RE: List Servers non-support of HTML
From: Greg Dunn (MyListsgregdunn.com)
Date: Sun, 22 Dec 2002 09:02:01 -0700 (MST)
Dec 14, 2002:  Check out new URL at end of this (and every list message) for 
Cohousing-L info page.  Season's Greetings.  Fred, list manager.
- -

>>
Of course, for those of us using clients that DON'T support HTML,
messages formatted with HTML can be messy enough to try to read that I
don't bother.
<<
Just curious: what client do you use that doesn't support HTML?

>>
Of all the HTML formatted email I've recieved at my work address, where
I do have an HTML-able client, almost none of the formatting people use
actually helps them communicate better.
<<
MMDV - my mileage does vary 8-)

Sheila gave a prime example of an HTML capability that is distinctly
helpful when used with even minimum skill: the ability to format things
into tables.  And of course, the use of different typefaces, sizes,
boldfacing, and (sometimes) colors is pretty well established as
important to effective communication. When was the last time you picked
up a newspaper, magazine, or greeting card that displayed everything in
a single, uniform text font?

Hyperlinks aren't bad, either.  I find it distinctly helpful to have
these: (a) displayed in a contrasting color, and (b) made active to I
simply click on them to launch a browser page or an email.

HTML allows me to send an email which can have as much richness as a
well-designed web page: it can be the gateway into a wealth of useful
resources. The most common way I actually *use* that particular
capability is to send somebody an actual web page, using the Tools /
Send Page capability of my browser. Yes, just sending a link is more
concise, and I often do that: but sometimes that just isn't a vivid
enough picture.

People's skill in graphic design varies, but the general level has
certainly risen in the years since word processing software that has
formatting capabilities has come into wide use.

>>
Of course, for those of us using clients that DON'T support HTML,
messages formatted with HTML can be messy enough to try to read that I
don't bother.
<<

That's a problem, for sure.  I'm sure there are systems that can convert
HTML to plain text (e.g., strip away all the tags), but typically
clients that don't support HTML don't support it at all; meaning, they
treat everything as literal text.

Anybody know if the newer cell phones and PDAs that can display text
messages but not HTML pages have the capability to strip away HTML tags?


Greg Dunn
 


-----Original Message-----
From: cohousing-l-admin [at] cohousing.org
[mailto:cohousing-l-admin [at] cohousing.org] On Behalf Of Rosa Leah
Sent: Sunday, December 22, 2002 6:51 AM
To: cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org
Subject: Re: [C-L]_List Servers non-support of HTML


Dec 14, 2002:  Check out new URL at end of this (and every list message)
for Cohousing-L info page.  Season's Greetings.  Fred, list manager.
- -

On Sun, 22 Dec 2002, Greg Dunn wrote:

> Here's another gripe about list servers: lists hosted on them seem 
> never to support HTML.  I don't know whether that's a deficiency of 
> the server software, or just a choice that is conventionally made by 
> the admins. But formatting can be such an important part of 
> communicating effectively, and almost all email clients support HTML 
> by now.

Of course, for those of us using clients that DON'T support HTML,
messages formatted with HTML can be messy enough to try to read that I
don't bother.

Of all the HTML formatted email I've recieved at my work address, where
I do have an HTML-able client, almost none of the formatting people use
actually helps them communicate better.

YMMV, but that's my experience.
Rosa, Mosaic Commons <http://www.mosaic-commons.org/>

         And why should night and day be so radically divided?
             Is there anyone for whom loving and thinking
                 are lived as different beginnings?
 Would I have to spend my days with the one and my nights with the
other?
                       -- Luce Irigaray


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