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Subject:Re: Data Changes in Email From:"Huber, Mike" <mrhuber -at- SOFTWARE -dot- ROCKWELL -dot- COM> Date:Thu, 30 Jul 1998 13:39:00 -0400
> From: Colleen Adams [mailto:colleen_adams -at- MEDISPAN -dot- COM]
> Subject: Data Changes in Email
>
...
> We then thought a better idea would be to make these text files and
> attach them to the email message. That way, the developer could even
> cut and paste the codes from the text file directly into
> his/her source code
> and not have to retype them. However, I'm finding that the
> data won't
> line up correctly.
>
> Qs:
> 1) Do you have to worry about text not lining up in a text file?
Depends on your information. When you send a plain text file, you have no
control over the fonts or tab settings. Lining things up is just not going
to work.
> 2) Will the information display just as you set it up (if
> it's delimited by spaces)?
No. Not unless you can make the customers use non-proportional fonts.
> 3) Does it matter if your customers are on Windows or Unix
> (will it all look
> the same)?
The two operating systems traditionally use different code combinations to
end lines. Depending on the software that your customer uses to display the
text file, there may be codes at the end of the lines in some cases. Many of
the programs used to display text files are designed to handle any
combination of <CR> and <LF>.
> 4) Is my only option to go HTML or PDF?
Depends how important layout is.
...
> (btw, each update would probably be 2 pages of 3 columns)
Columns are a problem. If the customer uses a proportional font, they won't
line up, no matter what you do.
Also, there may be problems with copying and pasting. Very few programs
provide a way to copy a single column out of a multi-column text file. For
example, try copying the block of "y"s:
xxx yyy zzz
xxx yyy zzz
xxx yyy zzz
If layout is important, HTML might be your best bet. You don't have to get
complicated about it, just make some basic tables. Cut and paste is easy for
your customers, with every browser I've tried.
Your support people can probably avoid supporting the browser software
because customers understand that their browser isn't your software.
If you go with PDF, make sure the cut and paste operations work. There are
settings that you can use that prohibit cut and paste. I've also received
documents where that setting was off (allowing cut/paste) but when I copied
text out of the PDF and pasted it into other applications, the result was
garbage.
Your support people are more likely to get questions about Acrobat than
about an HTML browser, because browsers are a more ubiquitous technology.
---
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mike -dot- huber -at- software -dot- rockwell -dot- com
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