Hi,

I've not participated in the HTML versus plain text email discussions
to date, but I'd like to take this moment of nothing better to do, and
express a simple thought or two...or three.

I love to read; letters (and email!), novels, and poetry. Words - only
words - arranged just so, can come to life and inspire both subtle and
extraordinary images in our minds and in our spirits.  Words can
inspire feelings that are well beyond mere language.  When you think
about it, that's rather wonderful.

Long before there were bold pink fonts, there were writers capable of
capturing our attention in a sentence or two, and keeping us fully
involved until we reached "The End" (and often beyond). All this in
lowly plain text.

Would my reading of "David Copperfield" or "The Idiot" be enhanced if
all the "important" words were emphasized with fancy font treatments?
For some reason, I doubt it. Would "The Cat And The Moon" be favorably
enhanced if it were accompanied by an animated GIF of Minnaloushe
creeping through the grass? Again, I rather doubt it. All these
magical images and feelings invoked by a few well chosen words,
presented to me in simple plain text.

Here's a thought...

Perhaps it is the very nature of unobtrusive plain text that allows
the words to quietly slip into our minds without distraction, so that
our imagination can express all the vivid imagery we need to
experience the author's intent. Just as musical notation is only a
temporary "translation" of musical intent, meant to be transcended by
the experience of sound and silence, so are these words only a means
by which to deliver the "real" experience of meaning. If the visual
image of words themselves demand undue attention, distraction is
invoked, and much can be lost where it should most be found.

Send me your lovely plain text, and my mind will conjure up the lovely
images of your intent.  Send me your lovely HTML, and my eyes will
ponder your choice of color and font.  :-)

-- 
Melissa