Hi Alexander V. Kiselev,
On Mittwoch, 22. Dezember 1999 at 15:14:05 you wrote:
>> That's what I'll support, too. I'm not against the idea of using
>> variable width fonts (although that's where any email formatting is
>> killed instantly. Ever sent a formatted, maybe tabular, mail to
>> someone using Netscape?).
AVK> First: Netscape uses fixed-width font for mail and news
AVK> _by_default_, but this can be customized. Means that your
AVK> example is a lousy one:-)
But Netscape is a good example for these two points:
1) When users (who usually don't care or know about any history of
email) are given the ability to customize, they customize. Anyway,
when I last used Netscape, at least the rich text mail editor was
also active by default. You just have to write one word bold or
whatever and click away that annoying message saying something
you don't understand about HTML, to send a perfectly unreadable
message to someone on an ascii terminal.
2) Programs that try to be more intelligent than the user only add up
to the confusion. (Example conversation: Me: "Please stop sending
me HTML-Mail, I can't read anything." Someone else: "Huh?!? What is
HTML-Mail?")
AVK> Second. Usually, *I* prefer variable-width fonts just because
AVK> they look better IMHO, and (the major point) the screen real
AVK> estate is saved. But whenever I receive a message with ASCII
AVK> art, or tabulars, or such, in Pegasus I can temporarily switch
AVK> the font (with F12) for this particular message to fixed-width
AVK> one.
That might be some solution to the ever-present problem. But I still
have to see a single email message that looks better in variable-width
font. I have only ever seen that when two people communicating use
exactly the same mail client. Those mails are either not formatted
correctly (meaning lines are at maximum 76 letters in length, as it
says in the netiquette (that user above in point 2: "Huh?!?
Netiwhat?")) or they look awful as suddenly all lines are of very much
different length.
OK, I already said I don't mind an option to switch to whatever font
someone likes. Personally I've always been a little allergic when
people try to change a perfectly functioning system like email. And
that's what it's all about. When using variable-width fonts in The
Bat! becomes possible, half the messages on this list will be
unreadable, IMHO.
Oliver Sturm
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Oliver Sturm / <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
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