Re: Email Format Poll for the list

[Chris Bennett <..hidden..>]

David Godfrey wrote:
> Hi Everyone,
>
> The reason for this poll is below (for those that are interested)
>
> I would like to know how many people
>     a) are happy to receive html
>     b) prefer plain text
>     c) require plain text
>
> At the end of the week (Friday GMT+8) I will post the results
>
> Regards
> David Godfrey
>
> =======
>
> Just recently I have had two people on the lists query me,
> Asking if I intended to send email in HTML
>
> Well actually, yes, I guess I did.
> Partly because most people have HTML capable browsers,
> and long before I sent an email on the list I had noticed that many 
> contributors also sent in HTML.
> This made me think it was not a problem.
>
> I understand why mutt users may not like HTML, in it's standard form 
> mutt displays the html source.
> There are probably other clients that this is also a problem for.
>
> One problem with plain text and modern clients, is that text is 
> wrapped at the senders end.
> Normally to something like 72characters.
There is a not so obvious fact about column width.
This has been known for a very long time.
All newspapers have narrow columns.
It is because the eye-brain system that humans have is very 
uncomfortable with wide width columns.
If you don't believe me, try reading a long article in your web browser 
with a narrow column or the same article with a wide setting. Once you 
try it, it becomes clear.
It turns out that roughly 72 is close (not exactly right) to ideal.
300 characters is simply unproductive to use.
> This is a huge waste of screen space where you may easily have 160 to 
> 300 or more characters available on a modern screen.
> Worse is when the sender has changed the default to something large, 
> then you often have to scroll left and right as well as up and down to 
> see the whole message.
> HTML on the other hand allows for dynamic rewrapping of the text by 
> the receiving client.
> The sentence before last was all one line.
> Change the width of this window, it should rewrap the text dynamically.
As I just thought about this, I realized that I was reading this with my 
email client fullscreen, I just manually narrowed it. It is a much nicer 
layout. I am going to do this for now on!
> HTML also allows simple formatting changes (_/*like this*/_) that can 
> often assist with readability.
When I first learned to use xhtml for a website, I took a particular 
interest in also making it accessible. It just seemed proper to learn 
that too.  One thing I learned was that there is a huge variety of  
differing needs, therefore, html should only encode meaning, never 
style. Some people are color-blind, some (especially older people) see 
diminished contrast, some need bigger fonts, etc.

Basically, I think it is better to send pure, clean, well-thought out 
words. Anyone with special needs almost certainly has worked out their 
own personal solution. My "perfect" html formatting may just be a big 
problem to get rid of.

Anyway, I'm glad this topic came up.
I just realized I need to re-format my workspace at my end :) Narrowing 
my email client is good!
> Either way the poll will tell us what everyone prefers.
>
> Regards
> David Godfrey
>
>
>
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