[WikiEN-l] Message formatting

[Ron Ritzman]

On 10/15/07, Charlotte Webb <charlottethewebb at gmail.com> wrote:

> This is probably something in their mail client that they have no idea
> how to control. I know I don't. Maybe you count letters and add
> linebreaks but I think most of us just type a bunch of run-on
> sentences which wrap themselves without any difficulty.

We all have heard of WYSIWYG, I use another acronym when it comes to
mail/news clients, WYSIWIS, "What you see is what is sent". Most un*x
type clients are WYSIWIS. Most of the early Windows clients such as
Agent were "WYSISIS". The most popular Windows client, Outlook
Express, is not. Even if you set it to wrap at 76 characters, what's
in the editor is not what goes out.

It's even worse in many web forums where the line length seems to be
based on the screen resolution of the poster. I've had cases where I
posted to web forums from my brother's computer which has a large
monitor and then have my own post run off the side of the screen when
viewed on my small monitor. This was completely independent of the
wrapping I saw in the edit box.