> 1. all links are click-able at this point; what's more plain-text would force to provide just a link without all the tracking garbage 2. you can have paragraphs and headings... it's just a matter of structure - using html you can write a wall of text just fine 3. not sure if needed, besides you can attach images to plain text (though not inlining) or click-able links to external sources (at exact place) 4. still - easily do-able; it's a matter of particular editor tracking lists - for markdown editors it works just fine and in the end you virtually have a "plain text bullet list"... magic.
I think this comment displays the problems with plain text. I really couldn't have provided a better example.
As regards the counterpoints:
1. All links are clickable
Yes, and that's a bug. "http://www.example.com" should not be a clickable line. More to the point, it's not plain text anymore if the user gets something that has been interpreted and then rendered by the software.
2. It's not obvious how this should be done, and how it should reflow. You yourself failed to manage this in your reply, which I consider a good argument for why plain text is a poor UI.
3. Who cares whether you need it or not. The reality is that the clear majority of people use it!
4. Once again, if we're talking about a specific format that gets rendered into something readable, then it's not plain text anymore.
I'm arguing against the GPs assertion that plain text is the best format, not that markdown is insufficient.
> More to the point, it's not plain text anymore if the user gets something that has been interpreted and then rendered by the software.
Arguably it is. It was sent as plain text and received as plain text. The fact that the recipient's software goes through and interprets that plain text and does something when it detects an URL in it doesn't change that. If the recipient were to use some other software that doesn't do that, they'd see... Plain text. Because that's what it is.
> Arguably it is. It was sent as plain text and received as plain text. The fact that the recipient's software goes through and interprets that plain text and does something when it detects an URL in it doesn't change that. If the recipient were to use some other software that doesn't do that, they'd see... Plain text. Because that's what it is.
Exactly like .... the subset of HTML we see in emails?
I have not yet gotten an HTML email that, when displayed in plain-text, was unreadable. Neither, I suspect, have you.
I think this comment displays the problems with plain text. I really couldn't have provided a better example.
As regards the counterpoints:
1. All links are clickable
Yes, and that's a bug. "http://www.example.com" should not be a clickable line. More to the point, it's not plain text anymore if the user gets something that has been interpreted and then rendered by the software.
2. It's not obvious how this should be done, and how it should reflow. You yourself failed to manage this in your reply, which I consider a good argument for why plain text is a poor UI.
3. Who cares whether you need it or not. The reality is that the clear majority of people use it!
4. Once again, if we're talking about a specific format that gets rendered into something readable, then it's not plain text anymore.
I'm arguing against the GPs assertion that plain text is the best format, not that markdown is insufficient.