Ferrari Mailing List: Re: (OT) what happens when you post graphics with a Mac

[Dennis Liu (bigheaddennis]

Hmmm... Just tried viewing Ken's email in the gmail web interface, and it
came out ok (pics were shown as attachments, not embedded).  It appears
funky when I open it in Outlook (yes, outlook is an obscure email program
than only a few geeks like me use...  :-)

Strangely, this happens almost everytime Dr. K posts something with a
graphic.  I end up having to open all the graphic attachments and the
attached .txt files, then trying to figure out what his (invariably amusing)
point is.  

A bit of googling points to a potential Macintosh/Outlook conflict?  (But
this is ANCIENT, surely it must be solved by now?)  Dunno.  Don't care, I
guess, if I'm in the minority on this point.


>Macintosh files to be transferred via email: binary packaging and transfer
encoding. Binary packaging, which is the realm of formats like AppleDouble,
AppleSingle, and MacBinary, deals with the problem of other platforms not
understanding that Macintosh files can have both data and resource forks.
Transfer encoding, which is done via Base64 or uuencode, takes an 8-bit file
and converts it to 7-bit ASCII text that can survive the journey through
Internet email, which only guarantees safe passage for 7-bit ASCII data. The
BinHex format combines both binary packaging and transfer encoding.

Here's where we vexed some people. Most email programs, including Eudora,
Emailer, and Outlook Express, call the process of formatting an attached
file for transmission "encoding," thus conflating the binary packaging step
with the transfer encoding step. That's not generally a problem for users,
but caused some confusion in our quiz for people who know that Base64 (which
garnered the most responses) is a transfer encoding format, whereas
AppleDouble (the runner-up) is technically only a binary packaging format.

Now, you might be wondering, "So if AppleDouble is a binary packaging
format, how does it survive being sent in email?" The answer is that an
attachment, when packaged with AppleDouble and sent via email, is also
automatically encoded via Base64. Under most circumstances, that Base64
encoding is transparent to users on both ends. Let me explain more about
each email attachment format in turn.

Vty,

--Dennis