML in general and HTML-email in
particular, but the fact is that it appears to be the survivor. It is
one of the worst choices for exhanced-email of the dozen or so I'm
familiar with, but these things aren't chosen for technical merit. That
'HTML' ended up being the format-of-choice for nicely-formatted-mail is
[IMO] unfortunate, but that *SOMETHING* would come along an become the
defacto 'fancy email standard' it is a situation that was inevitable --
there has *ALWAYS* been a push for enhanced email [you old timers know
that perfectly well].
/Bernie\
--
Bernie Cosell Fantasy Farm Fibers
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Pearisburg, VA
--> Too many people, too few sheep <--
