Subj : Enabling embedded pictures in Messages
To : Tim Schattkowsky
From : Carol Shenkenberger
Date : Sat Mar 05 2022 03:47 pm
Re: Enabling embedded pictures in Messages
By: Tim Schattkowsky to All on Thu Feb 10 2022 02:42 pm
> Hello All,
>
> when using Fido today I regularly hit the wall when I notice that I would li
> to *attach at least a picture* to illustrate something. Also, people keep
> sendig me fido messages that refer to pictures put on their web space. This
> feels odd.
>
> Also, the current practice for *text styles is limited* in application and n
> well-defined. Still, this seems to be the minor of the two issues.
>
> I think this is really something that could/should be addressed in some way
> enable relevant contemporary communication through fido.
>
> To adress this, I see _at least_ two options:
>
> 1) Do it fully email-style by using MIME with HTML text and embedded/referen
> pictures. This will be a lot to implement and particularly difficult to
> handle in 16-Bit software due to memory restrictions and lack of framewor
> Also, memory comes to mind when considering the size of the resulting
> messages. Using @SPLIT, these could be extended beyound 63k, but the
> resulting messages might be considered an annoyance.
> 2) Define a simple fidonet-compatible way that is more in line with existing
> fido technology (particularly a maximum message length of 63k) but still
> enables including at least a picture and maybe simple text styles while
> maintaining readability on non-compatible systems.
>
> I find both alternatives interesting, but currently I prefer the latter with
> focus on embedding the picture. The idea would by to have something that is
> more like the ability to post a picture on social media platforms. So instea
> of providing half a text processor for creating formatted text, people can j
> include the picture with their fidonet mail and ideally the editor will
> recompress the picture as needed to a jpg to limit the resuling message size
> including the encoding picture to 63k.
>
> My idea for the latter would be to include the .jpg as Base64 and add a klud
> to it for inline-display. This could also be done for multiple images.
>
> An alternative would be including a link to the picture like we do today, bu
> enabling the reader to automatically download such pictures and maybe includ
> automated upload/linking of the image in the editor. However, that would be
> quite dependent on other services.
>
> *What do you think?*
>
> Regards,
> Tim
Tim, I like the last one. An OLR that would then include the picture from a
posted link, if I follow you right.
