Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
• On an iPad, the right side of the Cc/Bcc, From header shows the total size of the
attachments. Tap that header and you'll see a series of buttons for changing the
image size. Tap Small, Medium, or Large (the exact resulting file size is shown
on each button) to resize the image, or tap Actual Size to send the original, full-
size image.
If you want to share links to items in your Dropbox or similar cloud storage systems, there's
usually a way to generate links from within each service's iOS app—consult its documenta-
tion for instructions.
Quote Effectively
The final pointer I want to offer involves quoting the text of a previous message when reply-
ing to or forwarding a message.
Broadly speaking, there are two models for quoting previous text:
•
Top-posting
(or bottom-quoting) is the default in Mail and most other modern
email clients. You hit Reply, and the entire text of the previous message (along
with any earlier messages in the thread) is quoted. Your reply goes at the very
top, and the earlier portion of the conversation is below, for the recipients' refer-
ence.
•
Bottom-posting
(or top-quoting) is the reverse. The original message (or, more
often, a brief excerpt from it) goes first, and the response goes underneath. If the
message contained several questions or points, there may be alternating blocks
of quoted text and replies.
I get why people tend to prefer top-posting: it's much easier—for the sender. It requires no
thought or effort; you simply type your response and put the burden of reading the context
on the recipient. And that's an entirely reasonable approach
if
, and only if, the response is
brief and it's entirely obvious to the recipient(s) what you're responding to. But beyond that,
please be kind to your recipients and go to the
tiny
extra effort to put your replies after their
questions or comments.
Note:
In incoming messages, Mavericks Mail very kindly hides bottom-quoted text by
default to give you a nice, uncluttered view. (Click See More to display the quoted
text.) But other email clients aren't so considerate—and even iOS Mail hides quoted
text only in certain situations—so you shouldn't use that feature as an excuse to quote
everything.
