OT: email bloat

Wed May 24 09:17:36 PDT 2006

People often like to take aim and fire at those of us that gripe about HTML
email--or even mixed.  What it comes down to is pure numbers, though.  And
this is -perfectly- illustrated by an email someone just sent me.  

Three lines:  saluation, brief 3-word message, signature.  That's it.

Here's what it looks like when sent normally:

*****
Hi Mark

Why'd you log....

[XXXX]
*****

That's it.  Takes 0.1k.  

Now, the plaintext version (and I've seen this from a few people) actually
TRIPLE SPACES paragraph breaks.  Don't ask me why.  Instead of one, it'll
be three blank lines between paragraphs.  Pretty sure they don't intend to
type it this way, and I've seen it from multiple parties.

But the HTML version is precious.  Here's all the crap you get -just- to
give you an innocuous 3 lines of actual content:

*****
<html>

<head>
<META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=us-ascii">

<meta name=Generator content="Microsoft Word 10 (filtered)">

<style>
<!--
 /* Style Definitions */
 p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
	{margin:0in;
	margin-bottom:.0001pt;
	font-size:12.0pt;
	font-family:"Times New Roman";}
a:link, span.MsoHyperlink
	{color:blue;
	text-decoration:underline;}
a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed
	{color:purple;
	text-decoration:underline;}
span.EmailStyle17
	{font-family:Arial;
	color:windowtext;}
@page Section1
	{size:8.5in 11.0in;
	margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in;}
div.Section1
	{page:Section1;}
-->
</style>

</head>

<body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple>

<div class=Section1>

<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Hi mark</span></font></p>

<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>&nbsp;</span></font></p>

<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Why'd you log&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;.</span></font></p>

<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>&nbsp;</span></font></p>

<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>[XXXX]</span></font></p>

</div>

</body>

</html>
*****

Adore the way it bloats the living hell out of the code.  Relish the way it
turns single-byte periods into 6-byte special characters, even though it
doesn't need to.  Gape in awe at the way it actually uses <font> tags mixed
in with CSS--which is -supposed- to be handling the style entirely!
Behold with love the fact that a single blank line that should be (at worst,
if properly done and inheritance is used) -should- be nothing at all.
Literally, the paragraph wrapping will automatically make the separate
paragraphs separately.  They went out of their way to make this PoS
actually wrap a single non-breaking space with all the style crap that
-should- be inherited in the first place.  Unless they wanted -extra-
space, there's nothing they needed to do...and even then it would be a
simple addition of <br> tags between.  Inheritance in CSS should take care
of the rest.

And of course, you get all this...for the low, low cost of disk space,
bandwidth, and extra processing time.  Not so much on the client ends, but
when a mail server handles tens to hundreds of thousands of pieces of mail
far more complex -every day-, it adds up quickly.

I'm at a loss to think of a worse designed piece of software than
Outlook--except perhaps Outlook Express.  :)  That has its own little
quirks, like getting MIME types incorrect, even compared to Outlook (you'd
think they'd just use the same codebase and disable a few things--not so).

And yet...people continue to not only use it, but expound its wonders.

It leaves me wondering alright...wondering who they got to write this gem
of a program.  Obviously someone that can't be bothered to read basic
tutorials on HTML and CSS, much less look at the specs.  I mean...mixing
HTML 3.2 styling and CSS?  They even did it in the <body> tag!  They wrap
every paragraph instead of utilising inheritance.  I don't think they
understand inheritance, honestly...nobody that does would do what they're
doing.

Sorry.  But you know, people keep saying that the claims of email bloat
are unfounded.  No, they -are- founded.  This is a -tiny- example.  I defy
anyone that actually -knows- HTML and CSS to say that it's properly coded
and anywhere near as lean as it could be.  And they even manage to foul
the plaintext version with triple-spacing. :) I suppose I really shouldn't
expect sane HTML out of anyone that can do -that-.

And some of you out there wonder why we admins get grouchy over it... well
there's an illustrative diagram for ya. :) It's not just bloated (which
HTML does by its nature), it's -needlessly- bloated, and the extent to
which it's done is enough to frankly tick one off when one actually knows
what's going on and doesn't have to be.  It's a tremendous waste of
resources for absolute -zero- gain in usable -content-.

"...but it's pretty!"

*eyeroll*

mark->