> They use HTML instead of something like MS Word because in > email it's the only alternative to plain text. (BTW, I > wouldn't consider email to be "web" content.) They actually use HTML because the big commercial email program producers never read the MIME specifications, which from the very beginning had a rich text format. I'm not sure of the current situation, but early HTML Outlooks didn't understand the MIME rich text format! (Partly, I think it has to do with fashion - "HTML" (popular definition) was and is very fashionable - and partly to do with leveraging their existing HTML engines. Generally, though, the "HTML" is invalid and basically presentational.) Also, Microsoft also have MS-TNEF, as a proprietory rich text format. One of yesterday's most controversial articles had an MS-TNEF alternative. (HTML email is basically proprietory, as it assumes a particular rendering engine.)Received on Thursday, 16 January 2003 02:49:33 GMT
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