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Use plaintext email

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Re: Use plaintext email

#21

Post by beefhash »

For the convenience of anyone that may consider licensing and language it's written in a relevant part of their choice of software, here's the list of recommended e-mail clients in the submission with licensing and programming language info:

- aerc: MIT, Go

- alpine: Apache 2.0 (parts 4-clause BSD), C

- claws mail: GPLv3, C

- Gnus: LGPLv2+, elisp

- KMail: GPLv2 (parts GFDLv1.2, parts LGPLv2.1), C++

- mutt: GPLv2, C

- SquirrelMail: GPLv2, PHP

Side note:

> (context: ProtonMail) It's also recommended that you visit Settings → Account → Identity and remove the default email signature.

It bears noting that free accounts on ProtonMail cannot remove the ProtonMail advertisement in the signature, cf. [1].

[1] https://www.reddit.com/r/ProtonMail/comments/5ageqz/question...

Re: Use plaintext email

#22

Post by DarkCrusader2 »

jve wrote: post #18
DarkCrusader2 wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The page footer might interest you. It directly answers your question. Quoting "But if plaintext is so good, why is this page written in HTML?" This is a reference document, not an email, you twit.

Fair. I like that minimal formatting there anyway. But often I have to communicate via email, report on complex issues, etc. It is nice to have some headings, tables, images in there.

Agreed. As much as I like plain text email personally, having inline images etc. is really helpful sometimes.

Re: Use plaintext email

#23

Post by zaarn »

beefhash wrote: post #10
Tomte wrote: post #5

Why is this a Show HN? It's just a web page, isn't it?

Probably because Sir_Cmpwn just made it. Considering his other e-mail-related website[1], I'd say that's why. [1] https://git-send-email.io/

Yeah but it's not really a project he's showing of, just a rant about people sending HTML emails.

Re: Use plaintext email

#24

Post by e12e »

zaarn wrote: post #11

>HTML as a vector for phishing I would disagree, You can make Text-only links look fairly harmless too. The issue is more often that people do not look at all, even in text-mail, what the link points to, not that they can't see it (plus you can hover and the browser still shows the URL once you open it) >Privacy invasion and tracking Only if you use an ancient and outdated client that doesn't block external resources…

>> Some clients can't display HTML emails at all

> Most mail clients will usually bundle a text-version of the mail, some MTAs also do this on their own.

This assumes there is a proper text part (one that actually includes the content of the mail body).

Re: Use plaintext email

#25

Post by erk__ »

zaarn wrote: post #11

>HTML as a vector for phishing I would disagree, You can make Text-only links look fairly harmless too. The issue is more often that people do not look at all, even in text-mail, what the link points to, not that they can't see it (plus you can hover and the browser still shows the URL once you open it) >Privacy invasion and tracking Only if you use an ancient and outdated client that doesn't block external resources…

Does outlook not use microsoft word as the html render now?

Re: Use plaintext email

#26

Post by davidcollantes »

I was always a strong advocate for plain text emails. Because for many years my mail client was Mutt, I saw everything plain text. Now that clients are graphical, it bothers me to know others might be reading my plain text emails with a "Times New Roman" font, and not a monospaced (as god intended it to be).

So, to avoid that, I use HTML on my emails. Yes, it makes them a bit bigger. Yes, they go against my very belief. Yet, they look like I want them to be seeing.

Re: Use plaintext email

#27

Post by Sir_Cmpwn »

zaarn wrote: post #20
Sir_Cmpwn wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, but are they sending it for a concious choice to prefer HTML, or because it's Gmail's default?

Does it matter? The default is HTML, the majority of mail is HTML (or atleast multipart). So why does it matter if GMail defaults to what the majority is doing? Everyone (99.9999% of people) can receive and send HTML, so just do that, it's the informal standard for mail now.

I think it does matter. For my rationale consult TLA.

Re: Use plaintext email

#28

Post by dpau »

DarkCrusader2 wrote: post #9
jve wrote: post #8

> Rich text features desirable for end users include things like inline images, bold or italicized text, and so on. However, the tradeoff isn't worth it. Images can simply be attached to your email, and you can employ things like asterisks , /slashes/, _underscores_, or UPPERCASE for emphasis. Well, why bother writing his own post in rich text then? He has headings, bold, links, grey font at the bottom, image. Don't…

The page footer might interest you. It directly answers your question. Quoting "But if plaintext is so good, why is this page written in HTML?" This is a reference document, not an email, you twit.

ha! and i really love the design of this site- just the right amount of design & css styling to elegantly communicate the message..

Re: Use plaintext email

#29

Post by mavhc »

DarkCrusader2 wrote: post #22
jve wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fair. I like that minimal formatting there anyway. But often I have to communicate via email, report on complex issues, etc. It is nice to have some headings, tables, images in there.

Agreed. As much as I like plain text email personally, having inline images etc. is really helpful sometimes.

The key is sometimes. Plain text by default, rich text when required.

Software that would strip all html out of emails for security would be handy

Re: Use plaintext email

#30

Post by naikrovek »

e12e wrote: post #24
zaarn wrote: post #11

>HTML as a vector for phishing I would disagree, You can make Text-only links look fairly harmless too. The issue is more often that people do not look at all, even in text-mail, what the link points to, not that they can't see it (plus you can hover and the browser still shows the URL once you open it) >Privacy invasion and tracking Only if you use an ancient and outdated client that doesn't block external resources…

>> Some clients can't display HTML emails at all > Most mail clients will usually bundle a text-version of the mail, some MTAs also do this on their own. This assumes there is a proper text part (one that actually includes the content of the mail body).

That does not seem like much of an assumption; all modern mail clients that I am aware of do this.
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