Subject: Re: [EAI] Unicode / ASCII fallback mappings?

From: Shawn Steele <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 3 Jul 2009 21:13:25 +0000

That seems quite reasonable to me.

I think some really vague recommendations could be made however:  Many applications MAY want to choose Alternate Addresses that are human readable, such as an ASCII transliteration of the Unicode address, or an ASCII-only variation or nickname.

I agree that not much can be said though.  It might be worth pointing out some of the choices just so that a developer doesn't proceed on one course just because they hadn't thought of any others.  It might be worth recommending against encoding techniques (like punicode) just for usability, although in some cases ASCII usability may be irrelevent or impossible.

-Shawn

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Date: Fri, 03 Jul 2009 09:06:08 -0400
From: Ernie Dainow <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: [EAI] Unicode / ASCII fallback mappings?
To: [email-masked]
Message-ID: <[email-masked]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed

We are working on an update to the eai-email-clients draft that . It has
a section on handling Alternate Addresses. Based on the discussion on
this thread, it does not seem like there is a recommendations that can
be made for EAI to ASCII mapping (how to create an Alternate Address),
but it seems like it would be useful to add something about mailbox
integration.

6.1. Mailbox Integration

If Alternate Addresses are supported, it may be desirable to combine
mail for the UTF8SMTP address and the Alternate Address into one mailbox
so that all related mail can be managed in one place.

For example, if a message is sent from a UTF8SMTP address to a list of
recipients, some of the messages may be downgraded. Replies to
downgraded messages will be delivered to the Alternate Address, so all
the replies to a message may be split across two different mailboxes.

Mailbox integration is not generally handled by an MUA. Many existing
MTAs/MDAs can do this with a mail "alias" or "forward". One address is
selected as the primary mailbox and the other address is configured as
an alias.

Forwarding allows an email address on one email provider to be
integrated into the mailbox on another email provider. Mailbox
integration can make it easier for users to migrate from an old email
system that does not support UTF8SMTP to a newer one that does. All they
need to do is forward their old email address to the Alternate Address
on their new mail service.

    -Ernie

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From: Ernie Dainow <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 05 Jul 2009 10:59:38 -0400

I can suggest the following wording that I think summarizes the key 
points people have raised on name mapping.

In some environments it may be difficult or unfamiliar for a user to 
enter ASCII characters. However, selecting an Alternate Address for the 
user's UTF8SMTP address SHOULD NOT be done automatically. Automatic 
generation often results in usability problems when names that are 
difficult to read or pronounce are produced. Any generation of an 
Alternate Address should be presented to the user as a suggestion, 
allowing them to make the final choice.

    -Ernie

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From: Shawn Steele <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 6 Jul 2009 22:07:14 +0000

That seems reasonable to me, thanks

-----Original Message-----
From: Ernie Dainow [mailto:[email-masked]]
Sent: Sunday, July 05,  2009 8:00
To: Shawn Steele
Cc: [email-masked]
Subject: Re: [EAI] Unicode / ASCII fallback mappings?

    -Ernie