Author's Address 1. This draft describes a set of guidelines that will allow conforming mail user agents to be able to send, deliver and display HTML objects. HTML aggregate objects can also include additional HTML documents that are linked to the first object, as well as other arbitrary MIME content. Mail sending agents will also send aggregate HTML objects when a user wishes to mail a particular document from the World Wide Web to someone else. Finally mail sending agents will send aggregate HTML documents as automatic responders, providing access to WWW resources for non-IP connected clients.
Mail receiving agents also have several differing needs.
Some mail receiving agents will be able to receive an aggregate HTML document and display it just as any other text content type would be displayed. Others will have to pass this aggregate HTML document to an HTML browsing program, and provisions need to be made to make this possible. Finally several other constraints on the problem arise. It is important that it be possible for an HTML document to be signed and for it to be able to be transmitted to a client and displayed with a minimum chance of breaking the message integrity check that is part of the signature. However at a basic level there are some differences between HTML being transferred by HTTP and HTML being transferred through Internet email.