HTMLised email and RFC 2557

[Simon Bowring]

On Sun, 12 Dec 1999 21:54:54 +0100, xavier caballe wrote:

>Take a look to RFC 2557.

RFC 2557 is *not* about representing emails in HTML!

RFC 2557 is about the transferal of aggregate documents
(like HTML) via email.

i.e. it is about the MIME encoding ("attachment")  of documents 
spanning multiple files such as HTML which is unable to represent 
pictures etc inline and requires the use of separate files.

It does *not* cover any HTML interoperability issues whatsoever,
like what features must/ought/should be supported or how they
should be supported (apart form how to send multiple hyperlinked 
files such that the links between them arrive intact at the receiver, 
*provided* the original files are only linked using relative URIs!).

Neither does this RFC address issues like whether a plain text version
of the document should be supplied etc.

Just because HTML is able to represent "rich format", does not
make it a suitable mark-up language for use in email - in particlular 
the fact that it is a "hypermedia" markup language designed to 
reference stuff all over the internet makes it "dangerous" 
(insecure).

I suppose a strict small subset of HTML *could* be used if that 
subset could be agreed on and standrarised as an RFC or W3C DTD,
but this has not yet been proposed. In the meantime large
arsehole vendors continue to develop email products with deliberate 
interoperability problems ("embrace and extend...") in order to capture
market share, and the lesse dominant players feel forced to catch-up 
with semi compatible copy-cat features.


RFC2557 allows HTML emails to take advantage of such features 
such as in-line images, movies and sounds to be included 
in your HTML email (great for mail bloat)!.

HTML-ised mail raises the spectre of viruses (JavaScript/Java),
security violations via URLs referencing remote addresses etc.

HTML advocates can look forward to a world where they have
to download the latest shockwave plug-in (or whatever) to 
read a 5 word 489Mb email with a "neat" video of the sendor 
attached (if indeed the plug-in is available for their 
platform)!

>As far as I know, Lotus does not support HTML on their mail tools.
I was just commenting on the fact that their adherence to internet 
standards has been historically poor - their notes email is not well 
regarded for peaceful coexistance with SMTP and other standards based 
software (though considerable improvements have been made of late).

Regards

Simon Bowring,                   | http://www.mpc-data.co.uk/
Senior Software Engineer,        | Tel: +44 1225 868228
MPC Data Limited                 | Fax: +44 1225 868191