Re: [SM-USERS] SM and HTML e-mail FAQ?

[Jonathan A. <jo...@sq...>]

Hello Chris,
On Tuesday, November 11, 2003, Chris Winterrowd wrote...

> I am working on developing a FAQ on how HTML e-mail is bad, why
> SquirrelMail protects the users (even though they think this is a
> bug) and if it must be used, how to compose HTML e-mail *properly*
> -- While I have seen many articles on why it is bad, unfortunately,
> too many people compose HTML e-mail here at TI.

This would be a great thing to see.

> Has anyone here written or seen a good article on how to compose
> HTML e-mail properly (with using embedded images) so the end user
> who chooses to View as HTML does not see "This image has been
> removed for security reasons." ??

Unfortunately I've not seen any, but what you have mentioned in your
other emails, you certainly seem to have a handle on the areas for it.

> If not, I volunteer to head this up and contribute it to the
> SquirrelMail Wiki for others who continually get asked this
> question, and I would appreciate any comments from those of you who
> have to deal with HTML e-mail.

That'd be an excellent idea.

Now for my few experiences with html:

  a. In general, it's bad.  I say this for a number of reasons, most
     people already know them because they're generally well known by
     anybody that hates HTML [1].
  b. It is a security risk for some clients (read that as any client
     that uses Internet Explorer's HTML engine).
  c. Most cases of HTML are badly constructed (not being helpful for
     clients that are plain text only by having only an html part for
     example).
  d. 99% of the time, you _can_ get the same effect simply using plain
     text.  I've never found a need to have pink text to get my point
     across.
  e. HTML in some clients can result in an increase in spam levels
    (just one of the reasons SM blocks eternal images)


 [1] http://www.georgedillon.com/web/html_email_is_evil_still.shtml

There are a couple of links at the bottom of the page, they should be
useful too.
 
-- 
Jonathan Angliss
(jo...@sq...)