I have long resisted the trend of sending HTML formatted e-mail addresses, ensuring that although I must use Microsoft Outlook at work I have it set to send plain text messages, switching to HTML format only when there is a need to do so. Sadly I must now set my default format to HTML as my company has mandated a new standard for e-mail signatures, requiring that a signature be in a specific font and have certain sections bold, italic or in a particular colour. I realise that this is probably done more to tone down and standardise the signatures of others that may have used bright colours and strange fonts, rather than to pretty up plain text signatures like the one I used to use. Still it saddens me that presentation seems to be as important as the message an e-mail conveys.
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craniac's place 
Indeed! I agree with you completely. I am thinking of adding a rider to my signature apologising for sending HTML email, but I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t go down so well with the higher ups 🙂
I’m surprised they haven’t “standardised” other aspects of our emailing yet – standard greetings, standard punctuation??!!!!! etc.
Ah, well meaning but clueless decisions. It is bad enough recieving emails where the longest paragraph is the disclaimer but to have them in HTML format… well, how awful.
You should tell the decision maker that the legality of email disclaimers is very much in doubt. No one has ever successfully used one in an email dispute.