HTML digests are not standardized across webmail platforms and there is no IETF RFC governing how they work.  Your best bet if your mail client does not support LISTSERV's HTML digests is to use MIME DIGEST (as the manual states).

The fact is that digests were introduced originally when mail reading software was much simpler and primarily text-based.  Text-only digests are compliant with RFC 1153 which governs text digests.  Because there was (and is) no RFC on the subject of HTML digests, there was no way to develop a "one size fits all" solution.  Therefore the HTML digests are what they are, and are unlikely to change absent a decision on the part of a majority of mail reader developers to agree on a standard.

Another historical fact about digests is that they were added at a time when mail readers did not necessarily contain automatic filters (or at least, automatic filters that were easy for the end user to configure) and everything showed up in users' inboxes.  Today you have the option of adding an inbox filter that can move list mail into separate folders and keep your inbox clear for mail you need to read immediately.  At least in my view, this makes it unlikely that further development of HTML digests will occur, and to be honest, I consider digest format emails mostly obsolete.

Nathan

From: LISTSERV Site Administrators' Forum <[log in to unmask]> On Behalf Of deb cady
Sent: Friday, August 19, 2022 11:27 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: HTML DIgests will they ever be functional?

Given the information in the List Admin manual that:

Since the digest includes all of the messages as MIME attachments, all of the links in the HTML digest index are of the form: "cid: content-id" (see RFC 2111 for more information about this type of URL). Unfortunately, some email clients, even some that otherwise support HTML, do not handle such references correctly. For this reason, some subscribers may not be able to use HTML digests.

And given that most large institutions are using web-based email services (Gmail, Yahoo, Amazon, Office 365, etc...)

Is there any plan to move away from this encoding and provide a functional text+ digest?


Deb

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