Every once in a while, I'll receive an empty message from a Gnomie. Now, I'm certain they didn't mean to send it without contents. So, I reply to the message and ask them to resend it. So, they respond and... their response is blank, too. Hrm. The only time this seems to happen is when HTML mail is being used. To break the cycle, one of us must switch the message to text (or start an entirely new thread in the text format). And Netscape's client is just as likely to have trouble interpreting the code, so don't think you're in the clear just because you don't use Outlook. The root of these problems is often found in the message encoding process; this is exacerbated when HTML enters the picture. No pun intended. The next time you receive a weird looking or empty mail message, check out the View menu (in either client). In Netscape, you'll find the "View Source" option very helpful. In Outlook clients, use the "Encoding" option to switch to another structure; US-ASCII and Western European (Windows) should get you through most of your snags. Outlook users may also right-click on an HTML message to pull up its source. Whatever it takes to get the point across...

Lockergnome (pronounced lah-ker-nohm) is Chris Pirillo's brainchild; on a regular basis, he covers software, sites, and stuff related to Microsoft Windows and the Internet. Whether you like HTML or text newsletters, Chris's info keeps you covered. Technology neophytes and wizards alike love to read the free daily and weekly publications. If you'd like to subscribe to LockerGnome's daily newsletter with hints and kinks of the PC/NT environment, click here.

2006-Feb-09 12:19pm lamb@nmmi.edu, nancy@nmmi.edu