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Inspiring
May 11, 2020
Question

DW extension advice

  • May 11, 2020
  • 5 replies
  • 4732 views

Hi there, I'm looking for some advice. I'm about to create a society website in DW. For now there are 2 things we don't yet have a solution for.

1. masking/scrambling e-mail links

2. form handling. Not just name & e-mail but more data like address fields, phone numbers, dob. etc.

 

Which extensions would you recommend? I'd like to have all the solutions operable from within DW as I would be easy to hand over the complete site to other board members and cross platform. TIA.

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5 replies

Legend
May 12, 2020

Simple PHP email obfuscation example:

<?php
//Encode Email
function protectMail($s) {
$result = '';
$s = '' . $s;
for ($i = 0; $i < strlen($s); $i++) {
$result .= '&#' . ord(substr($s, $i, 1)) .
';';
}
return $result;
}
?>

usage:

<a href="mailto:<?php echo protectMail('you@yourwebsitedomain.com'); ?>">Click here to email us</a>

 If email links are a must, I would create a new, unique, unused email address for the website, at least that way you can get an idea of how effective any kind of email obfuscation is against email harvesters.

Paul-M - Community Expert
Inspiring
May 12, 2020

Thanks everyone. I thought my questions were easier than they appear to be. Let me explain. Back in the old days when I used GoLive, there was an extension that scrambled the mailto-link (with Javascript, I believe). Let's say the clickable word is ‘here’, then that extension scrambled the mailto-code. I was looking for a kind of DW equivalent of that extension. I've never stated that I wanted to mask a readable e-mail address.

 

As for the form handling, also back in the GL-days, I had a php-script that was linked to the html/css formfields. I could use form fields and radio buttons and then have the form input send to one or more e-mail addresses for manual handling. Since that script isn't maintained anymore it's not working under the recent version of php. So I'm looking for a solution along those lines. Maybe I was wrong by using the word ‘extension’.

 

Solutions like those of Paul-M is something I could work with. Thanks Paul. I hope my explanation makes any sense. TIA.

 

@Ben_M: yes ID is a design program, but is also capable to produce e-pubs/apps, interactive pdf's and websites. With IN5 added to ID you can output decent html-5 websites. I worked with IN5 for a client where we both did print/pdf and app using the same layout. I still have to find out what they do with issues like form handling and mailto scrambling.

 

 

Legend
May 12, 2020

There are plenty of 'amatuer' email 'masking' options out there (see links below) but its unclear how effective they are as spambots get more sophisticated over time. I guess we are suggestion here ways which will almost guarantee a spambot can't get at the email address, which is good practice. Of course the downside is you need a little bit of coding skill to be able to implement these.

 

http://www.wbwip.com/wbw/emailencoder.html

 

https://www.heartinternet.uk/blog/15-ways-to-hide-your-email-address/

 

https://www.jqueryscript.net/text/jQuery-Plugin-To-Mask-Email-Addresses-On-Your-Website-Mail-Mask.html

 

 

 

Nancy OShea
Community Expert
Community Expert
May 11, 2020

A backend CMS is necessary for non-coding amateurs to manage the site with.  Even WordPress with a Memberhsip Plugin would be a better option.

https://www.wpbeginner.com/wp-tutorials/ultimate-guide-to-creating-a-wordpress-membership-site/

 

Nancy O'Shea— Product User & Community Expert
Inspiring
May 11, 2020

Thanks everyone. To be more specific, I'm not planning on posting e-mail adresses in full. Just a clickable word, but the link data should not be harvestable. As for the site, it won't be used as a community platform. Just some basic info about the society, our subject, some stories an a application form to become a member. So no need for WP. Besides, I hate templates and have very bad experiences with cms. 

Nancy OShea
Community Expert
Community Expert
May 11, 2020

Who will be tasked with maintaning this site?  That's who you must build it for.  Like it or not, most people prefer to use a CMS either custom or open source.

 

Nancy O'Shea— Product User & Community Expert
Community Expert
May 11, 2020

I agree with Nancy that posting email addresses is a bad idea.  I'm wondering why you are so set on creating this in Dreamweaver thinking it will be easy to hand over.  If someone doesn't know how to code, making them purchase HTML editing software or trying to edit code in a free text editor is very dangerous.

 

Personally I would recommend looking into software to manage your community and make it easier to maintain without an editor like DW such as Invision Community ( https://invisioncommunity.com ) or Vanilla ( https://vanillaforums.com/en/ ).  There are probably others out there, but I think you would be better with a solution like those as opposed to trying to build this all yourself and thinking it will be easy to hand off. Having something with a modern web interface to manage online from anywhere would be your best bet to hand off to a client or someone potentially without technical expertise.

Nancy OShea
Community Expert
Community Expert
May 11, 2020

Never post e-mail addresses, obfuscated or not, on the open web.  I highly recommend you build your app behind password protection so nobody can see sensitive data except your members.

 

Secure form processing and encryption are essential to protect your site, your members' data and your server from exploitation by hackers and spam bots.  Ask your hosting provider which form processing scripts they recommend you use with your hosting plan.    Or you can go 3rd party and use a form service like JotForms or Wufoo.com where form data is collected and processed on their servers, not yours. 

 

Nancy O'Shea— Product User & Community Expert
BenPleysier
Community Expert
Community Expert
May 11, 2020

1. One way is to use CSS to obfuscate the email link. As an example, I use right2left as follows:

The CSS:

 

.reverse { 
    unicode-bidi: bidi-override;
    direction: rtl;
}

 

the HTML:

 

<p class="reverse">moc.elpmaxe@liam</p>

 

the Result:

 

mail@xample.com

 

 

2. Have a look at

i) https://www.webassist.com/

ii) https://www.dmxzone.com/3/extensions

 

 

Wappler is the DMXzone-made Dreamweaver replacement and includes the best of their powerful extensions, as well as much more!