Feed - Show the article summary instead of the web page

[MicheleBS]

Dear Forum,

I've recently started experiencing the RSS features in Thunderbird, subscribing to various Feeds. Generally, I set Thunderbird so that it shows me only the summaries instead of the web pages of the Feed. This is comfortable, because the whole interesting content of the news is often just contained in this so-called "summary", without needless further content (images, html content from the original web page, etc.) that would slow down the loading.

But I see that this works only when I open the message as a new tab. In fact, if I open as a new window, the message is loaded as a web page, with the full (slow to load) content from the URL in which it is contained.

Is it possible to load only the summary also if I decide to open the message in a separate window?

Thanks Forum.

[MicheleBS]

Any help?

[almitydave]

I created an account here just to answer this. I was having the same problem and some Googling discovered the answer here: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=513652

In summary: the menu option "View -> Feed Message Body As -> [Web Page | Summary | Default Format]" ONLY affects the display behavior of feed messages opened in a new TAB or in the Message Pane (if that is enabled).

To change the setting for feed messages opened in a new WINDOW, you have to go to Tools -> Options..., section "Advanced", tab "General", click on button "Config Editor...", and change the option "rss.show.content-base" to 1. This means show the summary. A value of 0 means show the web page.

I verified that this works on all my subscribed feeds for both new and unread items, and that the menu option continues to control the behavior when messages are opened in a new tab.

I did NOT test the behavior for feeds added AFTER changing this config value.

Tested on Thunderbird 16.0.1

-Dave

[MicheleBS]

This is very useful.

Receiving no answers during all these weeks, I definitively thought no one knew how to do.

But I have just checked the procedure with my feeds, and it works.

I even couldn't test this with new feeds added after this changing, too. As soon as possible I will brief.

Thank you!

[alta88]

To change the setting for feed messages opened in a new WINDOW, you have to go to Tools -> Options..., section "Advanced", tab "General", click on button "Config Editor...", and change the option "rss.show.content-base" to 1. This means show the summary. A value of 0 means show the web page.

this will no longer be necessary in Tb17, and the menuitem will be available in a window as well. the behavior honoring the pref in a window broke due to later code changes and has been restored.

there will also be some new, hidden prefs for web page handling as well. complete list of options, from the code:

Code: Select all

// Feed message display (summary or web page), on select.
// 0 - global override, load web page
// 1 - global override, load summary
// 2 - use default feed folder setting from Subscribe dialog; if no setting default to 1
 pref("rss.show.summary", 1);

// Feed message display (summary or web page), on open.
// Action on double click or enter in threadpane for a feed message.
// 0 - open content-base url in new window
// 1 - open summary in new window
// 2 - toggle load summary and content-base url in message pane
+// 3 - load content-base url in browser
 pref("rss.show.content-base", 0);

+// Feed message additional web page display.
+// 0 - no action
+// 1 - load web page in default browser, on select
+pref("rss.message.loadWebPageOnSelect", 0);

[MicheleBS]

I've installed ThB 17, and it seems that this trouble about how to view the feed messages has not completely solved yet. After some attempts, I realized that:

Changing the options in View->Feed Message Body As->... does not change the behavior of ThB in how to view the feed;

The only way to change the behavior is manually changing the following two parameters alta88 was writing about:

1 - rss.show.summary
2 - rss.show.content-base

rss.show.summary controls the visualisation of the message only into the "Message Panel" (F8), while rss.show.content-base is referred both to opening the message in a new tab and in a new window.

Well, I'd like to return to the behavior of the last days, before updating ThB, that is:

- Message Panel showing: I don't use it, so it's not so important for me the variable rss.show.summary.
- Open the message in a new tab: show only summary;
- Open the message in a new window: show the original webpage.

Is it possible, in your opinion? It seems that there's no way to distinguish "Open in a new tab" and "Open in a new window", because they relate to the same parameter in the config editor (rss.show.content-base).

[alta88]

the observation isn't correct. pref #1 is set by View->Feed.. and pref #2 is set by Message->Open Feed Message (an item must be selected).

the latter has options for summary or web page in New Window, which now means New Window or Tab, since feeds came before tabs, and the choice of which is opened on double click is governed by Options dialog Advanced->Reading&Display Open messages radio.

if a message is opened in window (or tab) it will use the format set in pref #1. it was a bug, now fixed, that this wasn't respected pre Tb17 for window (it was actually a regression that broke when tabs were implemented). the option to open in window with summary and tab with web page, or vice versa, doesn't exist.

[MicheleBS]

alta88,

you've been very plain, thank you. In fact, I checked my ThB and all you wrote is correct. Only a couple of remarks:

- I thought thatView->Feed... didn't work because, ad I said, I currently don't use the Message Panel, so I didn't notice any changes in how the feed appear...

... the option to open in window with summary and tab with web page, or vice versa, doesn't exist.

- So it seems that the difference between how a feed is shown in a Window and how is shown in a Tab was due to a bug... But this was quite useful, for me because the load of the web-page is slower than loading the summary (which is almost immediate), so I usually first opened the message in a new Tab through a clic on the mouse wheel (viewing the Summary), controlled quickly if it was interesting and, in that case, I opened the message itself in a new Window through a double clic, to see it in its web context.

I set Advanced->Reading&Display Open messages in to the value A new window because, in any case, if I want to open the message in a new Tab I simply can clic on the mouse wheel.

Last remark: the Message->Open Feed Message... option is available only if we select a specific feed message; when a traditional e-mail is selected, or even the "My feed" general folder in the Folder Panel, that option is unavailable.