In the beginning...

[John Angelico]

On Wed, 15 Dec 1999 14:14:00 -0500 (EST), Rodney R. Korte wrote:

>
>>The first printed electronic messages were all upper case and no
>>punctuation.
>
>Of course, in relation to the message size argument that is the
>reason for complaints of HTML use in email, the actual size of a
>message written with all caps is EXACTLY the same as the size of
>a message written with mixed case.

And remember that all upper case represented a regression from real
life ie computers were NOT doing what we would normally do as real
people.

Therefore when proper case, punctuation etc was added to computing
capabilities, it was a restoration to a level which truly WAS
intuitive and natural.

The next step to richly formatted text a la desktop publishing (and
now Adobe PDF) similarly matched a readily understood physical life
paradigm - the printed book/brochure/presentation etc BUT ONLY for
largish documents, not for mail. 

In the case of email DTP-style embellishments do not match real life
mail - therefore I contend that HTML or similar enhancements to email
are more easily seen as "just techno-geeks playing with their
expensive toys" 

If some people do it some times on special occasions, OK, but not for
everything.

Best regards
John Angelico
OS/2 SIG
Melbourne PC User Group Inc.
Email: talldad@melbpc.org.au or talldad@kepl.com.au
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