On Wednesday, September 18, 2002, at 06:09 AM, Nelson Helm wrote: > I can send bold, italic, underlined, color, different fonts and sizes. > I'm sending this post both plain and styled. > > I have been "sending both", > thinking that if I send only 1, > some won't be able to read it. > > Would I serve the system better to always send "plain only" > or if the post contains a picture, "styled only" > ???????(on the theory that if they can't see the picture, > ???????they don't need to get the post).
Plain text is the common denominator; anyone can read it. Styled mail is not universally readable. I have my mail programs set for plain text by default because it's rare for me to need styling within my mail. It's a courtesy to include a plain text alternative with all styled mail for those who will otherwise get a screen full of confusing html markup. I'm not a fanatic against styled mail, and even find it useful on occasion. What I don't like is getting mail from people who now have 64 colors, 16 fonts and 5 styles at their disposal and seem determined to use every combination. All too often they're more interested in what their mail looks like than what it says. There's another problem that nobody has addressed here. I often get styled e-mail from Windows users where the print seems to be set at about a 3 point size. Windows users, on the other hand, sometimes complain about styled mail from Mac users containing huge text sizes. This is because of the difference between the dot-per-inch to point calculations done in each operating system. The problem goes away with plain text mail. -- Lee Larson, Mathematics Department, University of Louisville Phone: 502-852-6826 FAX: 502-852-7132 The next meeting of the Louisville Computer Society will be September 24 For more information, see <http://www.aye.net/~lcs>. A calendar of activities is at <http://www.calsnet.net/macusers>.
