[LINK] E-mail is not a platform for design

[Adam Todd]

At 10:01 AM 9/06/2007, Ivan Trundle wrote:
>E-mail is not a platform for design
>
>All these years of internet use later, HTML mail still sucks. You may
>think I mean "HTML mail doesn't work properly in some e-mail
>clients." And that statement is certainly true. Companies spend hours
>crafting layouts that may not work in Eudora or Gmail, or may no
>longer work in Outlook.

At least it employs people.  ;)

>Even in programs that support the crap code used to create these
>layouts, all that hard visual work will go unseen if the user has
>unchecked "View HTML Mail" in their preferences.

Doesn't everyone?  I set all my clients that way.

>As for CSS, it is partially supported in some e-mail applications and
>in web apps like Gmail, but only if you author in nonsemantic table
>layouts and bandwidth-wasting inline CSS. Which is like using a
>broken refrigerator to store food at room temperature

ROFL!  What a quote!

>I mean it sucks because nobody needs it. It impedes rather than aids
>communication.

I agree :)

>E-mail was invented so people could quickly exchange text messages
>over fast or slow or really slow connections, using simple, non- 
>processor-intensive applications on any computing platform, or using
>phones, or hand-held devices, or almost anything else that can
>display text and permits typing.

No doubt AARNET agrees :)


>"Designed" e-mail is just a slightly more polished version of those
>messages your uncle sends you. Your uncle thinks 18pt bright red
>Comic Sans looks great, so he sends e-mail messages formatted that
>way.

Eewwwww!  I hate it when people seem to use 7 point yellow fonts in 
their messages.  Even though I have HTML turned off in Eudora, it 
still insists on displaying as much of a message as possible.

Working on a 17" screen in the highest resolution, that 7 point looks 
like four rows of dots and in yellow - it's just a line!

>Even though it doesn't work right in many e-mail applications, and
>even though many users dislike it, HTML appeals to clients because
>it's another place to stick their logo.

Which you then have 11,000 copies of in your "incoming" attachments directory.

>Say it with me: HTML is for websites. CSS is for websites. GIFs and
>JPEGs are for websites.
>
>ASCII means never having to say you're sorry.

And FTP is for file transfer, Email is not.