Mail to or Mail in form

Two ways your web site can enable visitor contact A) The mailto: method is the simplest; a person clicks on a link and fills in the message than click "send" to complete the communication. B) A mail-in form requires a cgi script (an "engine" that makes it work). Information "fields" are gathered and mailed to the web site owner.

The advantage of a mailto: 1) Easy to use and compatible with all popular web browsers 2) It requires little effort from the visitor to complete a transaction 3) There is a record, for the sender, of the e-mail (it is in the "out box" of the mail program).

The disadvantage: 1) The web site owner has no control over the "content" of the e-mail. 2) A mailto: link exposes your e-mail address to any robot searching for e-mail addresses. The robot builds a list of the "farmed" e-mail addresses and sells it.

A mail in form requires more knowledge and time to prepare. It requires cgi-bin read write privileges. Some web hosting services will not allow access to a private cgi-bin nor use of cgi script.

The advantages: 1) A form can ask and provide more pertinent information. 2) A form can "force" certain fields to be filled in before it transmits its information to the Internet. 3) A good mail in form can provide personal, positive feed back, confirmation of information sent, and a personalized reply message. 4) The e-mail address can be hidden so web robots don't collect the address for spam lists. 5) If the e-mail address changes people who have contacted the web site in the past can contact it again. 6) The mail in form can be accessed anywhere at anytime on any machine. 7) A mail in form can provide a variety of drop down menus and buttons to further clarify information requests to the web site.

Informal observations by Internet professionals , suggest that 80% to 90% prefer mail-in forms and 10% - 20% prefer the mailto: method. Both mailto: links and mail in forms should be provided at the web site.