ietf-822
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RE: HTML in MIME messages

1994-11-15 12:46:07
Having looked at several HTML examples it seems to me
that HTML should be placed under a
"Content-Type: application/html" field for the following reasons:

1) HTML really does require machine processing to properly
   present the information it encodes.  For example, HTML can
   contain an indication of where text is BOLD or italics.
   Netscape even includes a font size definition.  This has
   a likeness to postscript.    

2) HTML can contain URLs (or URIs) which require machine processing
   to obtain data, for example an FTP to pull over an image in GIF format.
   I see no parallel to standard TEXT (have I missed something here?).

3) The notation used in HTML is meaningless to the unsophisticated
   user (like my mom!).  It will only confuse the unsophisticated 
   user if his/her mail reader just displays the raw HTML.

4) HTML is a mark up language that "just" happens to be in ASCII. 
   If it didn't use ASCII then we wouldn't even be having this 
   discussion.

I vote for treating HTML like postscript--in an application context
type.

Comments?

-Mark Joseph
 Wollongong Advanced Applications Center
 Santa Cruz, CA.
 mjoseph(_at_)mailman(_dot_)aac(_dot_)twg(_dot_)com
 markjoseph(_at_)delphi(_dot_)com

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