10.32 Presentation

Subject (title)

All communications should have a subject. In choosing a subject line (a short one is usually best), bear in mind that it summarizes what the text is about. It may also determine whether your message will be read immediately or not.

Message

Most e-mail programs impose certain standards for physical and data format. These govern, in particular, width (the number of characters per line) and the length of the document. If your lines are too long, there is a risk that they will be split into partial lines, which complicates reading of the message. Longer documents should be segmented into several shorter ones in a logical, topic-based manner to facilitate access to information.

Characters

Since documents may be viewed on a variety of systems, avoid using special characters and complex tables which cannot be viewed by all potential readers of your message. When in doubt, keep to ASCII characters. Be consistent in the use of fonts and typefaces. Do not send messages entirely in upper case.

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