INTERNET-DRAFT                               Charles H. Lindsey
Usenet Format Working Group                  University of Manchester
                                             April 2001

6.21.3. Content-Type

6.21.3.  Content-Type
   The Content-Type: "text/plain" is the default type for any news
   article, but the recommendations and limits on line lengths set out
   in section 4.5 Ought to be observed

   The acceptability of other subtypes of Content-Type: "text" (such as
   "text/html") is a matter of policy (see 1.1), and posters Ought Not
   to use them unless established policy or custom in the particular
   hierarchies or groups involved so allows.  Moreover, even in those
   cases, for the benefit of readers who see it only in its transmitted
   form, the material SHOULD be "pretty-printed" (for example by
   restricting its line length as above and by keeping sequences which
   control its layout or style separate from the meaningful text).



   In the same way, Content-Types requiring special processing for their
   display, such as "application", "image", "audio", "video" and
   "multipart/related" are discouraged except in groups specifically
   intended (by policy or custom) to include them. Exceptionally, those
   application types defined in [RFC 1847] and [RFC 2015] for use within
   "multipart/signed" articles, and the type "application/pgp-keys" (or
   other similar types containing digital certificates) may be used
   freely but, contrary to [RFC 2015] and unless the article is intended
   to be sent by mail also, the Content-Transfer-Encoding SHOULD be left
   as "8bit" (or "7bit" as appropriate).

   Reading agents SHOULD NOT, unless explicitly configured otherwise,
   act automatically on Application types which could change the state
   of that agent (e.g. by writing or modifying files), except in the
   case of those prescribed for use in control messages (7.1.2 and
  ).

See also previous draft (03): 6.17.3. Content-Type
See also previous draft (02): 6.15.3 Content-Type
See also previous draft (son-of-1036):
See also previous draft (rfc-1036):