Does anyone know where the maximum line length of 132 characters in
the mail sending format settings comes from, and why the limit is
imposed in WLMail? I can change it to 998 in the registry, but not
in the UI.
--
Noel

"Ildhund" <jnllb@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:un$LYfaHKHA.4436@xxxxxx

> Does anyone know where the maximum line length of 132 characters in
> the mail sending format settings comes from, and why the limit is
> imposed in WLMail? I can change it to 998 in the registry, but not in
> the UI.
> --
> Noel

If memory serves the standard teletype carriage was 72 characters and
line printer was 132.

--

Wisdom and experience come with age, they say, but I wish I could
remember the darn question

GbH" <Geoff_Hannington@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:uCxL5TcHKHA.4004@xxxxxx

>
> "Ildhund" <jnllb@xxxxxx> wrote in message
> news:un$LYfaHKHA.4436@xxxxxx

>> Does anyone know where the maximum line length of 132 characters
>> in the mail sending format settings comes from, and why the limit
>> is imposed in WLMail? I can change it to 998 in the registry, but
>> not in the UI.

> If memory serves the standard teletype carriage was 72 characters
> and line printer was 132.

You may well be right about the line printer. WikiP says:
<quote>
Standard "green bar" page sizes included portrait-format pages of 8½
× 11 inches, usually printed at 80 columns by 66 lines (at 6 lines
per inch) or 88 lines (at 8 LPI), and landscape-format pages of 14 ×
11 inches, usually printed at 132 columns by 66 or 88 lines. Also
common were landscape-format pages of 14 × 8½ inches, allowing for
132 columns by 66 lines (at 8 LPI) on a more compact page.
</quote>
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Line_printer

But why on earth should a 2009 mail client restrict users to a
standard introduced for completely different reasons in the 1960s?
The RFC recommends a line length of 78 characters (so that a whole
line will display unwrapped on an 800 px wide screen using 12pt
(10cpi) fixed width characters), but allows lines up to 998
characters long. It is very annoying when posting by email to a web
forum to see newlines every 132 characters regardless of the width
of the text container on the page. I notice that the web forum
sticks to lines about 70 characters long (varying according to the
level of quoting) and it's not pleasant to read NNTP posts there.
--
Noel

I believe it's a hold-over from the days when line printers were limited
to printing a maximum of 132 characters per line.
In the UI, you can override it by using HTML or MIME/QP format.

I haven't looked, but there may be something in the RFCs about it.

--
Gary VanderMolen, MS-MVP (Mail)
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/profile/VanderMolen


"Ildhund" <jnllb@xxxxxx> wrote in message news:un$LYfaHKHA.4436@xxxxxx

> Does anyone know where the maximum line length of 132 characters in
> the mail sending format settings comes from, and why the limit is
> imposed in WLMail? I can change it to 998 in the registry, but not
> in the UI.
> --
> Noel
>

Actually Gary, the MIME/QP format in WLMail does not override the line
length limitation as far as I can tell. As you will see from this post in
Quoted Printable format. It does however, in OE and WMail, so I don't
understand why, if it is by design in WLMail. For me, that is not enough
of an attraction to using WMail for Newsgroups.

Believe me, I would prefer using QP rather than Base 64 to avoid line
length limitations.

As far as I am aware, most or all modern news reading clients (even on
mobile devices?) can wrap the lines
to the window.

For me, not automatically wrapping lines avoids frustrating problems with
editing draft news posts for one. For another, it avoids similar
frustrating problems with editing my previously sent posts for re-use.
Also, unwrapping the quotes in my sent posts helps me, when I am later
re-reading the entirety of my sent posts, because the quotes become more
readable. Otherwise, it can be very frustrating trying read the quotes in
my replies from within long threads.

Extra long line lengths would be fine if I had my reading pane permanently
widened (or maybe shrunk) to accommodate them. If I don't, every few lines
of such a post, I see a single word, or just a few, which makes the post
hard to read. So for such posts I 'open' them to make them more readable.

--
Cheers,
Peter.R
(Windows Vista Home Premium SP2 with IE7 & Windows Live Mail 2009
14.0.8064.0206)
"There are more things in Heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in
your philosophy." - Shakespeare

"Gary VanderMolen" <gary@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:#2bLZZdHKHA.5956@xxxxxx

> I believe it's a hold-over from the days when line printers were limited
> to printing a maximum of 132 characters per line.
> In the UI, you can override it by using HTML or MIME/QP format.
>
> I haven't looked, but there may be something in the RFCs about it.
>
> --
> Gary VanderMolen, MS-MVP (Mail)
> http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/profile/VanderMolen
>
> "Ildhund" <jnllb@xxxxxx> wrote in message
> news:un$LYfaHKHA.4436@xxxxxx

>> Does anyone know where the maximum line length of 132 characters in
>> the mail sending format settings comes from, and why the limit is
>> imposed in WLMail? I can change it to 998 in the registry, but not
>> in the UI.
>> --
>> Noel

I wasn't aware MIME/QP was so broken in Windows Live Mail.

--
Gary VanderMolen, MS-MVP (Mail)
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/profile/VanderMolen


"Peter.R" <Peter.R@xxxxxx> wrote in message news:OBKvrThHKHA.5956@xxxxxx

Actually Gary, the MIME/QP format in WLMail does not override the line
length limitation as far as I can tell. As you will see from this post in
Quoted Printable format. It does however, in OE and WMail, so I don't
understand why, if it is by design in WLMail. For me, that is not enough
of an attraction to using WMail for Newsgroups.

Believe me, I would prefer using QP rather than Base 64 to avoid line
length limitations.

As far as I am aware, most or all modern news reading clients (even on
mobile devices?) can wrap the lines
to the window.

For me, not automatically wrapping lines avoids frustrating problems with
editing draft news posts for one. For another, it avoids similar
frustrating problems with editing my previously sent posts for re-use.
Also, unwrapping the quotes in my sent posts helps me, when I am later
re-reading the entirety of my sent posts, because the quotes become more
readable. Otherwise, it can be very frustrating trying read the quotes in
my replies from within long threads.

Extra long line lengths would be fine if I had my reading pane permanently
widened (or maybe shrunk) to accommodate them. If I don't, every few lines
of such a post, I see a single word, or just a few, which makes the post
hard to read. So for such posts I 'open' them to make them more readable.

--
Cheers,
Peter.R
(Windows Vista Home Premium SP2 with IE7 & Windows Live Mail 2009
14.0.8064.0206)
"There are more things in Heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in
your philosophy." - Shakespeare

"Gary VanderMolen" <gary@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:#2bLZZdHKHA.5956@xxxxxx

> I believe it's a hold-over from the days when line printers were limited
> to printing a maximum of 132 characters per line.
> In the UI, you can override it by using HTML or MIME/QP format.
>
> I haven't looked, but there may be something in the RFCs about it.
>
> --
> Gary VanderMolen, MS-MVP (Mail)
> http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/profile/VanderMolen
>
> "Ildhund" <jnllb@xxxxxx> wrote in message
> news:un$LYfaHKHA.4436@xxxxxx

>> Does anyone know where the maximum line length of 132 characters in
>> the mail sending format settings comes from, and why the limit is
>> imposed in WLMail? I can change it to 998 in the registry, but not
>> in the UI.
>> --
>> Noel