[Hidden-tech] Techy question: Does anyone use Content-Type:? headers?

[Robert Heller]

I am more wondering to what extend mail software does or does not ignore 
Content-Type: headers for attached files.  At this point I have changed my 
program to assume all attached files are binary and ignoring the 
Content-Type: associated with attached files.  There is not much I can do 
about message bodies that "lie" about being text/plain.  I end up copying and 
pasting the HTML code into a web browser or manually decoding the HTML (often 
needed for things like access codes (yes, it really is the case that it takes 
30K bytes to express a 6 digit number).

At Sat, 18 Jan 2025 14:59:18 -0500 "Steven D. Brewer" <limako at bierfaristo.com> wrote:

> 
> I use Thunderbird and used to have it set to prefer text-plain messages, 
> but increasingly systems I interact with don't include a meaningful 
> text-plain message that I've finally given up. But I generally view as 
> "simple html" and block remote content.
> 
> Here's the page about how Thunderbird interacts with Content-type: 
> headers. http://kb.mozillazine.org/Mail_content_types
> 
> I"m not sure it answers your question. To really answer your question, 
> you might need to look at the source and read the comments. But, of 
> course, that's totally possible with Thunderbird.
> 
> Good luck!
> 
> On 1/18/25 1:37 PM, Robert Heller via Hidden-discuss wrote:
> > Here is a totally strange question: do *any* E-Mail clients actually pay much
> > attention to Content-Type: headers?
> > 
> > The reason I ask is because I have a home grown E-Mail client that actually
> > truely pays attention to the Content-Type: headers in Mime parts.  But I have
> > encounted messages with incorrect Content-Type: headers headers.  So I was
> > wondering, if E-Mail messages are regularly created with incorrect
> > Content-Type: headers headers, what happens when an E-Mail reader program
> > encounters a "bad" Content-Type: header?
> > 
> > My E-Mail also *refers* the text/plain alternitive over the text/html
> > alternitive (and maillers send HTML in the text/plain alternitive!).
> > 
> > I really *don't* want to use a Webmail client.  I have always thought of
> > E-Mail as a *text* medium.
> > 
> 

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