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> Being able to use color, or bold, or italics, makes a difference in communication. It really does. Color, especially helps people find the relevant/critical

> Being able to use color, or bold, or italics, makes a difference in communication. It really does. Color, especially helps people find the relevant/critical part.

johannes1234321 7y ago
Unless the recepient is color blind or has another impairment. Also instead of highlighting important parts, one might focus on important parts in the first place. That said there are valid uses for formatting. But unfortunately most of the formatted mails are harder to digest than needed. Especially if it becomes a longer exchange and people start highlighting in quoted mails.
pmlnr 7y ago
No, this is not true at all. People will _only_ read the color part and skip anything else, which is equally bad to not finding it immediately, if not worse. And there are also color blind people for whom the color might be even worse than the lack of it.
- astrobe_ 7y ago
  Yes. The argument almost defeats itself: why do you waste my time with irrelevant stuff? Why did you make read a whole page of details before coming to the critical point? That has been my experience: make your messages as short and straight to the point as possible. Put the most important stuff first and the gory details only the curious will read, last. That goes for documentation too. HTML mail gives the illusion that fancy formatting can make up for mediocre writing skills. That's sad, because no amount of bold face, color or indentation can fix an inconsistently structured piece. You learn that stuff at school, make your tuition fees (and/or the time you have been forced to invested in it instead of being young and having fun) worth it.
scbrg 7y ago
You could also skip the irrelevant parts. That too makes it easy to find the relevant part :-)
snowwrestler 7y ago
It's true, in fact here's a good example of someone using color to improve their communication: https://useplaintext.email/ https://useplaintext.email/
- liquid153 7y ago
  GOT EM!!!
- adtac 7y ago
  >"But if plaintext is so good, why is this page written in HTML?" >This is a reference document, not an email, you twit.
  - djrogers 7y ago
    >This is a reference document, not an email, you twit. Abot 25% of the emails I write, and 90% of the important ones, are reference material for the people that get them. Screenshots, hghlights, and links to external documentation all make my email communication better, faster, and more useful to the recipients.
    - liquid153 7y ago
      GOT EM!!! WHAT A TWIT
  - gowld 7y ago
    I suspect you are being downvoted because people don't realize you are quoting the document. It's a shame that HN features articles that are written in a style that doesn't follow the basic standards of civility and quality that is expected of comments.

> Being able to use color, or bold, or italics, makes a difference in communication. It really does. Color, especially helps people find the relevant/critical part.

johannes1234321 7y ago

Unless the recepient is color blind or has another impairment. Also instead of highlighting important parts, one might focus on important parts in the first place. That said there are valid uses for formatting. But unfortunately most of the formatted mails are harder to digest than needed. Especially if it becomes a longer exchange and people start highlighting in quoted mails.

pmlnr 7y ago

No, this is not true at all. People will _only_ read the color part and skip anything else, which is equally bad to not finding it immediately, if not worse. And there are also color blind people for whom the color might be even worse than the lack of it.

astrobe_ 7y ago
Yes. The argument almost defeats itself: why do you waste my time with irrelevant stuff? Why did you make read a whole page of details before coming to the critical point? That has been my experience: make your messages as short and straight to the point as possible. Put the most important stuff first and the gory details only the curious will read, last. That goes for documentation too. HTML mail gives the illusion that fancy formatting can make up for mediocre writing skills. That's sad, because no amount of bold face, color or indentation can fix an inconsistently structured piece. You learn that stuff at school, make your tuition fees (and/or the time you have been forced to invested in it instead of being young and having fun) worth it.

scbrg 7y ago

You could also skip the irrelevant parts. That too makes it easy to find the relevant part :-)

snowwrestler 7y ago

It's true, in fact here's a good example of someone using color to improve their communication: https://useplaintext.email/ https://useplaintext.email/

liquid153 7y ago
GOT EM!!!
adtac 7y ago
>"But if plaintext is so good, why is this page written in HTML?" >This is a reference document, not an email, you twit.
- djrogers 7y ago
  >This is a reference document, not an email, you twit. Abot 25% of the emails I write, and 90% of the important ones, are reference material for the people that get them. Screenshots, hghlights, and links to external documentation all make my email communication better, faster, and more useful to the recipients.
  - liquid153 7y ago
    GOT EM!!! WHAT A TWIT
- gowld 7y ago
  I suspect you are being downvoted because people don't realize you are quoting the document. It's a shame that HN features articles that are written in a style that doesn't follow the basic standards of civility and quality that is expected of comments.