[thelist] mailto: long body text

aardvark roselli at earthlink.net
Tue Aug 14 15:47:56 CDT 2001


> From: "Tyme" <nopun at bellsouth.net>
>
> Well, I knew that _someone_ would give me the "don't use mailto:"
> lecture. Not surprised that it was you...nothing personal. (See inline
> comments, if you'd like.)

and i'm sure you're not surprised that i would concur with the 
opinion that mailto is often not the best solution...

[...]
> 1.  New users (some even "senior" users):
>      A.  Often more comfortable with sending messages using their own
>      mail
> clients, especially when they might be editing/re-writing a
> significant amount of text.  [I know that I would prefer it for this
> reason.] ...Catering to my specific demographic here.

this is in stark contrast to testing i have performed... new users are 
often trying to find their way and don't always understand the 
relationship between a mail client and a web browser...

- some people don't configure their browser to use their mail client, 
especially new users, and especially if someone else didn't set it 
up for them...

- some people never see the new message pop up, especially if 
they surf full-screen and the mail client doesn't take focus with the 
new message...

>      B.  Gives user the flexibility to use the cc: or bcc: fields as
>      they
> would prefer for this particular use.  Or to add emphasis to the
> subject letter.

if you offer those fields on the form, then it's kind of moot, isn't it?

>      C.  Saves me wasting tyme writing an explanation about how to
>      copy and
> paste text into a mail message.  (Which I had to do anyone.)

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...

> 2.  No-charge site.  Needed to put information up quickly.  Did not
> want to spend the time to create the email forms and code the ASPMail
> (especially to build in the flexibility/functionality that I wanted). 
> And, form mail options were not necessarily an option in this
> instance.

no offense, but one of the first things i ever made was a re-usable 
ASPMail script that only takes a minute to configure... it has 
to/from/cc/bcc/subject as well as fields to dump into the content 
part of a message... all i do is change the SMTP server and it's 
pretty much ready to go... this is something that is so basic it 
should be in every developers code library... just because you can't 
download one for free doesn't mean you can't make it yourself...  
the fact that you consider that a factor for *not* using it is 
unfortunate...

> 3.  I personally _hate_ form mail options.  I want a damn "sent mail"
> message sitting in my desired folder for record and follow-up.  To

your personal preferences are generally irrelevent... i hate the color 
gold, but i've used it on projects... i could refuse, but that would be 
a disservice to my client... i hate the way default buttons look, but i 
use them, because i don't want to limit my users who have to wait 
for image buttons to download, or who aren't comfortable without a 
press in/out state...  having the mailto: in addition to the form 
accounts for those users who are like you, which means you cover 
all your bases...

> date, I have never encountered a form mail where the web developer has
> configured it to send a cc: to the Sender.  (Except my own form mail,

so add that into the one you're going to add to your code library... 
now it will never be an issue again...

> when I use it.) Ever tried to print out your completed mail form for
> record?  Doesn't work. Doesn't show all of your text.  And, of course,

adjust the wrap with CSS or browser-specific tags if it's an issue... 
of course, cc-ing the sender is best, but if you're not going to do 
it...  you could even offer a printable version...

> you don't know until you send the message whether you will be getting
> a cc: back or not. ...I _rarely_ send email when a form is involved. 

if you don't know if you'll get a cc, then you didn't do a very good 
job managing the user's expectations... in fact, you have so many 
issues with it, and they are all so *easy* to address, i'd think you'd 
be happy to build a form that addresses all those problems... a 
form you can actually hold up as an example of how to do it right...

> And, often, this keeps me from sending positive feedback to
> webmasters.

oh well...

[...]
> So, basically, you do not know the answer.  :-)    Regardless of the
> method that I end up with, I would like to know exactly what the
> limitations of mailto: are, if only for curiousity's sake rather than
> future reference. That was my question, afterall.

see above... i think it's been answered...





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