HTML is the language used for formatting webpages, and it works very well for that purpose. However, the use of HTML for sending formatted email is far less efficient and a terrible waste of bandwidth. Email messages in HTML format are often about three times as long as the corresponding plain text message, and sometimes much longer than that! Among current email clients, the worst offenders tend to be Microsoft® Outlook Express, Microsoft® Outlook (when used with a direct ISP connection), and Netscape Communicator. All of these programs are configured to send HTML formatted messages by default, unless the user explicitly disables that option.
Note on Microsoft® Outlook: When used with a direct ISP connection, Outlook behaves in the same way as Outlook Express. However, when used with an Exchange network, as is often the case in large organizations, Outlook doesn’t send HTML messages (when transmitting outside the Exchange network) unless you explicitly specify in your Address Book that a particular recipient should receive HTML email.
Here are instructions for disabling sending of HTML email in several mail programs:
Outlook Express for Windows
Choose “Options” from the “Tools” menu, and click the “Send” tab. Select “Plain Text” as your Mail sending format, and UNcheck the box labelled “Reply to messages using the format in which they were sent.” See dialog box below:
Note: In Outlook Express, simply setting your Mail sending format to Plain Text isn’t enough. If the “Reply to messages using…” box remains checked, then you’ll still send HTML when replying to or forwarding messages that arrive in HTML format.
Outlook Express for Mac
Choose “Preferences” from the “Edit” menu, and click the “Compose” tab. From this point, the settings are the same as in the Windows version. See dialog box below:
Netscape Communicator
Choose “Preferences” from the “Edit” menu, and in the left-hand column, click “Formatting” under the “Mail & Newsgroups” heading. Select the radio button labelled “Use the plain text editor to compose messages.” See dialog box below:
Note: In earlier versions of Communicator, you won’t see “Formatting” in the left-hand column but you’ll find the analogous setting by clicking “Messages”.
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