The 4-line limit to E-mail Signature Blocks and Accessibility

Shlomi Fish <shlomif-ik1l9ssToec+JF/[email protected]> Fri, 4 Mar 2011 14:48:11 +0200
Newsgroups	gmane.culture.hackers.israel
Message-ID	<[email protected]>
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Hi all,

The so-called "McQuary limit" for signatures says this:

http://www.answers.com/topic/mcquary-limit-computer-jargon

<quote>
[from the name of the founder of alt.fan.warlord; see warlording.] 4 lines of 
at most 80 characters each, sometimes still cited on Usenet as the maximum 
acceptable size of a sig block. Before the great bandwidth explosion of the 
early 1990s, long sigs actually cost people running Usenet servers significant 
amounts of money. Nowadays social pressure against long sigs is intended to 
avoid waste of human attention rather than machine bandwidth. Accordingly, the 
McQuary limit should be considered a rule of thumb rather than a hard limit; 
it's best to avoid sigs that are large, repetitive, and distracting. See also 
warlording. 
</quote>

Now some people have taken the rule to its letter and put signatures only 
under 4 lines. For example a typical signature (now quite old) by our Nadav 
is:

<qoute>
Nadav Har'El                        |         Monday, Sep 6 2004, 20 Elul 5764
nyh-TS7m/[email protected]             |-----------------------------------------
Phone +972-523-790466, ICQ 13349191 |May you live as long as you want - and
http://nadav.harel.org.il           |never want as long as you live.
</quote>

I've been thinking that maybe such two-column and ASCII-art-bases signature is 
not very accessible to people using screen-readers and/or Braille-devices 
(e.g: people who are blind or otherwise sight-disabled.) and possibly has 
other accessibility issues. And I've seen much worse signatures in the olden 
days of Usenet.

Now, the format of my signature block is:

<block>
[Name]    [Homepage URL]
[Self-interetst resource that may be of Interest one line - now randomised ]
[Empty Line]
[Amusing quote - usually by myself or a friend - now also randomised.]
[Empty Line]
Please reply to list if it's a mailing list post - http://shlom.in/reply .
</block>

I think this is the most accessible solution, and the signature is still not 
very long. I originally had the contact-me URL there as well, but figured out 
that people can always find it on my home site.

Omer (Zak), as our resident accessibility expert, what are your views on this?

Regards,

	Shlomi Fish

-- 
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Shlomi Fish       http://www.shlomifish.org/
Freecell Solver - http://fc-solve.berlios.de/

My opinions may seem crazy but they all make sense. Insane sense, but sense
nonetheless.

Please reply to list if it's a mailing list post - http://shlom.in/reply .

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      <p>Hi all,<br>
<br>
The so-called &quot;McQuary limit&quot; for signatures says this:<br>
<br>
<a href="http://www.answers.com/topic/mcquary-limit-computer-jargon">http://www.answers.com/topic/mcquary-limit-computer-jargon</a><br>
<br>
&lt;quote&gt;<br>
[from the name of the founder of alt.fan.warlord; see warlording.] 4 lines of <br>
at most 80 characters each, sometimes still cited on Usenet as the maximum <br>
acceptable size of a sig block. Before the great bandwidth explosion of the <br>
early 1990s, long sigs actually cost people running Usenet servers significant <br>
amounts of money. Nowadays social pressure against long sigs is intended to <br>
avoid waste of human attention rather than machine bandwidth. Accordingly, the <br>
McQuary limit should be considered a rule of thumb rather than a hard limit; <br>
it's best to avoid sigs that are large, repetitive, and distracting. See also <br>
warlording. <br>
&lt;/quote&gt;<br>
<br>
Now some people have taken the rule to its letter and put signatures only <br>
under 4 lines. For example a typical signature (now quite old) by our Nadav <br>
is:<br>
<br>
&lt;qoute&gt;<br>
Nadav Har'El                        |         Monday, Sep 6 2004, 20 Elul 5764<br>
<a href="mailto:nyh%40math.technion.ac.il">nyh-TS7m/[email protected]</a>             |-----------------------------------------<br>
Phone &#43;972-523-790466, ICQ 13349191 |May you live as long as you want - and<br>
<a href="http://nadav.harel.org.il">http://nadav.harel.org.il</a>           |never want as long as you live.<br>
&lt;/quote&gt;<br>
<br>
I've been thinking that maybe such two-column and ASCII-art-bases signature is <br>
not very accessible to people using screen-readers and/or Braille-devices <br>
(e.g: people who are blind or otherwise sight-disabled.) and possibly has <br>
other accessibility issues. And I've seen much worse signatures in the olden <br>
days of Usenet.<br>
<br>
Now, the format of my signature block is:<br>
<br>
&lt;block&gt;<br>
[Name]    [Homepage URL]<br>
[Self-interetst resource that may be of Interest one line - now randomised ]<br>
[Empty Line]<br>
[Amusing quote - usually by myself or a friend - now also randomised.]<br>
[Empty Line]<br>
Please reply to list if it's a mailing list post - <a href="http://shlom.in/reply">http://shlom.in/reply</a> .<br>
&lt;/block&gt;<br>
<br>
I think this is the most accessible solution, and the signature is still not <br>
very long. I originally had the contact-me URL there as well, but figured out <br>
that people can always find it on my home site.<br>
<br>
Omer (Zak), as our resident accessibility expert, what are your views on this?<br>
<br>
Regards,<br>
<br>
	Shlomi Fish<br>
<br>
-- <br>
----------------------------------------------------------<br>
Shlomi Fish       <a href="http://www.shlomifish.org/">http://www.shlomifish.org/</a><br>
Freecell Solver - <a href="http://fc-solve.berlios.de/">http://fc-solve.berlios.de/</a><br>
<br>
My opinions may seem crazy but they all make sense. Insane sense, but sense<br>
nonetheless.<br>
<br>
Please reply to list if it's a mailing list post - <a href="http://shlom.in/reply">http://shlom.in/reply</a> .<br>
</p>

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