Thanks for that - it works!
Phil
On 15 Sep 2009, at 11:43, Harry Powell wrote:
Hi
Apple mail (which is what I think Phil uses) is a bit of a nuisance
- there is no menu option to display plain text by default,
apparently (IMWBW) - you have the option to view the current message
in plain text, but you have to do this on a message-by-message basis.
There is a non-menu option however. In a UNIX shell (i.e. on the
command line) when Mail isn't running (because apparently when it
exits it resets the defaults to what they were when it started)
type -
defaults write com.apple.mail PreferPlainText -bool TRUE
I googled and found something about editing ~/Library/Preferences/
com.apple.mail.plist (double click on the icon, don't try with emacs
or vi...)and adding the following to the start of the first
dictionary:-
<key>PreferPlainText</key>
<true/>
But this is accompanied by a warning to make sure you know what you
are "doing when playing around in the XML preference files". I
don't, and I couldn't easily see what to do here.
On 15 Sep 2009, at 11:24, Ian Tickle wrote:
Phil
Nothing at all wrong with plain text for simple messages as you
say, but
if you want to communicate a complicated equation (particularly one
containing a lot of Greek letters and math symbols not in the
standard
ASCII set!) the HTML version is much cleaner and easier to
understand.
Obviously I would never try to send such an equation to the BB, I'm
talking about private messages. The problem is remembering to switch
back to plain text for run-of-the-mill messages (and knowing people's
sensitivities I always try to do that!). On my client admittedly the
option for plain text/HTML sending is in clear view, in a previous
version it was buried deep in the menu options and had to be selected
before you started to compose the message, and the same may well be
true
for other clients.
The other point of course is that you're never going to be able to
stem
the tide! There will always be people who will use HTML even for
simple
messages, mostly through ignorance, and it seems to me that if the
HTML
version causes problems as it seems to be doing in your client,
then the
easiest solution is to adapt and select the 'by default view as plain
text' option.
Cheers
-- Ian
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-ccp...@jiscmail.ac.uk [mailto:owner-ccp...@jiscmail.ac.uk
]
On
Behalf Of Phil Evans
Sent: 15 September 2009 10:47
To: CCP4BB@JISCMAIL.AC.UK
Subject: Re: [ccp4bb] attachments
There are two problems, I think
1. Sending a simple mail like this in anything other than plain text
is wasteful, and also enforces the sender's way of displaying it on
the reader, rather than following the reader's preference.
(That may of course be appropriate in some cases where formatting is
important, but not in this context)
2. Messages such as Norman's (and others), which seem to come from
Outlook Express or Exchange Server, specify a font size 3D2
(whatever
that means) which comes out too small to read, at least for me
The html line is:-
<P><FONT SIZE=3D2 FACE=3D"Arial">
<Luddite> What's wrong with plain text? </Luddite>
Phil
On 15 Sep 2009, at 10:34, Ian Tickle wrote:
Phil
I had this same problem a while ago, if you recall. Modern e-mail
clients sending a message in HTML format will almost certainly send
it
in 2 parts, the first a version converted to plain text and the
second
the original HTML version (and possibly other versions of the same
message). This is the 'MIME multipart alternative' e-mail standard
which is designed so that e-mail clients or users reading the
message
can choose the version they want to display. To quote from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MIME#Alternative : "Systems can then
choose
the "best" representation they are capable of processing; in
general,
this will be the last part that the system can understand".
So assuming your mail client is MIME-compatible (I would have
thought
that all modern clients are) there should be an option on your mail
reader (as there is on mine) to always display the plain text
version.
Cheers
-- Ian
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-ccp...@jiscmail.ac.uk [mailto:owner-
ccp...@jiscmail.ac.uk]
On
Behalf Of Phil Evans
Sent: 15 September 2009 09:59
To: CCP4BB@JISCMAIL.AC.UK
Subject: Re: [ccp4bb] attachments
while we're on this topic, it would be nice also if messages were
sent
in plain text, not as html (like yours, Norman :-)), particularly
as
these ones generally come out in a tiny font in my (Apple) mail
reader, for some reason
Phil
On 15 Sep 2009, at 09:45, Stein, Norman (STFC,DL,CSE) wrote:
In the past month there have been several postings to the BB with
large
(100kB or more) attachments. Can I remind subscribers that it is
our
policy to discourage attachments as, amongst other things, they
can
cause mailboxes to fill at an alarming rate. A link to a website
carrying the data which would otherwise appear in the attachment,
is
more appropriate.
Norman Stein
CCP4
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sent. If you are not the intended recipient you must not review,
use, disclose, copy, distribute or take any action in reliance upon
it. If you have received this communication in error, please notify
Astex Therapeutics Ltd by emailing i.tic...@astex-therapeutics.com
and destroy all copies of the message and any attached documents.
Astex Therapeutics Ltd monitors, controls and protects all its
messaging traffic in compliance with its corporate email policy.
The Company accepts no liability or responsibility for any onward
transmission or use of emails and attachments having left the Astex
Therapeutics domain. Unless expressly stated, opinions in this
message are those of the individual sender and not of Astex
Therapeutics Ltd. The recipient should check this email and any
attachments for the presence of computer viruses. Astex
Therapeutics Ltd accepts no liability for damage caused by any
virus transmitted by this email. E-mail is susceptible to data
corruption, interception, unauthorized amendment, and tampering,
Astex Therapeutics Ltd only send and receive e-mails on the basis
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--
Dr Harry Powell, MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, MRC Centre,
Hills Road, Cambridge, CB2 0QH
