On Wed, Jun 24, 1998 at 02:49:59PM -0700, Kenyon Ralph wrote:
> Shawn McMahon wrote:
> > Most of the rest of the world does have the ability to read it, however.
> > That wasn't true as late as a year ago, but I'll bet you dollars to donuts
> > it is now.
>
> And if your mail reader can't, then your web browser can.
I think there are few points you're overlooking:
1. You and I and lots of other people who live in well-connected
parts of the world and who have access to cheap hardware, cheap dialup
connections, and other nice things like Linux *have* mail clients
and web browsers and things like that, and we have the compute power
to run them, and we have the bandwidth to use them. Not everyone is
as lucky as we are. There are people out there who have access to
mail but *not* to the web and therefore don't have web browsers;
there are people who live at the far end of 2400-baud modems; and there
are people who are stuck with whatever software their company/school/
organization uses and who aren't in a position to change that.
It's true that most people tend to get better connections, hardware,
and software as time goes on. But it seems a pity to make life
more difficult for people who have just started to discover the 'net,
and due to where they live in the world or where they work, can't
cope with HTML-formatted mail.
2. HTML formatting adds little, if any, useful content to mail. 95% of
the people whose work I've ever read during the couple of decades
I've been on the 'net have trouble expressing themselves in plain
text -- sometimes I'm one of them. Giving them HTML tags to play
with simply amounts to handing them a second loaded gun to shoot
themselves in the foot, when they're already doing an excellent job
with the one they have.
What HTML *does* add to mail is bloat. Again, going back to #1, you
and I might have cycles and space to spare, but not everyone does.
Especially on overhead that adds little if anything to the content
of the message.
3. There are a growing number of handicapped people using the 'net as
a way to communicate and in some cases transcend the limitations that
would otherwise be imposed on them by their ailments. Dealing with
text is hard enough, especially for those who are visually impaired
and use Braille terminals or printers; adding HTML makes it even harder.
I find the current push (from some quarters) to format mail with HTML
strikingly similar to what happened when WYSIWYG word processors first
came out. Document authors found that they had a choice of dozens
of fonts, and many of them seemed to think that they had to use them
*all* in *every* document, whether or not this actually enhanced
the communication process that the document represented.
---Rsk
Rich Kulawiec
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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