[kde-linux] kmail - turn off html?

[Duncan]

tparker posted on Wed, 30 Dec 2009 14:15:23 -0500 as excerpted:

> Is there a way to make kmail just show all messages as plain text and
> ignore the html tags/source on incoming messages? Right now it shows
> incoming html messages as source and it is a huge pain to read those
> messages, but I am not turning html on. I can't find a setting to have
> it just show the message without all the source coding, am I missing
> something or is it not possible to do?

There are three kinds of messages, plain text only, html only, and multi-
part messages that have one part in plain text and one in html.

Here, with kde 4.3.4 and back some time in kde 3.5 as well, kde shows 
plain text as plain text.  There's an option on html messages, to show 
them either way.  If it's set to plain text and they're multi-part, it 
shows the plain text part.

Unfortunately, if the sender didn't send plain text, only html, then 
there's only the html part to view, and in plain text, that shows as 
"code view", plain text but with the html markup.

In theory it's possible to strip the html, leaving only plain text, even 
if the sender sent only html.  However, I understand the kmail folks' 
reluctance to try that, as that way lies many an extra bug.  Better to 
show everything and let the user parse it, or use their own html 
stripper, than to get it wrong.

The good part is that in my experience, legit messages tend to come with 
both, and thus show up as plain text.  Of course, the spammers and 
malware folks don't care, and that's mostly what it seems to be that uses 
HTML-only.  Well, that and some newsletters, etc.  But most of them have 
a link to click if the client doesn't show html, and if it's a 
legitimately requested newsletter, not spam, I have no problem clicking 
the show as html, then clicking that link (or just finding and clicking  
the same link in amongst the code in plain-text view).

But in general, if it's not whitelisted, HTML is presumed to be spam 
anyway, and is filtered to the trash folder /as/ spam.  I still look at 
it momentarily, long enough to delete it, but from the trash folder it's 
a single-click permanent delete.  Or if I want to save it, I can drag it 
elsewhere, and make a rule to whitelist it if I want, so it doesn't go to 
the trash, but into whatever sorted folder I want it in.

-- 
Duncan - List replies preferred.   No HTML msgs.
"Every nonfree program has a lord, a master --
and if you use the program, he is your master."  Richard Stallman