html signature?

[David Young]

Does someone have a recipe for automatically adding an HTML signature
with embedded images to one's email? And is it possible to produce a
hybrid text/plain & text/html email, or do I have to go full HTML?

Seems like it *should* be possible with some MIME trickery involving
Content-Disposition: inline, Content-Type: text/html, but I don't want
to reinvent the wheel if I can avoid it.

(Please, before someone tells me why this should not be done because it
is a bad idea, let me say that I agree with you, neither you nor I will
persuade my boss, and the alternative is to switch to GMail.)

Dave

[Grant Edwards]

Post by David Young
Does someone have a recipe for automatically adding an HTML signature
with embedded images to one's email? And is it possible to produce a
hybrid text/plain & text/html email, or do I have to go full HTML?

I use muttdown to produce multipart/alternative:

https://github.com/GrantEdwards/muttdown

Post by David Young
(Please, before someone tells me why this should not be done because it
is a bad idea, let me say that I agree with you, neither you nor I will
persuade my boss, and the alternative is to switch to GMail.)

I've noticed that the handling of text/plain by popular GUI MUAs has
gotten so bad in past few years, that I'm now reluctant to send mail
in that format.

[Scott Kostyshak]

Post by Grant Edwards
I've noticed that the handling of text/plain by popular GUI MUAs has
gotten so bad in past few years, that I'm now reluctant to send mail
in that format.

What are the most common mistakes? I wasn't aware of this situation, and
since I often argue in favor of text/plain (well, usually multi-part
MIME), I should be aware of these issues.

Scott

[Tim Chase]

Post by Scott Kostyshak

Post by Grant Edwards
I've noticed that the handling of text/plain by popular GUI MUAs
has gotten so bad in past few years, that I'm now reluctant to
send mail in that format.

What are the most common mistakes?

The biggest I've seen is using proportional fonts to display content
intended to be in a monospace font. Part of this may also entail
combining/compacting white-space which is particularly horrid if
emailing Python snippets.

A runner-up: sometimes certain MUAs (coughOutlookcough) will
preemptively wrap content according to some algorithm I've not yet
sussed out. Last I checked, it did offer a small "show original
unwrapped text" but it really mangles some of the text/plain I've
sent.

-tkc

[Grant Edwards]

This post might be inappropriate. Click to display it.

[José María Mateos]

Post by Grant Edwards
text/plain (which usually assumes an 80-colum display) often renders
especially bad on narrow phone displays.

This can be solved using format=flowed e-mail. I used it for a while (it came with a different set of problems) and it was displaying perfectly on my phone screen.

Cheers,

[Scott Kostyshak]

Post by Grant Edwards

Post by Scott Kostyshak

Post by Grant Edwards
I've noticed that the handling of text/plain by popular GUI MUAs has
gotten so bad in past few years, that I'm now reluctant to send mail
in that format.

What are the most common mistakes?

They don't use a fixed-width font. I suppose it's debatable as to
whether that's a "bug", but it wrecks a lot of plaintext posts/emails
that have columns of data or "tables" in them.
Some of them start a new paragraph (complete with extra vertical
space) everytime they see a cr/lf.
This is a list with three items
* item 1
* item 2
* item 3
This is a list with three items * item 1 * item 2 * item 3
text/plain (which usually assumes an 80-colum display) often renders
especially bad on narrow phone displays.

Post by Scott Kostyshak
I wasn't aware of this situation, and since I often argue in favor
of text/plain (well, usually multi-part MIME), I should be aware of
these issues.

It depends on what MUAs (and the versions) the recipients have.

Thanks, Grant and Tim for your explanations. That's good to know!

Scott

[Matthias Apitz]

On Wednesday, 7 March 2018 19:37:39 CET, Scott Kostyshak

Post by Grant Edwards
I've noticed that the handling of text/plain by popular GUI MUAs has
gotten so bad in past few years, that I'm now reluctant to send mail
in that format.

I'm used to receive my mails via fetchmail+procmail+mutt and mails in HTML
are in best case silently ignored or end up in SPAM folders. You have been
adviced. :-)

matthias

[Grant Edwards]

Post by Matthias Apitz
On Wednesday, 7 March 2018 19:37:39 CET, Scott Kostyshak

Post by Grant Edwards
I've noticed that the handling of text/plain by popular GUI MUAs has
gotten so bad in past few years, that I'm now reluctant to send mail
in that format.

I'm used to receive my mails via fetchmail+procmail+mutt and mails in HTML
are in best case silently ignored or end up in SPAM folders. You have been
adviced. :-)

Do you discard multipart/alternative where there's both text/plain and
text/html? That's what I'm leaning towards in the general case.

I read this list using slrn via an NNTP server, so that's strictly
plain text.

[Matthias Apitz]

On Wednesday, 7 March 2018 20:13:52 CET, Grant Edwards

Post by Grant Edwards

Post by Matthias Apitz
I'm used to receive my mails via fetchmail+procmail+mutt and
mails in HTML
are in best case silently ignored or end up in SPAM folders.
You have been
adviced. :-)

Do you discard multipart/alternative where there's both text/plain and
text/html? That's what I'm leaning towards in the general case.
I read this list using slrn via an NNTP server, so that's strictly
plain text.

In case of real text/plain part (and not only 'click here to read this
mail' or other suggestions the like) I do.

matthias

[Grant Edwards]

Post by Matthias Apitz
On Wednesday, 7 March 2018 20:13:52 CET, Grant Edwards

Post by Grant Edwards

Post by Matthias Apitz
I'm used to receive my mails via fetchmail+procmail+mutt and
mails in HTML
are in best case silently ignored or end up in SPAM folders.
You have been
adviced. :-)

Do you discard multipart/alternative where there's both text/plain and
text/html? That's what I'm leaning towards in the general case.
I read this list using slrn via an NNTP server, so that's strictly
plain text.

In case of real text/plain part (and not only 'click here to read this
mail' or other suggestions the like) I do.

It seems a bit sever to discard emails that include both text/plain
and text/html alternatives. But it's your inbox, do as you please.

[Matthias Apitz]

Post by Grant Edwards

Post by Matthias Apitz

Post by Grant Edwards
Do you discard multipart/alternative where there's both text/plain and
text/html? That's what I'm leaning towards in the general case.
I read this list using slrn via an NNTP server, so that's strictly
plain text.

In case of real text/plain part (and not only 'click here to read this
mail' or other suggestions the like) I do.

It seems a bit sever to discard emails that include both text/plain
and text/html alternatives. But it's your inbox, do as you please.

Sorry, I meant:

In case of real text/plain part (and not only 'click here to read this
mail' or other suggestions the like) I do READ them.

matthias

[Scott Kostyshak]

Post by Matthias Apitz
In case of real text/plain part (and not only 'click here to read this
mail' or other suggestions the like) I do READ them.

Many of the HTML-only emails come from automated email systems. I
usually respond and explain to them why I would appreciate a plain-text
email. I list a few reasons. I find that one reason that they seem
particularly responsive to is to point out that people with disabilities
may have trouble with HTML-only emails. At the bottom of the email, I
always tell them to forward my suggestion to their tech team. It takes
time to write these emails, and is frustrating, but I find that some are
actually responsive to it.

Scott

[Yubin Ruan]

Post by Scott Kostyshak

Post by Matthias Apitz
In case of real text/plain part (and not only 'click here to read this
mail' or other suggestions the like) I do READ them.

Many of the HTML-only emails come from automated email systems. I
usually respond and explain to them why I would appreciate a plain-text
email. I list a few reasons. I find that one reason that they seem
particularly responsive to is to point out that people with disabilities
may have trouble with HTML-only emails.

Why?

--
Yubin

[Thomas Stein]

I find that one reason that they seem particularly responsive to is
to point out that people with disabilities may have trouble with
HTML-only emails.

Why?

One example: Many visually impaired computer users read mails using
either a screen reader[1] or a braille display[2]. Both devices are
known to work best with plain text.

Thomas

[1] <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screen_reader>
[2] <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refreshable_braille_display>

[Scott Kostyshak]

I find that one reason that they seem particularly responsive to is
to point out that people with disabilities may have trouble with
HTML-only emails.

Why?

=20
One example: Many visually impaired computer users read mails using eithe=

r a

screen reader[1] or a braille display[2]. Both devices are known to work
best with plain text.

That is what I had in mind also. This is at least what a visually
impaired student told me. That was 5 years ago though, perhaps
technology has improved to the point where it is not a big problem
anymore. The following does not give a detailed explanation, but it does
recommend at least a plain-text email version:

https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=3Dhttps-3A__litmus.com_blog_acce=
ssibility-2Demail-2Ddesign-2Dinfograph&d=3DDwIBAg&c=3DpZJPUDQ3SB9JplYbifm4n=
t2lEVG5pWx2KikqINpWlZM&r=3DzUqJVM3RY5svAe6ctaxqyrj3k9OQkcL6UzDF3Kn6e0s&m=3D=
4rdeU5UU5g6LLY2dMJjydI1hJxXXucFFbKggnvD3cjM&s=3DE1g96DB0nLqgGwdHwF5VTs7hMPt=
47bng45d0wpY2x2E&e=3D

I personally find images and color distracting when trying to focus
completely on the content of an email. To be fair, getting rid of images
and color makes my focus level go from e.g. 95% to 98%, but I do find it
significant. I can imagine (but speak on no authority) that people who
have disabilities related to attention and focus would have similar
difficulty with distracting and unnecessary elements.

Scott


--=20
Scott Kostyshak
Assistant Professor of Economics
University of Florida
https://people.clas.ufl.edu/skostyshak/

[Jude DaShiell]

That's still a big problem, I have to use a screen reader over here and
I use among others archlinux. Probably Tim Berners-Lee probably didn't
invent the web mail format and by now I'm pretty sure he's thoroughly
sick of it not to mention what all else was done with his creation.

Date: Thu, 8 Mar 2018 13:02:03
Subject: Re: html signature?

I find that one reason that they seem particularly responsive to is
to point out that people with disabilities may have trouble with
HTML-only emails.

Why?

One example: Many visually impaired computer users read mails using either a
screen reader[1] or a braille display[2]. Both devices are known to work
best with plain text.

That is what I had in mind also. This is at least what a visually
impaired student told me. That was 5 years ago though, perhaps
technology has improved to the point where it is not a big problem
anymore. The following does not give a detailed explanation, but it does
https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__litmus.com_blog_accessibility-2Demail-2Ddesign-2Dinfograph&d=DwIBAg&c=pZJPUDQ3SB9JplYbifm4nt2lEVG5pWx2KikqINpWlZM&r=zUqJVM3RY5svAe6ctaxqyrj3k9OQkcL6UzDF3Kn6e0s&m=4rdeU5UU5g6LLY2dMJjydI1hJxXXucFFbKggnvD3cjM&s=E1g96DB0nLqgGwdHwF5VTs7hMPt47bng45d0wpY2x2E&e=
I personally find images and color distracting when trying to focus
completely on the content of an email. To be fair, getting rid of images
and color makes my focus level go from e.g. 95% to 98%, but I do find it
significant. I can imagine (but speak on no authority) that people who
have disabilities related to attention and focus would have similar
difficulty with distracting and unnecessary elements.
Scott

--