Re: [Pan-users] HTML Messages

[Torstein Sunde]

Ken Stanley wrote:

> Just out of curiosity, since HTML is both a) a security risk, and b)
> annoying to people using Pan (thus, earning the sender a possible
> filter), why doesn't Pan just add an option to filter all HTML, if the
> message is something other than text/plain (to still allow people to
> send snippets or examples of HTML usage)? It shouldn't be much harder
> than a global search and destroy... err, I mean replace. <g> ;)

What Pan actually needs in this respect, is proper handling of 
multipart/alternative messages, i.e. displaying only the text/plain 
part of such a message.  Regardless of HTML support, only one part 
of a multipart/alternative message should be displayed.

Currently, Pan displays *both* the text and HTML parts, the latter 
as text with the tags visible.

Most HTML messages from M$ Outlook and Outlook Express also contain 
a plain text version.  HTML only messages are not common on 
usenet and the mailing lists on Gmane, except for spam.

BTW, it would be nice if the mailing list server could remove the 
HTML parts of multipart/alternative messages before propagating 
them to the subscribers.  HTML only messages should be rejected.