[Tickets #9827] Re: attachments are not shown for this message

[bugs at horde.org]

DO NOT REPLY TO THIS MESSAGE. THIS EMAIL ADDRESS IS NOT MONITORED.

Ticket URL: http://bugs.horde.org/ticket/9827
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  Ticket             | 9827
  Updated By         | Michael Slusarz <slusarz at horde.org>
  Summary            | attachments are not shown for this message
  Queue              | IMP
  Version            | Git master
  Type               | Bug
  State              | Unconfirmed
  Priority           | 1. Low
  Milestone          |
  Patch              |
  Owners             |
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Michael Slusarz <slusarz at horde.org> (2011-04-21 18:56) wrote:

> In that example, I agree that it's not great to show the user those  
> images as attachments, but what's the actual harm or user  
> frustration caused by it, as opposed to not being able to find a  
> file that an email claims is attached?

Because I end up viewing a message that has 10 formatting images in  
the unviewable part and that message now shows 10 attachments.  So as  
a user, if I see a message with 10 attachments, there is going to be  
some sort of (substantial) time penalty to go through and determine  
whether those attachments are legitimate or not.  This is unacceptable  
especially since, as mentioned previously, this example represents 99%  
of the messages received vs. the broken message that is the subject of  
this ticket which 1 broken e-mail client is sending.

The default behavior must remain the way it is.  I am all for finding  
a way to workaround this behavior without destroying the user  
experience in the vast majority of messages received.

Displaying all message parts needs to be implemented for dimp,  
notwithstanding anything in this ticket.  So that solves the problem  
partially since the attachment will be accessible.  However, it does  
not indicate that there may be an attachment.

As much as it pains me to say it... I am thinking that we ARE going to  
need to do MUA-sniffing to fix this.  I am thinking that this sniffing  
can be accomplished in a status box rather than automatically adding  
the attachments to the list.  E.g. for messages received from Apple  
Mail, if an attachment is found within an unviewable alternative part,  
a yellow box will be displayed indicating that an attachment might be  
in another part and that the user should view all message parts to  
verify.  This prevents the situation above from happening (unwanted  
attachments polluting the attachment list) while providing some  
indication to the user that an attachment *may* be available, and the  
user can factor the context of the displayed part into their decision  
as to whether to view all message parts.