ietf-822
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Re: format=flowed : why not use HTML?

1998-08-18 17:19:02
I don't understand why we need yet another tweak to handle the
special case of text without line breaks.  Why not just use
"recipient friendly HTML" for such cases?   Especially since
it's already supported (for reading, anyway) by most user agents.

HTML doesn't have to be ugly, and it doesn't have to mess up
replies.

We've been waiting for someone to deliver on this promise for almost 8 years
now. It hasn't happened yet. The agents that generate HTML, or enriched, or
richtext, have without exception produced material that simply is not
acceptably simple. At least two of these formats were specifically designed for
this use and it hasn't helped.

And in the meantime the erosion of what text/plain means and is useful for
continues. We haven't even slowed it down.

I'm sorry, but unless you can offer something more concrete than a suggestion
as to how things could be done I'm afraid I have to classify this as simply
wishful thinking on your part.

                                Ned