Re: HTML messages to mailing lists. Problem upgrading ncurses
On 24 Jul 2008, at 03:50, Steven Kurylo wrote: > On Wed, Jul 23, 2008 at 5:44 PM, Stroller > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >> >> On 24 Jul 2008, at 01:09, Dale Schumacher wrote: >>> Also, could you possibly post to the list in plain text, not HTML? >>> >>> Sure, I could. I thought it would be more clear to post the >>> transcript in fixed font. Doesn't it come through as multi-part- >>> alternative anyway, so you should have a plain-text version too? >>> It seems the richer markup is often useful. >> >> >> The fixed-width font you chose ("courier new,monospace"?) is >> honoured, but comes up as greyish on my mail client (Apple's Mail) >> and is difficult to read. > > So it sounds the problem is with your client. Arguably is it _in this case_. However, the fundamental problem with HTML messages is that the sender tells the recipient's email client what font to use, without knowing how it will display for the recipeint. In this case it might be that my mail client doesn't display courier new terribly well, but next week it'll be someone else who thinks that green is a great colour in which to compose their email messages, and the font size they choose will come up 2mm high on my screen (and probably on yours, too). I can't tell you which of the lists I subscribe to it was, but this HAS happened on a Linux mailing list in the last 8 weeks. > Tell your client, > assuming its a reasonable client, to only show plain text and not the > HTML. I don't wish to do that because commercial HTML messages display fine, and I like them. (and my client does not allow "enable/disable HTML by folder, if at all) I am only requesting that you don't send HTML messages unless you know they'll display legibly for the majority (>99%) of your readers. Amazon do this, why can't Dale? I don't mean this, especially not personally, but I hope you get my point. Plain-text is ALWAYS safe. > The only argument to skip html is disk space/bandwidth which is rarely > an issue these days. We'll have to agree to disagree on that. It's not worth a big argument, and I'm only requesting a preference, not laying down "rules" for the list. I notice that the list's subscription page has an option "Get MIME or Plain Text Digests?" I'd be glad to use that if that would stop my whining, but I assume that it would also strip plain text or gzip'd attachments (presumably these are also MIME parts?) and I would like to receive .conf or .log files if they're posted. Stroller ___ Openmoko community mailing list community@lists.openmoko.org http://lists.openmoko.org/mailman/listinfo/community
Re: HTML messages to mailing lists. Problem upgrading ncurses
On Wed, Jul 23, 2008 at 5:44 PM, Stroller <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > On 24 Jul 2008, at 01:09, Dale Schumacher wrote: >> >>> Also, could you possibly post to the list in plain text, not HTML? >> >> Sure, I could. I thought it would be more clear to post the >> transcript in fixed font. Doesn't it come through as multi-part- >> alternative anyway, so you should have a plain-text version too? >> It seems the richer markup is often useful. > > > The fixed-width font you chose ("courier new,monospace"?) is > honoured, but comes up as greyish on my mail client (Apple's Mail) > and is difficult to read. So it sounds the problem is with your client. Tell your client, assuming its a reasonable client, to only show plain text and not the HTML. The only argument to skip html is disk space/bandwidth which is rarely an issue these days. ___ Openmoko community mailing list community@lists.openmoko.org http://lists.openmoko.org/mailman/listinfo/community
Re: HTML messages to mailing lists. Problem upgrading ncurses
On 24 Jul 2008, at 01:09, Dale Schumacher wrote: > >> Also, could you possibly post to the list in plain text, not HTML? > > Sure, I could. I thought it would be more clear to post the > transcript in fixed font. Doesn't it come through as multi-part- > alternative anyway, so you should have a plain-text version too? > It seems the richer markup is often useful. The fixed-width font you chose ("courier new,monospace"?) is honoured, but comes up as greyish on my mail client (Apple's Mail) and is difficult to read. Generally speaking, posting in plain text allows me to view messages on my computer as I wish. HTML messages allow you to set a font that is unreadable in my machine, so I have to click extra buttons or keyboard shortcuts in order to make them viewable. This is usually more obvious when people set a font SIZE which is perfect on their PC but too small on my monitor. I would _love_ a mail standard which allows setting bold, underline, italics and fixed-font without all the other rubbish that HTML email introduces. This would allow _you_ to set fixed-font and allow _me_ to choose whether I wish to display it in courier, lucidia console or whatever (and presumably at full blackness rather than greyish). Unfortunately this would require co-operation from all the authors of email clients, so it's never likely to happen. I don't really mind Amazon's HTML emails because they clearly have usability or web-design experts who spend hours on choosing fonts or how they specify them in their messages. In any case messages from Amazon, and most other online stores are always readable, so I don't block incoming HTML. But for mailing lists, plain-text is always safe and "right". Stroller. ___ Openmoko community mailing list community@lists.openmoko.org http://lists.openmoko.org/mailman/listinfo/community