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  • From: "Jeffrey B. Gibson" <jgibson000 AT attbi.com>
  • To: Corpus-paul <corpus-paul AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: MIME/HTML formatted messages sent to Corpus Paulinum
  • Date: Sat, 18 May 2002 13:45:19 -0500


(with thanks to Carl Conrad)

List Members

In recent days there's been a spate of HTML/MIME messages sent to Corpus
Paulinum.

Not only does this type of formatting come across as garbled code to
many members of C-P; it causes messages delved in digest form both to
duplicate themselves and to read as gobbledy-gook on a screen.

Though we have not (as yet) made it a requirement that messages sent to
the list be formatted in plain-text ASCII only, I ask that all members
do everything in their power to insure that ASCII/plain text is **only**
format in which you send messages to the List.

With Plain-Text-only, not only will your messages be easier to read for
some subscribers who use older e-mail programs (such as Lotus cc:Mail),
but you will save bandwidth and transmission time, since HTML messages
(those sent with two formats) take up more cyberspace than
Plain-Text-only

I recognize that some e-mail programs (AOL especially) make this
difficult. But with only a little effort (see below) this difficulty can
easily be overcome.

Thanks in advance for your co-operation in this matter.

Yours,

Jeffrey Gibson

********
Instructions for converting MIME and HTML format into ASCII/Plain Text:

If you are using Outlook Express, you can select the address for the
Corpus Paulinum discussion list in your Address Book, then specify that
all
messages posted from your program to this discussion list will be in
Plain
Text. To change this setting in Outlook Express, be sure you have an
entry
for this discussion list in your Address Book. Find that address in your
Address Book, double-click on it, click on the Name tab, then put a
check
mark in the box at the lower left corner of the message screen.

In Eudora, select Tools/Options/Styled text, then select either "send
both
plain and styled" or "send plain text only." You can also check "Ask me
each time," in which case you make the selection on an individual
message
basis.

The "Unofficial AOL E-mail FAQ"
http://members.aol.com/adamkb/aol/mailfaq/) offers the following
advice on avoiding the HTML formatting in AOL:

"With the release of version 6.0 of its client software (and continued
to
an extent in AOL 7.0), AOL began to embrace the use of full HTML in
email
(see FAQ item 8 ). This included a controversial feature in the sending
of
email to the Internet, in which messages were sent in a format known as
multipart/alternative (see RFC 2046, 5.1.4), which uses MIME enclosures
to
include two copies of every message: one in plain text, and one in HTML.
Ideally, Internet email programs should be designed to display the
version
that they understand. HTML-compliant programs can display the HTML
section,
showing the formatting that the original sender included with the
message;
while text-only programs would only show the text section. Even
HTML-enabled programs could be made to allow their users to choose (or
switch to) the text portion if they prefer simplicity. However, some
Internet email programs were never designed to recognize these MIME
sections, resulting in the recipient of such a message seeing both the
plain text and HTML versions of the email.

"This issue was partially corrected in AOL 7.0, which does not send HTML
if
the user sticks with the default font and formatting.

"(Amusingly, AOL versions prior to 6.0 are not very good at handling
multipart messages. Although mail sent from a member using AOL 6 or
later
directly to someone using AOL 5 or earlier will not show both copies,
the
same mail sent first through the Internet (perhaps through a mailing
list)
will result in the AOL recipient seeing both copies.)

"Solution

"Ideally, users should either upgrade to AOL 7, which reduces the
likelihood of a problem; downgrade to AOL 5 or earlier; or use some
other
method of sending AOL mail.

"AOL 6.0
When communicating with Internet recipients who are not using an email
program capable of selecting which MIME section to view, an AOL 6.0 user
can turn off the HTML by taking the following steps exactly as
described:

1. Change your global email preferences (only needs to be done once):
1. Go to Keyword: Preferences (or choose Preferences from the
Settings
menu on the AOL 6.0 toolbar).
2. Click on Font, Text, & Graphics Preferences.
3. Click on the Reset button at the bottom of the resulting
window. Do
not make any changes in the Font Preferences area of the
window.
4. Click on the Save button.
2. Change a specific email to plain text (must be done for every
email):
1. Compose and address the email as desired.
2. Choose Select All from the Edit menu to highlight the entire
message.
3. With the mouse arrow somewhere over the highlighted text,
click the
Right mouse button, revealing a contextual menu (AKA
Right-Click).
4. Choose Normal from the Text menu.
5. Taking care not to make any further changes to the message,
send it.

"Note that changing the text to normal will eliminate the "blue bar"
quoted
text indicator, but will not remove some HTML elements of the quoted
text.
The entire quoted section must be deleted (or simply not quoted in the
first place), followed by the re-entry of the text quoted manually,
prior
to changing the text to normal. Changing the text to normal will also
eliminate any styled text that would have been seen by AOL recipients of
the message, which cannot be re-added. Testing also suggests that
messages
with hyperlinks cannot be converted to normal text, requiring the prior
removal of the link. Finally, one must suppress their email signature if
it
contains any styled text, as that will push the whole message back into
HTML.

"(Thanks to Carpenma for identifying step two of the plain text
solution.
Thanks to LuvsAfGrey for pointing out the signature issue.)

"AOL 7.0
AOL 7.0 only requires step one, above: using the global default font
face,
size, style, and color. Any attempt to change the font face, size,
style,
or color within the body of an email will send the email in HTML, as
will
any attempt to use a different default font face, size, style, or color.

"Like AOL 6, AOL 7 will uses HTML when quoting a message (displaying the
quoted portion with a blue line in the left margin). And like AOL 6,
choosing Text > Normal will eliminate any indication that the text was
quoted. However, unlike AOL 6, the message will now be sent in plain
text.
The quoted portion will need to be manually quoted, however.

"Like AOL 6, a formatted signature in AOL 7 may force the message into
HTML."



  • MIME/HTML formatted messages sent to Corpus Paulinum, Jeffrey B. Gibson, 05/18/2002

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