html-wg mailing list stopped working?

Olle Jarnefors (ojarnef@admin.kth.se)
Fri, 17 Nov 95 10:32:53 +0100


The mailing list of the HTML working group of IETF,
html-wg@oclc.org, normally distributes around 15 messages per
day. Since Monday this week I haven't received anything from
that list. The same is true for the list archive at
http://www.acl.lanl.gov/HTML_WG/archives.html. Any other
subscriber to the list who has seen anything?

The automatic listprocessor doesn't respond to commands. It's
impossible to find out which person is responsible for the
mailing list operation. I've sent a problem report to
postmaster@oclc.org, but got no response. Maybe that site have
some major problems, of which the html-wg list is one of the
less important?

The last message I got from the list is this:

> Received: from fssun09-21.dev.oclc.org by othello.admin.kth.se (5.65+bind 1.8+ida 1.4.2/4.0b)
> id AA13059; Mon, 13 Nov 95 19:12:55 +0100
> Return-Path: <html-wg@oclc.org>
> Received: from (localhost.dev.oclc.org) by fssun09.dev.oclc.org (4.1/SMI-4.1)
> id AA15561; Mon, 13 Nov 95 12:19:13 EST
> Date: Mon, 13 Nov 95 12:19:13 EST
> Message-Id: <19951113.7600078.89A1@contessa.phone.net>
> Reply-To: mwm@contessa.phone.net
> Originator: html-wg@oclc.org
> Sender: html-wg@oclc.org
> Precedence: bulk
> From: mwm@contessa.phone.net (Mike Meyer)
> To: Multiple recipients of list <html-wg@oclc.org>
> Subject: Re: What about
> X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0c -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas
> X-Comment: HTML Working Group
> Status: R
>
> > There is a fair amount of typographical evidence that relatively short
> > lines (as you get in a multi-column layout) are more readable than
> > full-page-width lines.
>
> So what happens when your two-column layout is viewed by a browser
> that's been configured for lines with a comfortable reading length
> (say, 50 characters or so)? To short lines are no better than to long
> lines, and tend to be ugly if a few long words show up in the text.
>
> Nothing prevents a browser from formatting HTML 2.0 with two columns
> now, and there are certainly tools that can print HTML in a two-column
> format. However, forcing two columns when you don't know the
> characteristic of the display device seems like a bad idea.
>
> Style sheets provide room for attaching conditions to going to two
> columns of text. Being able to set limits on the conditions under
> which you try and do two columns means you're not going to wind up
> producing an unreadable layout on devices that are outside that limit.
>
> <mike

/Olle

--
Olle Jarnefors, Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm <ojarnef@admin.kth.se>