Put quotes under the message content in outgoing emails

[Hocuri]

Format outgoing messages like this:

Thank you!

On 2023-07-24 16:54, Alice wrote:
>
> Happy birthday!

instead of:

> Happy birthday!

Thank you!

See https://support.delta.chat/t/poll-discussion-put-quotes-under-the-message-content-in-outgoing-emails/2630 for screenshots and discussion.

This does not change how any messages look in Delta Chat. If both sides use DC, everything stays the same. This is just about how messages look for non-DC users.

This will need 2 PRs:

• Add the ability to parse bottom-quotes on chat messages
• Some versions later: Actually send chat messages with bottom-quotes

[link2xt]

I suggest not adding On 2023-07-24 16:54, Alice wrote:. It will need a translation to language which may actually not fit for the group (e.g. sending a local language to an english-only group) and cannot be reliably parsed.

[Hocuri]

It will need a translation to language which may actually not fit for the group (e.g. sending a local language to an english-only group)

I think that it would be OK to not translate it at all - classical MUA users often get emails where this is in the wrong language. And DC users won't see this text at all, only users of classical MUAs.

and cannot be reliably parsed.

If we don't translate it, it can - and, in fact, we already have the code to parse it today (is_quoted_headline()), but it's only used for non-chat messages.

If I didn't convince you, I'm fine with doing as you suggested.

[hpk42]

On Fri, Oct 06, 2023 at 02:53 -0700, Hocuri wrote:

It will need a translation to language which may actually not fit for the group (e.g. sending a local language to an english-only group)

I think that it would be OK to not translate it at all - classical MUA users often get emails where this is in the wrong language. And DC users won't see this text at all, only users of classical MUAs.

+1

and cannot be reliably parsed.

If we don't translate it, it can - and, in fact, we already have the code to parse it today (is_quoted_headline()), but it's only used for non-chat messages.

If I didn't convince you, I'm fine with doing as you suggested.

i think it's nice that quote-replies on the non-dc side look more like how other MUAs do it so i'd nudge towards hocuri's suggestion.

[link2xt]

Then it needs to be always formatted in English.

Also you need to save the timezone of original message, see the line On Fri, Oct 06, 2023 at 02:53 -0700, Hocuri wrote:. Otherwise you format with your own timezone and we so far have avoided leaking the timezone in messages (it is leaked via webxdc though). Or format in UTC, making it not so useful for everyone.

i think it's nice that quote-replies on the non-dc side look more like how other MUAs do it so i'd nudge towards hocuri's suggestion

Users who top-post may actually remove this line, and I suspect this happens frequently because every time it is not localized properly it is easier to delete that try to rewrite in the destination language.

Adding a line completely in English and with UTC date in ISO format is ok if you really want to do it, but I suspect it does not work so well for CJK users, with RTL languages and so on.

[Hocuri]

If we don't want to leak the timezone, we can just write On Fri, Oct 06, Hocuri wrote:, which still looks similar to what other MUAs do.

Users who top-post may actually remove this line, and I suspect this happens frequently because every time it is not localized properly it is easier to delete that try to rewrite in the destination language.

I know nobody who does this - I don't think many (esp. non-technical) users care enough to delete this line because it's not localized properly. And for the receiving side it's nice if we manage to make it look like users are used to.

Adding a line completely in English and with UTC date in ISO format is ok if you really want to do it, but I suspect it does not work so well for CJK users, with RTL languages and so on.

That's a downside, though I do think that even these users are used to getting an email with the English text On ... XY wrote: sometimes.

[link2xt]

If we don't want to leak the timezone, we can just write On Fri, Oct 06, Hocuri wrote:, which still looks similar to what other MUAs do.

In UTC? So in US the date will switch somewhere during the day rather than at night.

[iequidoo]

Is the datetime that important? In UIs we have smth like

Alice (in different color) Hi Bob!

Then we could just emphasize the name somehow and that's it