All web pages should identify a contact email address so that problems can be reported.
One standard way to do this is to use an <address>...</address>
block and include a mailto URL which the user can click on.
Several examples are given below.
The suggested approach is to place both
a web site identifier and the page name in the
subject of the email.
The MailTo URL is not supported by all web browsers.
basic email
- works with Netscape 2.0 and IE 3.02
<a href="mailto:test@somewhere">basic email</a>
email to several people
- works with Communicator 4.05
<a href="mailto:test@somewhere, friend@somewhere-else">email to several people</a>
Netscape Communicator 4.05 works with either a space or a comma between
addresses
email with comment
- works with Netscape 2.0 and IE 3.02
<a href = "mailto:Index.html<test@somewhere>">email with comment</a>
I used this technique for several years, but the To address does not show
in my mail browser.
As a result, it was hard to pick out relevant mail from hundreds of possibilities.
Some browsers allow the default subject line to be encoded as a part of the URL
email with default subject
- works with Netscape 2.0 and IE 3.02
<a href="mailto:test@somewhere?subject=Test subject">email with default subject</a>
Some browsers allow a tag to set the default body text
email with default body
- does not work with IE 3.02
<a href="mailto:test@somewhere?body=Test body">email with default body</a>
Microsoft says that the mail client, not the browser,
interprets the parameters.
According to
this, Microsoft Outlook and Outlook Express support
| CC= | Carbon copy
|
| BCC= | Blind carbon copy
|
| SUBJECT= | Subject text
|
| BODY= | Body text
|
when called from IE 4.0 and above.
Another standard for providing feedback is to use a single contact page.
This technique is common when comments are sent via a form instead of email
or when a site has lots of pages.
One advantage is that it provides a single page to modify
when the contact information has to change. (Count on it.)
When CGI is used, it is possible to pass a parameter indicating which page the user
was on when the contact request was made.
This method is much better than coding unique URLs on each page of a thousand page site.
References
- This July 1998 file describes the basic syntax.
- Microsoft supports these features.
-
Netscape supports these features.
Basic support started with 2.0, the body tag was
added with version 4.0.
A more complete description is
here including a JavaScript form for producing email.
Author: Robert Clemenzi -
clemenzi@cpcug.org
clemenzi@cpcug.org