[thelist] mailto: long body text

aardvark roselli at earthlink.net
Tue Aug 14 23:53:05 CDT 2001


> From: "Tyme" <nopun at bellsouth.net>
>
> While I appreciate the response, I cannot believe that you so
> completely missed several points.  If you are interested, I have
> pointed them out inline.

funny, i was under the impression you missed the overall point that 
the mailto is imperfect at best, and problematic on average... that's 
why we've been discussing it, to help you understand that it may 
not be the best solution to your issue, and to see that your 
personal preferences are moot...

> > except if the form has all the copy already in it, probably in a
> > text area, there is no cut-n-paste, and there is an opportunity for
> > the user to edit it...
> 
> TYME} Hello?  That was the point of inserting the text for the body
> value in mailto:.  The user can easily modify the letter as desired.

ok, you go to the page and there's a textarea with the copy in it 
already... click in the field and modify... hit the submit button...

or click the mailto link, hope it does what you want it to do (call 
your mail client and put the data where it should be without cutting 
it), if it does, then you change focus to the message, and modify 
the message...

more steps, more clicks, more room for problems...  your point is 
lost since it's less steps and more likely to work if you present it in 
a textarea...

> TYME} As stated in my original post, I too have and use ASPMail
> script.  It is very easy to configure.  It is the email form that
> takes the time to put together.  And, I had just a few minutes to set
> up the subject page. ...And, no, since I rarely use form mail on my
> sites, I do not have a template form set up as yet.

sounds like it's time to do it... a good version of that script for your 
code library would include the form fields and all that HTML as well 
as the VBScript... call the include when you need it, and you've got 
a highly re-usable piece of code that generates both the UI and 
SSI...

> TYME}  Well, my personal preferences are shared by others (which I
> know them to be), it is important.  And, when the main focus on the
> subject page is to email a letter, that preference is something to be
> considered.  Yes, having several options available is ideal.  However,
> 15 minutes of development time often does not afford one those
> luxuries.  [Before you lecture me about planning, twas not my
> scheduling.]

and mine are shared by others as well, but i'm not presenting 
those, i'm presenting experience and data to suggest that your 
preferences are moot in this case...  if you don't have time to 
implement a proper form now, build your page to accept it when 
you take the time to build up your code library and can insert it 
then... at least then you'll be able to compare response rates 
between the two (or not, since mailto doesn't work that way... 
kinda sucks when you can't track use, huh?)...

> TYME} You so completely missed the point here.  I was speaking of my
> experience as a _user_, not a developer.  Those many, many other
> developers who failed to manage _my_ expectations.  As stated in my
> original post, I do cc: the author when I use form mail.

then you have, in fact, missed my point by a mile... take all those 
things you don't like about forms as a user, and as a developer, fix 
them in your implementation... now you have nothing left to 
complain about when it comes to your form, right?

> TYME} Geez, people.  While I welcome constructive responses, I thought
> that I had clearly stated my knowledge of form mail options but my
> desire to use mailto: in _this particular case_...For a letter that
> was not to be static, but to be easily customized by the user.

except given the limitations on what mail clients will accept, 
limitations on characters appended to the query string, and 
limitations on user experience, it seems to be a less ideal 
solution... and if you build it well server-side, it's just as functional, 
and easily more so... we're just trying to help, we could have just 
clammed up and let you implement something we think is flawed... 
take it or leave it...




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