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Finally back at a computer, can reply to this in full now: >I would disagree, You can make Text-only links look fairly harmless too. The issue is more often th
by Sir_Cmpwn 7y ago
Finally back at a computer, can reply to this in full now:
>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)
It would be difficult to argue that it's not at least more difficult to phish people with plain text.
>Only if you use an ancient and outdated client that doesn't block external resources by default or proxies them over another server.
This works until you click any link in the typical marketing email, or click "show images" to make the email readable. Remember that you have to train these careful behaviors into non-technical end-users.
>You can make them more accessible than Text though because you can prevent the screenreader from trying to read out the link or irrelevant information
This only sounds useful for spam or marketing emails (which are the same thing 99 times out of 100).
>It feels a bit like complaining that people on the highway drive so fast that you can't properly merge into the rightmost lane with your oldtimer car.
This is an uncharitable interpretation. We don't use these email clients because we're old fogeys, but because they're better and more efficient for our workflow and needs.
- esoterica 7y agoFor the vast majority of people html formatting is better and more efficient for their communication needs. Bold and highlighted text, section headers, tables and inline images are all very very standard and useful things to have in emails. These are not niche use cases.
- Sir_Cmpwn 7y agoI have never seen an email with a table in it, HTML or not. Inline images are not useful, just attach them. Leave your giant signature with your company logo at the door. What's left is section headers and bold text. Use asterisks for emphasis and # for section headers and you can communicate quite effectively. We seem to manage pretty well here on Hacker News without most of these features, wouldn't you say?
- hyperpape 7y agoI routinely insert org-mode tables into emails I send at work (now that I think about it, that's a little funny, given that I'm consistently pro-HTML-email in these threads).
- esoterica 7y agoIt takes a special kind of narcissism to say “I don’t use tables, therefore no one could possible have any use for them.” Attached images are worse for readability. Instead of writing “blabla refer to attached image 3 blabla now look at image 4”, it’s far more convenient to just insert inline images at the locations where they are relevant. Instead of using stupid hacky workarounds for italics and headers why not use ACTUAL italics and headers? Your entire argument revolves around the fact that you have a narrow minded, arbritrary, and old fashioned view of what the platonic ideal of an email is supposed to be. You can keep being the old man who yells and clouds if you want, no one cares if you get personally offended by the concept of section headers in emails, we’re going to keep doing it.
- Sir_Cmpwn 7y agoCouldn't help but notice that your ad hominem attack was conducted entirely in plain text.
- esoterica 7y agoIt was not. The HN page contains html. Notice how the comments are in a different font and color from the metadata above each comment? Notice how that improves readability?
- u801e 7y agoDownvoted comments are less readable due to decreased contrast (though I assume that's intentional so people well skip over them instead of responding).
- jefftk 7y ago