Tag characters and in-line graphics (from Tag characters)

[William_J_G Overington]

Responding to Mark E. Shoulson:


> As was pointed out to me, essentially what you are saying is you reject my premise that one size does not fit all.


Well, I do not know where that came from, but no, I do not reject that premise. There is plain text, there is HTML, there is XML.


HTML is good for web pages.


Plain text is, amongst other applications, good for text messages.


The format that I am suggesting would allow the image for a non-standard emoji character to be included in a text message, with the image located at the correct place in the text.


I have not purported that it become the only format for transmitting images.


> You would prefer *everything* be in plain text, "so you wouldn't have to use other formats for it." You're essentially converting plain text into THE format for everything. 


No. Use the best format for the task that is being carried out. I am enthusiastic that as much as possible can be done in open source formats rather than an end user of computing equipment needing to rely on expensive propriety software packages with proprietary file formats that cannot be accessed without expensive software.


>  If you really believe one size should fit all in this way, ...


But I don't.


Just because I opine that plain text is best for some applications and I have suggested a format that would allow a graphic to be included directly in a plain text file does not mean that I opine that everything should be plain text.


For example, I use HTML files, gif files, png files, pdf files, wav files, TTF files as appropriate.


http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~ngo/library.htm


http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~ngo/spec0001.htm


http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~ngo/song1018.htm


http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~ngo/song1021.htm


I have embedded a wav file in a pdf and published the result on the web.


http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~ngo/the_mobile_art_shop.pdf


Suppose that a plain text file is to include just one non-standard emoji graphic. How would that be done otherwise than by the format that I am suggesting?


What if there were three such non-standard emoji graphics needed in the plain text file, the second graphic being used twice. How would that be done otherwise than by the format that I am suggesting?


William Overington


29 May 2015