I was reading the Piccalilli newsletter and saw that Jake Archibald recently wrote an article about footnotes and has some suggestions on what to use instead.
I hate footnotes1, and hopefully by the end of this, you will too. Let's get down to it…
One of the points that stuck out for me was how footnotes can lead to context switching which can interrupt the flow of reading.
I’m still using footnotes in my writing, but I’ve (hopefully) reduced the usage to references.
I’ve been curious about how images and logos show up in my mail client even when I do not have them in my address book. I thought I would look into this as a small side project before I rewrite the author information on the site1.
So, the question is, “How do I do this?”
Answer, I can’t.
Well, not officially.
The images that you see next to your email are called BIMI, Brand Indicators for Message Identification. To more reliably use this, I would need to make my icon a registered trademark for more service providers. But, I noticed that Fastmail allows it, and I use that service for my email. So, I’m going to do all the other steps associated with the process.
Step 1: Get/Set the DMARC Record
I currently use Hover as my domain registrar, and they have an interface that allows me to set a DMARC record. I used the wizard from DMARC.com, but it’s essentially a text string that you can just add.
For me, I used specific email under my domain so that I could filter things related to this process.
From what I can see, it seems like there is a problem if an email that I send is forwarded to another server. I’ve decided to use the ~all for now.
I don’t send out that many emails, and I’m growing more and more… cautious on where my email might be going.
Step 2: Configure the Image Correctly
I think this is the step where I got the most value out of this process, because it had me re-evaluate the SVG that I’ve been using for my website. When I used Real Favicon Generator to create the .ico file and manifest for the site, I used the svg that was also created. It looks the same, but the internal structure is different from the original. The site claims that the one it generates is future proof.
I switched back to the original for the SVG and used the SVG Conversion Tools to create a version of what this is expecting. As a bonus, I add the same title and desc fields to the SVG that I serve.
I added the TXT record for the BIMI and let it propagate.
Step 3: Register your Trademark
This is a step that I didn’t look into in depth. To register my trademark would cost me $75 dollars in the state where I live, and I don’t know if that would be honored internationally.
I cannot justify the expense of having my icon show up in the emails of people who may never read or care.
I mean, I care, but that brings up another point.
Gravitar should work
Gravitar is a free2 service that acts as a way to validate and host information about who someone is. Other services can query gravitar to look up information about that user. For example, if I sign up for a new discourse forum, it will take my email and use the profile picture that gravitar has on file and use that until I tell the forum to use another picture.
It’s very convenient, and I’ve enjoyed seeing the same people in different communities that I go to.
The only problem that I’ve come across is that it caches the picture that you have when you first sign up to the service.
Conclusion
I set this up, but I do not truly know if it works. I’ve tested with DMARC Domain Checker and ValiMail Domain Checker, and it looks like everything is working with the current ~all and p=quarantine options.
DMACian also has a DMARC Report Analyzer that can give you an idea of what issues you might have when you configure this.
It is good that the one email I send out a week was not rejected.
I’ll make the switch to the more secure settings after this is published. You can email me if you want to get an email to check if it’s working.
I do not know why I want to do this. It seems to be working just fine and the only thing reading the information will be bots. ↩︎
The service is offered by Automattic. The CEO has been part of some online drama with WordPress. This causes me to feel a little uncertain on what is going to happen with this in the future. ↩︎
I miss Aaliyah. I think she had wonderful talent as a singer and phenomenal stage presence. She had a way of soothing and entrancing at the same time. After this post, I'm going to write a letter to my wife. Sometimes, it's better to express yourself that way.
What's your favorite song to listen to in the rain?
I’m not a fan of being outside in the rain. I know that it’s good for the area that I live in to have it on a regular basis. I just don’t like being cold and the rain we see is usually associated with the colder months.
For some, rain is rejuvenating. For me, it’s sadness that I have to go through.
Share a song that sounds like your ideal Sunday morning.
My friends like to joke that this was made when Maroon 5 was good. And I have to admit it’s still my favorite album and I listen to it semi frequently.
What I like about this song is the passion. Sia’s voice has this way of almost cracking as she screams out how she’s still alive and still fighting.
There have been too many times when I’ve been close to death. A wrong step here, a slight change in circumstances and I would not be here writing this post.
For me, this also stirs up that feeling of questions about why am I alive. Life is for the living and we have an opportunity to do something with it. Do not sit there waiting for death because it’s going to get you anyway.
Do not waste your time. If you really want to know what happens watch the trailer and just make a guess. Odds are that you spent almost as much time/energy with that compared to what they put into the overall plot.
This thing was created by the business side of the movie business and it shows. They took a whole bunch of ideas and shoved it into an extended trailer that cost them $100 million and they got $971 million. So, I guess Illumination executives have no problem destroying future revenue as they cash out and move to the next IP.
Mandaris
