How to avoid the mailto annoyance?

Question

I am working on a website and would like for my users to be able to give feedback as easily as possible. I know one way but I\'ve always hated it:

Answer 1

A CONTACT FORM:

• avoids spam bots that pick up 'mailtos'
• allows you to validate that the form user is 'human' (optional captcha)
• gives you total server-side control over data format
• allows you to change your email easily from the server, anytime
• hides your favorite, real email from your visitors/members/site users
• gives you the option to control the topic (via select menu, etc.)
• gives you an opportunity to have the user check off something extra
  • e.g., a survey question, subscription opt-in, interest in services, quote, etc.
• gives you an opportunity to return a thank you (or sales page) after submission
• gives you another opportunity to look professional

There's no question the link is the easiest initially-- a simple click; but, all things considered, I whole-heartedly agree that a contact form is the way to go for most purposes, for the reasons I listed above, and more.

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Well, since Tom challenged me, ;) Here are a few copy-and-paste contact widgets that you can have up and tested in a minute or so.

Some Customizable Flash Contact/MailTo Widgets:

• http://www.widgetbox.com/widget/contactify-widget-beta A customizable contact form. The style is highly customizable.

• http://www.widgetbox.com/widget/contact-emailer-version3-rajwidgetbox Use this gadget in your web site's contact page. Avoid spams by not providing your email address in your site or blog. This gadget is highly customizable. This uses image verification code feature. Multiple languages are supported. Version 3. 3300 downloads

• http://www.widgetbox.com/widget/ultimate-antispam-email-link Now, if you really do not want a form, but do want an email link that spam bots cannot pick up, here's the widge for you. In the custom area, you define your parties and mailto addresses. It's a simple flash button, so the user doesn't see it until it opens their mail client.

Answer 2

The most reliable way would be to send the email with the help of some server side processing.

You can also do it using an HTML form with the help of the action attribute:

<form action="mailto:user@example.com">
...
</form>

But this method may not be reliable for all browsers.

Answer 3

You can provide a multiline text box for comments and a submit button, POST the text to your server, and then mail it to yourself on the server. That spares your users a trip to their mail clients, at the cost of depriving you of a reasonably-likely-valid reply-to address.

You could even use AJAX and spare them a screen refresh.

Answer 4

The way you describe is the easiest way in my opinion.

If you want the email typed up there in the page like a form, you might want to create an email/suggestion form or alternative.

Answer 5

Google Docs supplies creating webforms that can be easily embedded in websites. It collects all data in an on-line spreadsheet which you can download at anytime in various formats. You can even set e-mail notification if a visitor filled out your contact form.

Answer 6

I would create a form that users can provide feedback in, and then have your server write this into a database. Writing to a DB is likely going to make it more efficient for you to wade through feedback. Having users fill a form instead of sending you free-form email also help you enforce some kind of structure on the feedback or the metadata associated with the feedback (bug/feature request/comments, etc).