Can Subject Line Text Be Bolded, Italicized & Not Black?

Is there a way of changing making the text typed in the subject line of a Mail email bold, italics, or a different color?

i've tried changing it using the same methods i use to change the text within an email but it remains its same boring self.

thanx.

Posted on Sep 11, 2005 8:08 PM

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4 replies

Sep 12, 2005 3:23 PM in response to Jane Garcia

Hello Jane.

I don't recall ever recieving a message with a formatted text in the Subject line. I'm not sure but this may have more to do with message header standards.

I use Windows Outlook at work and it is not possible to format the Subject line with Outlook either and if it were possible, you can bet Microsoft would have included the option since HTML e-mail is one of the uglier things Microsoft has wrought upon the Internet IMO.

Sep 12, 2005 10:19 PM in response to Jane Garcia

Jane,

according to the specifications of e-mail, all the message headers are plain text only - you therefore cannot add any formatting.

A little more technical: the formatting within the message body is only possible since you have a header before which tell the client that the following text is going to be formatted instead of plain text. Since the individual headers of an e-mail message are pretty much independent of each other (and their order can be random and might even be changed by the sending server), it is impossible to do the same without changing the way e-mails are generated and processed - this most likely will not happen since it wouldn't make sense to overthrow a well-established standard only to add a single silly feature...

i Andreas

Sep 14, 2005 8:50 PM in response to Andreas Amann

thanx for all your replies. i don't like outlook or outlook express, and try wherever possible to avoid using anything that will enable bill gates to get even richer.

I disagree, andreas, that being able to format subject headings is a "silly feature." sometimes i want to make a point in my subject heading, and being able to bold, italicize or put it in color would be very helpful.

I also don't believe that just because something is a well-established standard that it shouldn't be changed or improved.

but thanx for explaining it to me.

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Can Subject Line Text Be Bolded, Italicized & Not Black?

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