Jargons of Info Tech industry

[Mike Meyer]

Roedy Green <my_email_is_posted_on_my_website at munged.invalid> writes:
> This is one of the marvels of CSS once you get the hang of it.  If you
> don't like bright red letters on green backgrounds, you can CHANGE
> that. You can change the fonts, sizes etc etc. You can if you want get
> something very like plain ASCII text.

Show us *examples*! Do you create a style sheet for every site you
visit that overrides there classes? What?

> So from an aesthetic point of view, once people learn how it works,
> CSS lets sender and receiver compromise on what the message looks
> like. No other medium gives ANY control to the receiver about how a
> message is formatted.

Sorry, but that's bullshit. The receiver controls the viewer software,
and hence ultimately has complete control over *everything*. If I use
ghostscript as the viewer for ps and pdf files, I can install font map
files to replace all the standardd sans serif fonts with serifed
fonts, and so on. Some viewer applications may require editing the
magic .c, .cpp, etc. configuration files, but that's possible so long
as you're sending something other than pictures of words.

> There is also the philosophical question. When my nephew sends me a
> message, do I have a right to warp his intent even if I don't like the
> aesthetics?  That is part of his message.

If HTML is a medium, only someone really ignorant of the medium will
think that their presentation is preserved. As has been pointed out,
moving the file from Windows to other platforms changes the font
sizes. The physical monitor size, the screen size, the readers window
size, the dpi on the monitor, even the color depth on low-end devices
all change the presentation. The fonts you use may not be installed on
the recipients platform - I particularly like the idea that if you use
a font installed by some application, the only person who'll see it
the way you intended is the guy who bought the other copy of that
application.

So what you're really asking is if you have the right to read his
message on anything but his favorite rendering agent configured the
way he likees it, on his favorite computer configured the way he likes
it.

> Should my email reader fix the spelling mistakes in the emails sent me
> by angry US soldiers?  Or is that part of the message?

I say let Harlan Ellison decide.

> There are three different issues getting muddled together:
>
> 1. avoiding spam

I think what you mean here is "avoiding malware". Spam should be dealt
with before it gets to your mail reader.

> 2. making mail from well meaning but inept friends more readable.
>
> 3. what constitutes a good general style for general correspondence.
> How should you use rich text appropriately.

Well, if you want your presentation preserved, you don't send rich
text, you send pictures of words.

      <mike
-- 
Mike Meyer <mwm at mired.org>			http://www.mired.org/home/mwm/
Independent WWW/Perforce/FreeBSD/Unix consultant, email for more information.