RE: security problem in emailing HTML

> I must admit I dislike HTML in e-mail because they normally consume
> (at least) three times as much bandwidth as necessary to give the same
> information. And since bandwidth is still a very scarce resource, one
> should be a bit more careful how it is used. Since I have never seen an
> e-mail where the HTML had any function at all, they shouldn't have wasted
> that bandwidth. 

HTML in e-mail is useful if you're subscribed to a newletter like Wired.com's
or CNet.com's. Usually the plain text versions have a title for each heading
and then a very long URL (that you sometimes need to cut and paste and put
back together in a browser because of word wrapping) under it that'll take you
to it. With HTML-based e-mail, they just link the titles without showing the URL
(except in the status bar?) so that makes the message a lot shorter in length.
I have a cable connection, though, so I'm a bit less concerned about bandwidth.
HTML e-mail in mailing lists is just rude, though. Very inconsiderate towards
the people running the mailing lists (much heavier load on the server when
you multiply the additional size of the message by the number of subscribers
who the software has to send it to) and the people who have enough to download
in plain text from a mailing list let alone with HTML tacked on.

-- 
Bart Szyszka bart@gigabee.com ICQ:4982727
B Grafyx http://www.bgrafyx.com
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Received on Thursday, 9 December 1999 14:55:35 UTC