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Re: Butchered ASCII messages

At 05:02 PM 2/15/98 -0400, LUDWIK KOWALSKI wrote:
Rick Tarara thinks that the HTML is a problem. As far as know, HTML
is 100% ASCII. It will show tags, etc. but not what I see on my screen
more and more often. Am I the only one who received butchered messages
with "3D" and "=" in various places? What is causing this?


The 3D and = symbols in messages are not html; they are MIME-encoded
messages, which has been an email standard for some time. It's a way to
have longer lines and extended character sets, such accented
characters. Most email clients will properly decode MIME messages.

Pretty much the same issue came up six months ago when a few people
were upset about a handful of html messages.

I think that html is inevitable in email, because it opens up so many
options. A while ago on PHYS-L (as in ten years ago), there were many
people wishing they could write readable equations in email. With
today's email clients, it is possible to include typeset equations in
email messages. Of course, one doesn't dare send such a message to a
list such as phys-l. However, in time most people will be able to read
html messages, and we'll be able to enjoy clearer communication.

In the meantime, a good solution to the problem is to use an email
client that can properly display html and MIME messages. Eudora Light,
a free program from Qualcomm at www.eudora.com, will display these
messages readably, but will not send html. (It will send MIME unless
you turn it off.)

The email clients that are in both the free Internet Explorer browser
and in the free Netscape Communicator browser also will display html
messages, but they will send them too. One must take care to send html
only to correspondents who can properly display it.

JEG

__________________________________

John E. Gastineau gastineau@mindspring.com KC8IEW
900 B Ridgeway Ave. http://gastineau.home.mindspring.com
Morgantown WV 26505 (304) 296-1966 voice (304) 296-5035 fax
USA