Subject: Re: Text attributes

From: Paul O Bartlett <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 4 May 1996 11:08:24 -0400

On 29 Apr 1996, Susan Farrar wrote on comp.mail.pine:

> Howdy Y'all,
> 
> I heard that text attributes, bold, plain text, and underscore, may be
> implemented with pine using ^A, ^B and ^C respectively.  How do you enter
> ASCII codes in Pine?  Are there any other attributes possible?
> 
> TIA,
> susan

    Although it may be possible to do it, this is NOT A GOOD IDEA for
email and -- especially -- Usenet news.  When you imbed control
characters in mail or a news article, what actually happens is
determined at the other end with any particular recipient's terminal
hardware and software, which will vary from recipient to recipient. 

    For some recipients, control characters may have the effect that
you, the sender, intend.  For some recipients, control characters can
just cause major problems and may even cause their terminals to lock up
entirely.  All that may happen is a lot of angry cursing.  You have no
control over the outcome when you imbed control characters in your
email and news group postings.  PLEASE DON'T DO IT.  (World Wide Web is
another matter, as there are defined standards.)

Paul                             <[email-masked]>
----------------------------------------------------------
Paul O. Bartlett, P.O. Box 857, Vienna, VA 22183-0857, USA
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