TSL vs SSL in Contact Us Form

RapidWeaver Elements
1

Dan,

I was unable to get the contact us form to connect to the email server on my site. All the info was correct except the choice of TSL vs SSL. AI (ChatGPT) fixed the problem by changing only that one selection. When I asked AI if SSL was obsolete this is the response I received:

Yes—the old SSL protocols are obsolete. But the “SSL” label here is historical terminology.

Elements uses PHPMailer, where:

  • SSL + port 465 means implicit TLS: encryption starts immediately.
  • TLS + port 587 means STARTTLS: the connection upgrades to encryption.

PHPMailer documents these pairings, and RFC 8314 supports implicit TLS on port 465.

So the change matches the connection method to port 465; it doesn’t deliberately enable obsolete SSL protocols. I should have explained that distinction earlier.

Should this be updated in Elements?

2

Hi @rashley

Nothing needs to be updated here. You would enter whichever settings your email provider gives you. Most use either SSL over port 465, or TLS over port 587. You’d want to check your mail provider’s documentation regarding which connection settings they require and go with that.

Happy to hear you got it working in the end.