Select Attachment Type

	The list presented in the Attachment Window is a list of all
the associated attachment types registered with the appropriate
Internet agencies at the time of this writing. Your system
administrator or another person may provide additional types if this
list becomes outdated.

	If you have created this list through the "Attach Multipart"
function, you will only be provided with a selection of multipart
types. These may be generally thought of as "folders" in which to 
store other attachments. This program does not distinguish between 
the various sub-types of type multipart. Some programs do. The most 
common forms are multipart/alternative, which signals alternate 
representations of a particular file, like a choice between
"postscript" or "text"; and multipart/mixed, which means assorted 
attachments. Once you have attached a multipart, you must put 
attachments in it. To do this, from the compose window, select a 
multipart attachment in the middle attachment window before
attaching another file. When you attach the file, it will then be
placed under the selected multipart instead of linearly attached to
the main message. You may create as complex hierarchical attachment
structures as you wish.

	For normal file attachments, the list presented here might be
overwhelming. You also are dependant on the receiver being able to
process the attachment in question. Generally, you will want to choose
first the major type of the file, which may be 

	text
	application
	image
	audio
	video
	message


	It may be difficult to provide file attachments of type
"message", since they generally are provided through interactive
means; and certain parameters must be set in the attachment header.

	For other types, find an appropriate match if possible to the
file which you are attaching. There are two "fallback" types for when
nothing is appropriate.

	text/plain
	application/octet-stream

	The first indicates a text file which is humanly readable. You
may provide a description along with it to indicate if it is meant to
be used otherwise. (The description will be set to the name of the
file, unless you enter something else.)

	Application/octet-stream is just a fancy way of saying "binary
file". It is something you can not normally read as text, and must be
specially encoded to pass the non-text information through the mail
system, which was designed to normally handle text only. This program
will encode it as necessary before sending it. Use this selection for
any file you are unsure of, as it is most likely to get through
unknown mail systems intact. If you have ever seen the familiar "funny
faces" on an old IBM PC, that is what binary files look like if you
try to represent them as text. Total garbage. If you send a binary
file mistakenly packaged as a text/plain attachment, the receiver will
likely not be amused.