WHERNTO: erudite techniq
Here are some useful things that can enhance your net efforts with websites, email, aibots, and more!
mailto
The mailto directive can greatly facilitate the emailing process and is usually used on contact forms on a webpage. The technique can also be used in actual emails that html formatted.
The mailto is quite simple to setup using basic html:
<a href="mailto:username@domain-name.top-level-domain">- username might be something like prad.e.ception
- domain-name might be githubris
- top-level-domain could be items like com, org, info, etc
Below we provide several examples demonstrating various situations involving mailto.
No mailto
Let's start with what most people do because they do not know any html whatsoever. They will put something like this in an email or webpage:
Hey! Email me here: prad.e.ceptor@githubris.info
Well that's fine, but if you want to email prad, you have to copy and paste that email address into your email client (eg gmail, outlook, evolution, mutt, notmuch or whatever you use). Such an effort could be too much for some and poor prad would never hear from them!
Simplest mailto
So to make things more efficient we can enclose the email inside a mailto code like this:
Hey! Email me <a href="mailto:prad.e.ceptor@githubris.info">here</a>!!
The above code produces the following clickable link:
Hey! Email me here!!
You can just click on the here link and the email will be produced by your email client all set to go! Give it a try, but don't send it because that email address isn't a real one.
Throw in a subject
Suppose you want people to contact you for a specific reason. Rather than having them fill in the subject field of the email, you can do it for them, like this:\\
Hey! Email me <a href="mailto:prad.e.ceptor@githubris.info?subject=Tell me about physics">here</a> about physics!!
You will get the following clickable link:
Hey! Email me here about physics!
Ya the here link looks the same, but it isn't! Try it and see what happens!
Email more than one recipient
Let's send that email to not just prad, but also copy (cc:) it to brad@copycater.com, and blind copy (bcc:) it to clad@cheapoutfittings.org (understand that none of the emails exist, so if you are a spammer, you'll be disappointed!):
Hey! Email us all <a href="mailto:prad.e.ceptor@githubris.info?subject=Tell me about physics!&cc=brad@copycater.com&bcc=clad@cheapoutfittings.org">here</a>, ok!!
You get to click the same looking here link, but it's not the same:
Hey! Email us all here, ok!!
You can keep adding to the cc: (or bcc:) fields by separating them with the rather cryptic %2C%20 (where %2C is really a comma, and %20 is really a space). A simple comma may work, but this sort of stuff can get messy!
It doesn't have to though, because you can use mailto creating tools such as this mailto-link-generator which will make the job easy!
A real opportunity!
Let's use the mailto-link-generator for a worthy cause!
The dynamic group Animal Justice is working to hold companies that sell eggs from caged hens accountable for such cruelty! One of these companies, The Second Cup, had promised to go cage-free, but is apparently reneging on that commitment.
Let's use the mailto-link-generator and send an email to The Second Cup departments, specifically:
- General Consumer Inquiries - rewards@secondcup.com
- Marketing - marketing@secondcup.com
- Franchising - franchising@secondcup.com
The subject will be
Go Cage Free!!
The message (you can indeed include the body text!) will be somewhat terse for there is no reason to be excessively nice to exploitative oppressors:
What happened to your promise to animal welfare! Your website stated that you were ensuring your products would be made with 100% cage-free eggs.
Now, that sentence has been deleted from the website!
It is still stated on your website that The Second Cup is committed to animal welfare and to ensuring that your suppliers' policies and practices align with your values.
So which is it? Are you going cage-free or not?!
As a consumer, I want to know whether I will spend my money at a seller who keeps promises, or relegate to the cellar, one who breaks them!
Are you ready?
Go to the mailto-link-generator and start filling in the fields:
- To field: rewards@secondcup.com
- Cc field: marketing@secondcup.com, franchising@secondcup.com
- Subject field: Go Cage Free!!
- Message field: copy and paste the above message or type up your own. (Sign it with your name.)
- Link text field: Email The Second Cup
Then press the Generate button and you'll see your mailto link and even the entire html code which you can insert into an html email message or a webpage respectively. You can click on the Copy buttons to grab the code and use it like this:
Click on the above link and see what your email client prepares for you! Then send it to The Second Cup, so they have no doubt that we are watching them!
Want to know more?
You now have enough mailto knowledge to be dangerous!
If you want to go further into this, try these links:
Or if you are a I-don't-read-the-book-so-show-me-the-movie type, watch away: