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E-Mail and E-Mail Etiquette
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First Things to Know About E-Mail
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E-mails are messages between users, and can be used within a browser or with a separate application. The examples used refer to Nestcape Communicator, but other browsers will be similar.
E-Mail Etiquette
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Think of the Internet as a world wide library with unlimited resources of information.
The Internet embodies the egalitarian ideal. No one cares what education you have, nor about color, age, or sex . No matter how tiny the town or how isolated the area, there is will be the Internet. The smallest library will offer connection.
Email is very exciting. You do not need to worry about time or space!
Here are some E-Mail Conventions to help you get started.
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Never type in capitals. Capital letters are the equivalent of shouting at someone.
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Always put the subject of your e-mail in the subject line. This can be as simple as "Hello"
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Plain Text - The default for messages in many email programs is MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions).
As a courtesy to others - please send emails in Plain Text, so that the text, fonts, colors, etc, can be changed to suit the reader's needs.
Some viruses can hide in the MIME emails, and harm computer systems. Worst of all, though, messages in MIME are very difficult for some modems to download. Plain Text avoids all such problems.
How to change e-mail settings to Plain Text.
Again, all browsers will have similar procedures.
Go to (and click on) Edit,
- click Preferences
- click Mail & Newsgroups
- click Formatting
- Choose these options -
1."Use the plain text editor to send messages"
2."Convert the message into plain text (May lose some formatting)"
To choose the size of the fonts for easy readability
do the following:
Under Preferences, find Appearance
- Click on Font to adjust the size of the text. Select a size that is comfortable for your viewing and the plain text email will adjust automatically to fill the window.
- If you wish to change the Color, click on color and this will automatically change the color of the text of your email.
- Next go to the Mail & Newsgroups section.
Click on Messages
Disable the "Automatically quote the original message when replying" option. You can always quote the section of email you desire. - When forwarding an email of interest to another person - do not forward
email addresses.
You have two options - Go to the Messages under the Mail & NewsGroups section of Preferences- Set your default to Quoted
- If it is partial quote then use << quote >> as in << Hello I am quoting this message >> Use the quote option at the the top of the email. Then quote the pertinent information.
- WARNING!! DANGER!!
Be Very Careful! about opening email attachments including the word, .exe There is a strong possibility such attachments carry worms. It does not matter if you know the person sending the attachment. Many viruses take over address books and send themselves.
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First appeared 2000-04-01; updated 2004-09-30