On October 4th, I distributed a test msg which made use of new
standards-based email features to include an inline graphic and styled
text (bold, italic, colored text). To send such a message in Eudora, I
turn on the feature for "format with HTML" and then just drag a graphic
into the message window. Eudora 4.x, Netscape Communicator, and MS Outlook
support these features. (People reading via the free web-based email
services probably see graphics OK.)
I was motivated by a recent experience in which an on-line group used
these features. Graphics and the personality expressed in styled text
added much to the conversation. People contributed figures, cartoons,
scanned material, diagrams, etc. ranging from very quick sketches to
precise artwork.
I'm interested in the possibilities for expanding our dialgoue by going
beyond plain text, words on a screen. I asked for a reply, "Can you see
the graphic elements OK in your email window?"
I received 85 replies:
- 65 people saw the graphics well enough (11 of these saw the graphic as
an attached file or at the bottom of the msg, not in-line in the message
window).
- 20 people saw gibberish... The encoded form, not the graphic. Many of
these could see styled text.
The biggest roadblock to distributing msgs with graphics is that the Digest
version of the list does not support this feature at all and over half of
LO readers get the digest. This is a limitation of Majordomo, and I have no
ideas for solutions to this.
I received "No" replies from people using:
- AOL 3
- Internet Mail Service 5.0, 5.5
- Eudora Light (according to reports from a "frugal Scotsman")
- Quick Mail
- MS Internet Mail
- EMC Ver 2.5.3
- cc:Mail
- Pegasus Mail
I won't do anything soon on the LO list. In the meantime, I encourage you
to upgrade to an email program which will support standards-based email
(may also be described as "HTML-mail"). I'm certain that this will expand
your possibilities for conversation here and everywhere on the net.
-- Rick
--Richard Karash ("Rick") | <http://world.std.com/~rkarash> Speaker, Facilitator, Trainer | email: Richard@Karash.com "Towards learning organizations" | Host for Learning-Org Discussion (617)227-0106, fax (617)523-3839 | <http://www.learning-org.com>
Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <rkarash@karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>