[JDEV] Rich Text in Messages

[Stephen D. Williams]

Todd Bradley wrote:
> 
> Michael F Lin wrote:
> ...
> 
> I'll admit here that I am biased against rich text messages, though.  I'm a
> relative newcomer to IM, having only used 3 or 4 systems for about three
> years (not counting Unix talk and IRC).  But even though almost all IM
> systems I've used allowed it, I've never used rich text.  My feeling is that
> if I'm spending time making my message pretty with colors and fonts and bold
> and underlines, it's no longer an instant message.  When I'm concerned about
> appearance and formatting, I'll use email.  But maybe I'm not a typical
> user.  Anyone have any real statistics on what percent of the IM traffic in
> the world uses rich text?

About 90%+ is rich text capable (AIM, ICQ, etc.).  A large percentage of that
actually uses it occasionally.

> 
.....
> > pinch pennies can cause permanent and irreparable damage to
> > your mindshare.
> 
> Well, if rich text is so universally essential for a good user experience,
> then why isn't it the default message format?  Shouldn't it be?

It should be.  There should be a standard syntax and clients should strip
anything they don't want to handle.  Session based compression should be used
to allow bandwidth to be minimized.

> Todd.


sdw
-- 
Insta.com - Revolutionary E-Business Communication
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