Autopopulating Email Text

[dylanls4]

I'm creating an email where if you click a link it opens up your email with the mail to, subject and text is already completed. When it comes to dreamweaver/html/etc, I'm baseline on skills.

I've figured out how to do all this except the body text stops at a certain point. Is there a character count or a work around for this? Or am I just doing it wrong?

Right now my code looks like <a href="mailto:email@.com?subject=the%20subject&body=the%20text">

I've also used spaces instead of %20 and it still works, but that's just how I first saw how to build it. Any help would be appreciated!

[Jon Fritz]

Don't do what you're doing.

It won't work for most users. 

Mailto links rely on the user having an email client installed on their machine. Anyone using browser-based email, like a gmail account for example, won't get a pop up with pre-filled fields. When they click your link, nothing will happen and they'll assume your site is broken. Mailto links are also typically one of the fastest ways to get your email address harvested by a spam bot.

What you need to do instead is look into form-to-email scripts. Most hosting companies, like GoDaddy, make basic forms available through your control panel and give fairly basic 1-2-3 style steps to implement them. Those scripts take "what the viewer has installed" out of the equation. They use your hosting server to process, format and send your viewer's information to your email. They work for all viewers and keep your email address away from harvesters.

[Nancy OShea]

Jon is 100% correct.  Mailto links are neither reliable nor secure,   Posting your e-mail address online is like having a big neon sign that says "spam me!"  You've got to use a secure contact form to protect yourself and ensure that site visitors can reliably reach you from any web device.

If your hosting provider doesn't have scripts available, find out which server-side scripts your hosting plan supports (PHP, ASP, ColdFusion...).  If no scripts are supported, use a 3rd party service like Wufoo.com where form data is gathered and processed on their servers, not yours.

[dylanls4 · Accepted solution]

Thanks for the replies - the list we are sending the email to is a specific list they are fine with having a mailto sent to. It's also one of those things where I'm just the one building it, they are the ones dictating how they want it done. Anyway - they did change their mind on the issue I was having. Thanks everyone.

[Nancy OShea]

"Anyway - they did change their mind on the issue I was having."

Good.  I'm glad common sense prevailed.  Sending mailto link through e-mail is redundant.  Obviously, the recipient already has their e-mail program open. They don't need another e-mail instance.  That's what the REPLY button is for.