email read confirmation

is it possible?

[kumarsena]

i have a free account wiht yahoo, but it does not offer me email confirmation. i need to send out some material that i would like to know if has been read. is there any way i can do this using php and hmtl. yahoo does support html.

thanks
kumar

[Knowles]

Put a link to a picture in it that is linked no where else. Watch your logs for that picture to be requested. If it doesnt get requested the msg has not been read or they are not viewing the email in html format.

There may be a more technical way.

[httpwebwitch]

Yup, that method really does work. Try it!

There is even a way to trigger any PHP script using an image in someone's email or on a web page, and the image can even pass along browser and client information via the querystring. It's a great way to send stuff betwixt domains.

in the HTML email or page, include this:

<img src="http://yourdomain.org/myimage.php?mydata=helloworld&yourOS=Win98">

then on your server, yourdomain.com, host this file:
(Make sure there are no spaces before or after your <?php?> tags!)

**BOF**

<?php
// when this file is triggered, it will have 
// the $HTTP_GET_VARS['mydata']
// and $HTTP_GET_VARS['yourOS']
// wanna store it? go right ahead.
// send a confirmation
// see the PHP manual for sending 
// mail to yourself
mail(yadda yadda yadda);
// after all your invisible work is done,
// spit out a transparent pixel
header('Content-type: image/gif'); 
header('Expires: Sat, 22 Apr 1978 02:19:00 GMT'); 
header('Cache-Control: no-cache'); 
header('Cache-Control: must-revalidate'); 
printf("%c%c%c%c%c%c%c%c%c%c%c%c%c%c%c%c%c%c%c%c%c%c%c%c%c%c%c%c%c%c%c%c%c%c%c%c%c%c%c%c%c%c%", 
71,73,70,56,57,97,1,0,1,0,128,255,0,192,192,192,0,0,0,33,249,4,1,0,0,0,0,44,0,0,0,0,1,0,1,0,0,2,2,68,1,0,59);
?>

**EOF**