Re: tlug: Mew on (X)Emacs the way to go?

["Stephen J. Turnbull" <turnbull@example.com>]

>>>>> "John" == John De Hoog <washi@example.com> writes:

    John> "Stephen J. Turnbull" <turnbull@example.com> wrote:
    >> >> Counter-opinion: HTML is bad in mailing lists, etc., but
    >> >> adds an arguably useful dimension to email updates from
    >> >> Internet magazines and newspapers, etc., such as those
    >> >> promoted by

I didn't write that....  I did write this:

    >> You've got to be kidding.  Except for the hotlinks, which have
    >> nothing to do with HTML (VM and Gnus both provide hotlinks to
    >> all email addresses and urls in your buffer on the basis of
    >> regexps), it's pure bandwidth waste.  What they should be doing
    >> is sending the mail as MIME external bodies so you can click on
    >> it and open your browser.

    John> Doesn't really matter. If Linux is versatile, it has to
    John> support what individual users want; and this individual user
    John> wants his In-box HTML mail without having to use Netscape

If you must.

However, there is a technology for this, it's called
MIME.  You're right, it has existed for years.  I've had it
(primitively, with autolaunch of external viewers) for about 12 years
I would guess.  If that capability is really wanted by one market
segment, I wish the implementers of the sending MUAs would conform to
standards so the rest of us can ignore it.  It's really not hard, just 
tedious.

    John> Navigator. I want it right in my preview window. I ordered

I don't know of any MUA that will do justice to an HTML document,
that's why I specified a browser; but I could configure my MUA to do
it natively in the preview window.  (Too poorly to be worth
recommending, though.)

    John> it, so why would I not want it? The technology exists, and
    John> has for years, so why not take advantage of it?

I do.  HTML is just the wrong way to do it in email.  It's an
imposition on people who don't want it.  Properly encapsulated in MIME
with a text/plain alternative, I have no objections, except for
bandwidth and local storage waste.

    John> Sorry, I find text-based "Web browsers" such as Lynx as
    John> exciting as listening to the TV with my eyes closed; and the

Hmm, we _must_ be on completely different wavelengths; if it's not
worth listening to with my eyes closed, I generally don't turn the
tube on in the first place.  :-)

    John> same goes for email clients that can't give me the visuals
    John> along with the text.

Who said anything about using text-based Web browsers?  (No quotes,
Lynx is a real Web browser, one I often use in preference to Mozilla.)
I'm talking about getting the strobe lights out of my face so I can
read.

When I read email, I scan/read between 50 and 500 emails in a day
(when it's that latter figure, obviously I don't get much else done;
post-vacation catchup, you know).  And usually I listen to 2 or 3, and
look at four or five screen shots.  I don't want to see the other
screen shots, I generally don't want to see pictures at all; I want to
follow threads, and for that I need words.

But when I want a picture or a voice, it's only a click away.

If they want to send the mail as MIME Multipart/Alternative, OK, but I
would still prefer the HTML (well, specifically, any multimedia
content) to be sent as an external body.  That allows me to avoid the
overhead of wallpaper, in fact, I will specify the text/plain
alternative as preferred; you can configure your MUA to automatically
fetch the external body if you like.  I don't know of any MUA that
will prefetch the external body, but it would be easy enough to
program in something like VM or Gnus or mew.  With prefetch, there
would be very little difference from the user perspective between
external bodies and HTML mail.

-- 
University of Tsukuba                Tennodai 1-1-1 Tsukuba 305-8573 JAPAN
Institute of Policy and Planning Sciences        Tel/fax: +1 (298) 53-5091
---------------------------------------------------------------
Next Meeting: 10 October, 12:30 Tokyo Station Yaesu central gate
Next Nomikai: 20 November, 19:30  Tengu TokyoEkiMae 03-3275-3691
---------------------------------------------------------------
Sponsor: PHT, makers of TurboLinux http://www.pht.co.jp