mailto links

[VectraMan]

I've been having this ongoing argument about how to send email from a client side web app. I've always said that mailto is not likely to work, at least not for many people, because it requires a client application like Outlook and these days people tend to use web based email (you can use it with GMail in Chrome, but only if you set it up, and presumably most people don't), and the right answer is to post to PHP/ASP/Perl/Whatever on a webserver.

What say you? Would you ever use a mailto link on a website?

[JustinTime]

What say you? Would you ever use a mailto link on a website?

Nah, they're a waste of time; use a message form, and copy the message to the customer's email address.

[stek]

They are also harvestable for spamming purposes...

[TheFaQQer]

If the user chooses to, they can associate some webmail with mailto links in the browser. So mine opens Gmail for me - whether that is because I'm using Chrome and Gmail I don't know, but there are ways to do it.

Anyway - I'd go with a form and have that send the email to you.

[vetran]

form for the public.

hides email from spammers

can add captcha etc.

[d000hg]

Form for most things, but if it's business-facing (or mobile-facing, I assume mailto works there) I would probably have a mailto link as well for those who prefer it.