why not template the email output? that way it would be possible to make it either plain-text or HTML or some other format that pleases the person running the system.
While we are talking about it I would love to be able to add attachments to email messages going out. Even better still would be attachments to invoices. We send out a lot of invoices with backup documentation. It would be nice to be able to keep our backup documentation with the invoices. On 01/31/2010 06:39 AM, David wrote: > My $.02: > > Plain text is always acceptable to read - bad HTML is hard to read. > HTML is useful for impressing people - are you the sort of person who is > impressed by formatting? > Plain text works for code - HTML often mangles code > > David. > > Stroller wrote: > >> On 31 Jan 2010, at 00:46, David Godfrey wrote: >> >> >>> ... >>> and long before I sent an email on the list I had noticed that many >>> contributors also sent in HTML. >>> >>> >> My belief was that the practice of sending HTML messages to this list >> was established only amongst newcomers, who come here looking for help >> & who don't know any better. >> >> >> >>> One problem with plain text and modern clients, is that text is >>> wrapped at the senders end. >>> Normally to something like 72characters. >>> This is a huge waste of screen space where you may easily have 160 >>> to 300 or more characters available on a modern screen. >>> >>> >> Addressed elsewhere. >> >> >> >>> HTML also allows simple formatting changes (like this) that can >>> often assist with readability. >>> >>> >> It does so, only if your view and and mine *happen* to coincide on >> what constitutes "readability". >> >> It is sophisticated& adult of you to choose black text as your >> display preference, as many people composing in HTML choose colours >> such as blue, green or pink. >> >> However your text size is too small. >> >> I have 1600x1200 monitors, each with a diagonal of c 20". I don't know >> what size or resolution your monitor(s) is, and I don't care, just as >> you shouldn't need to know the specifications of mine. When I >> configured my mail client preferences some years ago, I spent some >> minutes choosing the optimal font for viewing. It says "13 points" in >> my display preferences, but it would probably appear a different size >> on your screen; that doesn't matter - it's just best for me on my >> monitors, considering my operating system, viewing distance, screen >> resolution and optical prescription. >> >> When you send me HTML email, you're saying "I don't care what text >> size you find most readable, I'm setting this one instead". The font >> of your last email was a few points too small and it's a little >> difficult for me to read. >> >> Additionally, if we all continue to post and reply in HTML, then I >> can't copy a sentence of your message into mine and quote it, (like >> this: "The sentence before last was all one line") without either it >> ending up in a different format to the rest of the sentence. I then >> have to manually& arduously change the font, font size, and colour of >> the pasting to match the rest of my text. This should not be >> necessary, if we all just post in plain text. >> >> I do rather feel that those of us who believe in open-source and open- >> standards missed an opportunity when HTML first became adopted by >> mainstream email clients. I believe this was initiated by Netscape >> Communicator in the mid- to late-1990s, and geeks simply objected to >> it and said "don't use that around here". Of course the mainstream >> didn't listen to the geeks, and an HTML email non-standard was since >> been made up on an ad-hoc basis over the following decade. I was a >> newcomer to computers myself in 1996, and didn't use OSS for another 3 >> or 4 years, but I can only think that *maybe* someone would have been >> successful if they had vigourously proposed an alternative before it >> was too late. >> >> Email would benefit from the ability to designate text clearly as >> bold, italic or underlined, to include inline hyperlinks, to designate >> perhaps a word or a sentence or two as "emphasised" in some way that >> would normally be displayed to the reader as red or blue. But it needs >> this without allowing whole emails to be composed in glaring pink, or >> allowing the sender to specify a font size which distracts or inhibits >> readability (or indeed ANY font or size). >> >> I have a client who employed a graphic designer to create fancy HTML >> "stationary" for his company emails. They include a number of logos >> (sent as jpeg images, of course) and as a consequence a one-sentence >> email, in which there are only a few hundred bytes of text, arrives >> consuming 100kb in my email box. This aspect of the client's messages >> is annoying, but overall the most critical problem is the imposition >> of font& its size upon the reader, IMO. >> >> If you post in plain-text, no-one will think less of you for it, and >> no-one will filter your messages to /dev/null on the basis of that. >> The same cannot be said for posting in HTML. >> >> Also: please try to post your messages as a general rule only to *one* >> list at a time. Surely everyone on -dev already reads -users? >> >> Stroller. >> >> >> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ >> The Planet: dedicated and managed hosting, cloud storage, colocation >> Stay online with enterprise data centers and the best network in the business >> Choose flexible plans and management services without long-term contracts >> Personal 24x7 support from experience hosting pros just a phone call away. >> http://p.sf.net/sfu/theplanet-com >> _______________________________________________ >> Ledger-smb-users mailing list >> [email protected] >> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/ledger-smb-users >> >> > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > The Planet: dedicated and managed hosting, cloud storage, colocation > Stay online with enterprise data centers and the best network in the business > Choose flexible plans and management services without long-term contracts > Personal 24x7 support from experience hosting pros just a phone call away. > http://p.sf.net/sfu/theplanet-com > _______________________________________________ > Ledger-smb-users mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/ledger-smb-users > -- Alvin Starr || voice: (416)585-9971x690 Interlink Connectivity || fax: (416)585-9974 [email protected] || ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Planet: dedicated and managed hosting, cloud storage, colocation Stay online with enterprise data centers and the best network in the business Choose flexible plans and management services without long-term contracts Personal 24x7 support from experience hosting pros just a phone call away. http://p.sf.net/sfu/theplanet-com _______________________________________________ Ledger-smb-users mailing list [email protected] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/ledger-smb-users
