RE: OT: Flamebait: Text vs HTML email
On 24-Jul-2002 Kent West wrote:
> This is not meant to cause Holy Wars or dissent. It's just that I
> believe that it's healthy to every once in a while question the status
> quo, to question authority, to ask why things are done they way they are
> done. And after getting an informative email from a colleague in HTML
> format, this issue came up in my thinking, which set me to questioning.
>
actually as flamebait goes this was fairly intelligent and actually seeking a
useful answer.
> As a general rule, members of this list prefer email to be in plain text
> format. Over the years I've tried to adhere to that (and will continue
> to do so). However, I'm thinking that perhaps it's time to rethink that
> "rule". A more graphical format like HTML can convey more information
> (charts, images, textual structure, color, font, etc) than just plain text.
>
you will find that UNIX people tend to like simplicity whereas the Windows
crowd often has glitz. Most of the html mail i receive is just plain text
wrapped in <html>. The rest of it I am glad my mailer ignores because it is
usually big, red, and 20 pt. fonts. The problem with tech is when given to the
masses they do crazy things with it.
>
> There are indeed good reasons for using plain text. However, email is
> for conveying information, and it seems to me that more info can be
> conveyed with HTML than with text. Bandwidth issues and filesize issues
> are less of an issue today than five years ago (realizing that some
> parts of the world still live in 1200baud-and-pay-by-the-minute Land).
> Text-manipulation may be a bit more difficult with HTML, but surely
> that's solvable.
>
Much of Debian is based in Europe where they still use modems and pay by the
minute for the phone call as well as internet access. Bandwidth is just as
important today as it was 5 years ago if for no other reason that now there are
many, many more people using the network and if we all chose the most bloated
form of communication possible we could choke it to death. Imagine what would
happen if all of those jpegs suddenly became bmp files?
Also consider that "bandwidth is cheap" implies 1) you have money and 2) you
are connected to a good source. What about people reading mail over wireless
phones? Those who do not live in major cities?
> To me, the most significant compelling reason to stick to plain text for
> email is for those text-only email readers.
>
plain text also forces a common ground. No concerns about color blindness,
missing fonts (ever seen a webpage with little, bitty fonts), bad eyes, etc.
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