email text wrap

[gaf at blu.org (Jerry Feldman)]

Internet email messages should contain only 7 bit ASCII text with line 
lenghts no longer than 80 characters. You might want to check RFC822 
for the more correct wording. Some email programs do not have the 
capability to set the margins. Most do and should be set to some 
number around 76 to allow for quoting the replies. Some email programs 
have the capability to wrap incoming lines that are longer. I use exmh on 
Linux and Unix, and on one version a few years ago, it would forget to 
wrap outgoing text. 
Today, email programs are sophisticated word processors that can 
present you with a nice window for composing email. They will then 
reformat the outgoing text to match your word wrap specification, then 
they receive email, and may reformat it. Whenever I send program source 
code by email, I always send it as an attachment to suppress word 
wrapping. The email binary encoders (uuencode, base64, etc) take 
binary input, encode them into 7 bit ASCII with line lengths under 80 
columns. The reasons for 7 bit ASCII is historical and that email is a 
store-and-forward protocol, and may end up on an EBCDIC (or other code 
set) machine. The 7 bit ASCII can easily be converted to EBCDIC. If you 
send a JPEG to some guy on an IBM mainframe, that person should be 
able to decode and view the jpeg as well as the email. 

On 3 May 2000, at 15:20, Ron Peterson wrote:

> Why does text in email sometimes not automatically wrap?  Does it have
> to do with the reciever's or the sender's email client?  I happen to be
> using Netscape in Linux, although I seem to recall this happening on
> other clients as well.
> 
> I usually just throw these messages away because it's too annoying to be
> scrolling horizontally to read something.  I'm just afraid I might miss
> an important message from Ed McMahon.
> 
> -Ron-
> -
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Jerry Feldman <gaf at blu.org>
Associate Director
Boston Linux and Unix user group
http://www.blu.org
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