HTML vs Plain Text

**"Lon J. Rombough" l*@hevanet.com**

I got a letter from a list member that reminded me of something that came up
a long time ago, but hasn't been mentioned in quite a while.  That is, why
do messages often come in "double" form with one "copy" having a lot of odd
letters and symbols in them?

Basically, people have their mail programs set to send either in HTML, which
allows them to use different fonts, boldface, etc., or plain text, which is
just that, no frills.  When HTML is sent, if you are set to recieve just
plain text, many mail programs deliver both a plain text version and an HTML
version.  But since it can't show the actual HTML, it sends plain text WITH
all the code that would otherwise "tell" the computer how the text was
supposed to look in HTML.

Also, since the archives are set to plain text, anything sent in HTML is
going to put one of the "encrypted" copies in the archives, like it or not.
And one difference with the ibiblio archives over the old Topica is that I
can't delete anything from the archives, so any messes in the archives are
there to stay.

In short, if at all possible, please send messages to the GWL in plain text.
For people with eyesight problems who want easy to read LARGE text, check
the preferences in your mail program to see if you can re-set the size of
the print in the letters you recieve.

These are small things, but they make the list more pleasant.
-Lon Rombough

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