What is html and text email?

When sending an email or posting a Usenet article, one has the option of sending that message as either TEXT or as RICH TEXT. Rich text messages (MIME/HTML etc) are normally rendered in a coloured font of your own choosing, they includes pictures or messages and can have embedded sounds, animation and movies. HTML has become the mark-up language of choice when sending rich text messages. The problem with rich text posts is that the contents need to be rendered (or parsed ortranslated) by the recipients mail/newsgroup client or operating system -- so there is always the chance that your message won't display correctly. Having said that, the MIME format has now been around for nearly 15 years so most newsreaders and mail clients know the basic parsing to handle it.

In any post to Usenet (and to a lesser extend mail), it is considered to be extremely poor taste and a massive violation of Usenet netiquette to send binary or formatted messages to text newsgroups. Since most email and newsgroup clients generally send messages in HTML by default, it is up to the user to correctly reconfigure their clients to send as text when and where appropriate. Most Usenet users are tolerant to a newbie who it yet to completely familiarise themselves with Usenet netiquette and behaviour, but that tolerance only extends so far when posters repeatedly fail to accept the advice of other users.

Different formats of messaging is appropriate in different sending or posting environments and, generally, if posting to a wide audience, you should post in a format that will either satisfy the lowest common denominator or keep the majority of your recipients happy. Since Usenet is a one-to-many type of communication where thousands of people could potentially read your message, text posts are always preferred.

How should a html message be used?

Beyond the debate over whether rich text messages should be used, there is also the debate over how it should be done and how the formatting should be used.

The HTML messages unquestionably offers the user an expressive means of accompanying their message but the problem exists that many people will over-populate their page with excessive "packaging" meaning that (1) the nature of the message is lost in a poorly designed page, or (2) the page won't be rendered or displayed correctly in the recipients email/newsgroup client and (3) the size of the email makes versus the size of the message is unbalanced

An email or newsgroup post sent with a background image, an image signature and other visual enhancements could be as large as 200 or 300 kb, which is a massive sized download for any caveman still using a dial-up connection. The equivalent text message might only be 2 or 3 kb in size.

HTML emails may carry a virus

HTML email is traditionally used to carry and spread a virus, worm or Trojan program. Using text format makes your message a lot more likely to be disease free. HTML email can also run JavaScript and other active components that can compromise your operating system.

MIME encoded attachments with file extensions (BAT, COM, DOC, EML, EXE, HTA, JS, PPT, SHS, VBE, VBS, WSH, XL#) have been the most common method of sending viruses, worms and Trojan programs because their code will be executed by Windows and associated viewers or other MS programs when the attachment is opened. Windows uses the extension to determine what the default action on a file will be. For instance, a .txt file will open in Notepad and a .html file will open in Internet Explorer.

Uncommon, but no less dangerous are file extensions (386, ACM, ACV, ADT, AX, BIN, BTM, CLA, CPL, CSC, CSH, DEV, DLL, DOT, DRV, HLP, HTM, HTT, INF, INI, JSE, JTD, MDB, MP#, MPP, MPT, MSO, OBD, OBT, OCX, OLE, OV#, PIF, PL, PM, POT, PP#, PPS, PRC, RAR, RTF, SCR, SH, SHB, SMM, SYS, VSD, VSS, VST, VXD, WSF, XL#, XLB, XTP).

HTML can mean a loss of privacy

HTML email can carry a trackback (register) feature for the sender (used regularly for large commercial mail outs). For example... an image, if displayed in a mail client, can call that image from a database that can record your IP address and other information about your location and computer which is validated against your email. If the message is sent as spam, and by opening the message, you will confirm your email as valid against their email database. This whole process is used reguarly and quite legitimately in large mail outs to measure the success of a mass email distribution. Organisations can measure their open rate, forward rate, readership rate and so forth (assuming those external elements are displayed) and the results can be used to build a better email campaign. Normally, this information should be made aware to a person by way of your privacy policy when the user initially signs up for a mailing list. You can easily choose to prevent images from displaying in most modern email clients meaning you can display images only from trusted sources.

Is HTML Usenet posting really that big a deal?

In the early days of Usenet you could almost conceive a child in the time it took to download newsgroup messages. More modern times means that the download time has significantly decreased but there are still cave people out there on slower dial-up services that will curse you every time you waste precious second of their life downloading a message.

The truth is, HTML messages probably don't represent the end of the world as they once did, but Usenet culture and good netiquette means that we continue in its tradition. If we're not happy with this, perhaps we should consider moderated web discussion areas.

Newsgroups are actually meant to be formed around areas of interest, and not around the medium or means of expression. A well formed and educated post can often illicit dirty replies purely because of the way in which it was written. Usenet doesn't discriminate against rudeness or morons, so if you're somebody that's new to Usenet who has recently had a bad experience... don't give up just yet. The truth is, most people don't care, but the ones that do can often be quite rude about expressing their preference!

Images in Usenet posts

Images can be provided in a post 'inline' (MIME encoded) -- that is the messages appear within the message body. Most users have a newsreader (or email client) that will display such images. They often also display the obsolete uuencode format. Funnily enogh, we have pornography Usenet newsgroups to thank for the swift development of both encoding and software that would enhance their online porn experience!

Posting images in any way whatsoever is likely to give some die-hard users a coronary so don't say you weren't warned if you ever choose to post pictures in a text group. The truth is though, many pictures, if scales down, are only about 40 or 50 kb in a jpeg format, which represents maybe 5 or 6 standard posts. In any case -- don't post pics into a text newsgroup!

Certainly anybody using a PDA, mobile phone or other portable device that typically connects at slower speeds and has far less hard disk space, will be less than impressed with your posted pics. HTML and MIME often doesn’t render in these portable devices meaning that your text takes forever to download and then doesn’t even display!