Keith Moore <moore(_at_)cs(_dot_)utk(_dot_)edu> writes:
Multipart messages don't necessarily do the "same thing". A MIME mail
reader might do any number of things (clear the screen, open another window,
etc.) before presenting the next part of a multipart message. Some MIME
messages are composed with the idea that the MIME structure of the message
should reflect the structure of the contents -- each chapter is a separate
multipart/mixed subpart of a toplevel multipart/mixed message, each section
a subpart of a chapter-level multipart/mixed, etc.
The point is that the MIME spec doesn't say enough about presentation
to allow such assumptions.
If the existing way of mixing different formats in MIME doesn't do
quite what you want that's not a reason to create a completely new
mechanism to mix formats. Why not just improve the existing mechanism?
You could, for example, create a "multipart/contiguous" subtype that
means the parts should be displayed contiguously. That would do what
you want, keep text/enriched simpler, and have the extra benefit of
allowing the "verbatim" sections to be extracted easily by any
standard MIME client.
Perhaps the verbatim feature of text/enriched needs some tweaking, but I
think some such feature is needed.
I don't think a "feature" that creates a mechanism to embed text/plain
in text/enriched is a good idea. You shouldn't have to parse each
section of a MIME message to find out what different types are in it.
- Chris