Comments on: Thoughts on HTML vs Text Email

By: DanB

DanB — Sun, 14 Jan 2007 03:03:34 +0000

Ben ~ Al and I talked about the HTML newsletter before I sent the first one. I think you’ll see that there is very little actual formatting in place.

I explained the reason for the links last issue. One of the main things HTML gains us is that all readers have the links live. You would be surprised how many people have webmail that will not hyperlink the plain text links. Same with some AOL users.

I get the email from all of them. In any case we have received a lot of positive feedback.

~ Dan

By: DanB

DanB — Sun, 14 Jan 2007 03:00:30 +0000

Glenn ~ I live on the edge of the boonies and we have limited choices for high speed connections. Years ago I finally was able to get ISDN connectivity. Not the fastest in the world but all I could get.

The next day my merchant credit card processing software arrived and one of the requirements was a modem that would drop to 1200 baud. Well the ISDN box could not handle that so I had to go configure the old modem just to accommodate that software.

~ Dan

By: Glenn P.,

Glenn P., — Sun, 14 Jan 2007 00:46:17 +0000

On Wed., 10-Jan-2007, at 01:42pm EST (-0500 GMT),
“The Naked PC Newsletter” wrote:

> One hates to give away the fact that one is an old fogie, but
> back in the day when the network of computing enthusiasts who
> ultimately set this publication in motion were first getting
> acquainted, we relied on the old CompuServe network. And I do
> mean the old CompuServe network: not just dialup, not just 2400
> baud, but pay-per-minute of use.

I can testify personally to THAT! And not just 2400 baud: we actually
used *1200* baud! (The rates for 2400 were TWICE what they were for
1200 back then.)

Also, they gave you an “allowance” of E-Mail (they called it “Easyplex”
back then) that you could send or receive. Anything beyond that, and
you had to PAY for each E-Mail you sent or received!!!

Those were the Good Old (!?) Days!

By: Ron Averyt

Ron Averyt — Sat, 13 Jan 2007 15:54:01 +0000

As an old curmudgeon who misses the old GEnie text-based service, I’ll welcom a resurgence of simple text. Some of us still have dialup, so excessive graphics do still cost time for some folks, and on my non-unlimited phone plan, they potentially cost me money. Some people also like to use colors that I find difficult to read, sometimes in the form of images where I can not override the colors. Fortunately, the HTML TNPC has thus far avoided such things. I wish others would be so kind.

By: Ben Mullen

Ben Mullen — Fri, 12 Jan 2007 22:34:00 +0000

Maybe Dan will follow Al’s excellent guidelines in publishing the reader-preferred HTML version of the Newsletter: “I use HTML but only those features that would be supported in RTF. As a practical matter: nice fonts, italics, bolding, colors, graphics. But absolutely no “hidden” content: no links embedded in the graphics, no links of any kind that aren’t displayed as links, and so on.” (And just remember: hippies adopted groovy bellbottoms because not only did they look spiffy, they were cheap at army-navy surplus stores!)

By: Kevin Kincare

Kevin Kincare — Thu, 11 Jan 2007 14:29:29 +0000

Al,
Good Stuff. This goes right back to the old adage that “everything old will be new again.” If bellbottoms can make a comeback, then so can plain text!