Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uwm.edu!bionet!agate!ucbvax!transarc.com!Craig_Everhart From: Craig_Everhart@transarc.com Newsgroups: comp.mail.misc Subject: Re: Tab Expansion in E-mail Message-ID: Date: 28 Feb 90 21:04:07 GMT References: <1960003@hp-ptp.HP.COM> Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU Lines: 18 It seems a shame to burn (human) cycles on a minor problem when there are so many larger fish to fry. I would refer the reader to RFC 1049 for the description of a Content-Type: header in messages that reaches far beyond simple tab-stop specification. I've gotten reasonably used to viewing all messages in a variable-pitch font, switching to a fixed-pitch one only when I want to see the ASCII-graphic information that somebody has written. Yes, my mail reader assumes it knows what tab characters mean, but I could teach it other things by extending content-type rather than by inventing yet another header. Todd Poynor has done an effective job of analyzing the problems that would arise in practice: encapsulation, shar'ing, gatewaying, and the like. I just wish he were looking at the Content-type: problems instead of a simple tab-stop one! Craig