Other Sites

berner.org notes:

"One feature of many modern email program is the ability to send messages with different colors, different fonts and other fancy bells and whistles. While this formatting is often more pleasing to the eye than plain old text, it causes problems with mailing lists. In fact, for people without the same email program as you, your formatted messages may be difficult or impossible to read.

"As a rule, you should always try to send email to mailing lists in "plain text format." While this won't be as fancy, it will ensure that everyone can read your email without problems."

To which I would add, not just mail that you send to lists, although I am a list moderator, and formatted postings are a royal pain to deal with. I regard formatted email as a regressive plague, and I strongly advocate disabling it for all mailing unless you know that the person at the other end has the software to handle it and will appreciate it. Plain text email is the desirable way to go. Yes, folks, your email should be plain, boring, monospaced type ... no colors, no different fonts, no backgrounds, no HTML, no embedded graphics, no cutesy stuff at all

If you're confused about how to configure your email client to NOT send formatted email, check out berner.com's tutorial which includes instructions for disabling formatting in:

• Eudora Light (3.0):
• Eudora Pro (3.0):
• Eudora Pro (4.x):
• Microsoft Exchange:
• Netscape (3.x or earlier):
• Netscape (4.0):
• Outlook (see below for Outlook Express):
• Outlook Express (see above for Outlook):
• Outlook Express for Macintosh:
• Pegasus Mail (3.x):
• Pegasus Mail (4.x):

Or this tutorial from Rootsweb Help Desk.

As Rootsweb notes:

"While [formatting] makes your E-mail fun, pretty and interesting to look at, it can cause a lot of havoc and various problems for other people online:

• Not everyone has software (or hardware) that is compatible with these new features, so they cannot see the intended benefits. Many times what they see is garbled text or the actual HTML code behind the message.

• Using HTML and RTF in E-mail messages makes the messages very large in size. They will take longer to download and they take up more storage space than standard E-mail messages. E-mail storage is important because some people retain copies of messages they receive and in the case of mailing lists, the messages are archived so that they can be searched later."

Yup, waiting for a 347k formatted messsage to download through my puny 26,400 (on a good day) rural dialup pipeline to the Web is no fun at all. Remember that less than 10% of Internet users have broadband hookups.

Rootsweb provides instructions for disabling formatting in:
• Eudora Pro
• Internet Explorer 3.02 with Internet Mail
• Microsoft Exchange
• Netscape Communicator
• Outlook Express
• Outlook Express for Macintosh
• Outlook 98
• Pegasus Mail 3.01b

A third email formatting disabling tutorial can be found at Pinehurst.net Support, who answer the operative question "What is wrong with sending HTML and MIME messages?" thus (in part):

"When you send an attached word processor file, it will appear on the other end as the exact same type of file. The recipient must have hardware and software that can read that file. For example, if you attach an MS Word file, and the recipient of your message is using a word processor that can't open MS Word files, that person isn't going to be able to open your attachment....

"Using HTML or MIME in Email messages makes the messages larger in size by some two thirds. These will take longer to download and they take up more storage space than standard Email messages....

"Plain text is how your messages should be formatted when sending Email to mailing lists and Usenet newsgroups or to any other recipient. Though this rule is not yet cast in 'Netiquette' stone, it is a good policy to follow if you want quick and informative responses to your questions and wish to avoid being 'flamed' as a clueless newbie.

"HTML is meant for the WWW; not for mailing lists, Usenet newsgroups postings, proper business Email correspondence and preferably not for personal Email unless the recipient is expecting it.

"MIME encoded mail is used to send attachments that consist of pictures, sound files, spreadsheets, word-processing documents, zip files, or other binary files to recipients that have use the same operating system, the same word processing program and a common Email program such as Eudora, Pegasus, Netscape, or Outlook.

"These types of files are not wanted on mailing lists, Usenet newsgroups postings, business Email correspondence, and preferably not for personal Email unless the recipient is expecting it."

Superb advice.

The Pinehurst tutorial instructs how to disable formatting in:
• Agent/Free Agent
• AOL
• Eudora Light v3.0.6
• Eudora Light v3.0.5 and earlier
• Eudora Pro v4.0.2 and earlier
• MS Internet Explorer 4.0 and 5.0
• MS Exchange
• Netscape Communicator 4.5, 4.6, 4.7
• Netscape Communicator 4.0x - 4.4x
• Netscape Communicator 3.xx
• Outlook 2000
• Outlook Express 4.0 and 5.0
• Outlook 97 (without Service Release 1 SR1)
• Outlook 97 (with Service Release 1 SR1)
• Outlook 98 (Work group version)
• Outlook 98 (Internet version)
• Pegasus Mail 3.xx
• Pine (Unix)
• TheBat! v1.xx

You can check it out at:
http://support.pinehurst.net/email/nomime.html