[ALUG] HTML Mail

[Wayne Stallwood]

On Fri, 2007-02-16 at 18:39 +0000, Mark Ridley wrote:
> I'm not trying to stir up an argument here, but why do people hate HTML 
> mail so much? Most modern mail tools display HTML just fine, and the 
> overhead needed to send a bulkier mail message is negligible.
> 

If you want to wrap the text in html tags to do stuff with formatting
then so be it (as long as you also include a plaintext version in case I
am trying to read it on something that doesn't support HTML)

I have no particular dislike for the capability , just for the way it is
frequently used.

Things like (in no particular order)

Amateurish email stationary (I mean if I wanted a message to look like
it was written on a page of a ring-bound notepad I would have modified
my email client to render it that way) The formatting of an email
message is inconsequential to it's content so what are people trying to
achieve ? I just want to read my messages in the most coherent and
legible format.

It was one of the best vectors for both spam harvesting (or at least
verifying valid addresses) and viruses for a while. Why would anyone
ever have thought it was a good idea to add the capability to execute
stuff or download external images in a messaging system. Particularly
when this can happen without user interaction in the preview pane.

Email that looks like a minime version of the senders website, complete
with corporate branding/logos etc. Provide a link to the site in the sig
if you want. Then I can take a look when I have the time to browse the
content at my leisure, wrapping your message up in loads of other
content just makes it harder for me to read what you are saying.

But mostly...where does it end ? How about embedding flash objects in
email. A nice spinny corporate logo thing ? Perhaps a link to a youtube
vid as my signature ? Perhaps even render the whole text as a flash
object so that it has some "cute" effect like glinting in the sun..best
add some music too that starts to play when you open the email :-)

Phew..thanks for giving me the opportunity to vent that lot, I feel
loads better now.

PS. whilst we are on the subject of email do you expect whoever manages
the list archives to make sure your message is not archived ? As the
disclaimer at the bottom seems to not allow it to be put in a public
archive (or at least if it is nobody outside the list is allowed to read
it) *grin*

Honestly I am not having a dig there, just thought it would be fun to
point out why I am also not a fan of mail disclaimers.

Also why are they always at the bottom ? If you are not the intended
recipient by the time you have got to the bit that says you were not
supposed to read the message it is too late.