Subj : The universe
To   : CURTIS JOHNSON
From : RALPH ZETTER
Date : Thu Nov 02 2000 11:15 pm

>  -=> Quoting RALPH ZETTER to TODD HENSON <=-
> 
>  > Then stop assuming. If you were interested in actual conversation, then 
you
>  > would have 
>  > responded differently.
> 
>  RZ> Why is it that some messages here seem formatted OK, but others are
>  RZ> more choppy? I use 
>  RZ> Netscape to get here through the web. How about you?
> 
>  Your messages are also one of the choppy ones, at least on
> my screen (as you can see).
>  There's several possible reasons for this.  First, some people
> use proportional fonts instead of monotype fonts on their computer, and 
> in a slighly smaller size than that for the usual 26-line screen.  
> However, the posts are transmitted as straight ASCII, which is monotype.
> The standard is also inflexible about a line being 80 characters across
> at the maximum:  any more, and a carriage return (CR) is inserted.
>  The upshot is that a line which has more than 80 characters on
> your screen has a CR character inserted before its end (which also has 
> a CR), and the line is chopped into two lines, one rather longer than
> the other.  This hardly ever happens with DOS-based editors.
> 
>  Another occurrence is someone who does use the monotype ASCII
> characters with the 80-character limit, but who forgets that offline
> readers insert initials, etc. on the left margin, and that much of
> their text will be quoted at least once or even twice.  The simple
> fix here is to simply set the R-hand margin to 68-72 characters.


Hey thanks. I'll check into it. Maybe I can do something about it.
--- Platinum Xpress/Win/WINServer v3.0pr4
 * Origin: BBS Networks @ www.bbsnets.com 808-839-5016 (1:10/345)

.