"Warren Bell" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
[EMAIL PROTECTED]">news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]...
> Ben Bucksch wrote:
>
> > Warren Bell wrote:
> >
> >>what happens if I use >space> charactors to illistrate[sp]
> >>somthing in my email? Is Mozilla going to decide I meant >> instead and
> >>fix it for me
> >>
> > If you use the HTML composer and send as format=flowed, you will see
> > whatever quotes you wrote, without "adjustments".
> >
> > I don't know the plaintext composer. If you deliberately disable f=f,
> > that's your problem. There's an inherent amiguity in normal plaintext
here.
>
> I don't want to send HTML mail or use the HTML composer just to make
> sure my message gets sent the way I want. I just want to send in plain
> text, Content-type: text/plain, and not have Mozilla do any adjustments
> to it.
Who said anything about HTML? "format=flowed" is a MIME parameter
for text/plain (the whole MIME type is "text/plain;format=flowed") that
solves some problems with old-school plaintext (which is "format=fixed"):
* It is possible to type paragraphs without interspersed hard line breaks
such that the receiving agent can reflow the text to fit in an arbitrary
width,
while still sending the message with (IIRC) 72 characters per line so older
mailers that don't understand the format parameter will display it properly.
* Replies to messages with long lines don't suffer quote-damage.
* It differentiates between ">" marking quotations and ">" added inline.
* It's fully backwards-compatible with older mailers that don't understand
the parameter, without any HTML tags or gibberish formatting instructions
interfering with the text.
RFC 2646 describes the "flowed" parameter for text/plain:
http://www.landfield.com/rfcs/rfc2646.html
