Re: "Mailto" Command

On Wed, 9 Apr 1997 BruceLeban@akimbo.com wrote:

> 
> >From:	walter@natural-innovations.com (Walter Ian Kaye)
> >I agree about its poor usability, and that's why I could never understand
> why
> >some people ask their ISP for a "mail.pl" CGI. My initial reaction was,
> like,
> >"Huh?" :-)
> 
> Actually there are very good reasons for a script that sends the form 
> submission via e-mail. The following things can be done by a script and 
> can't be done by action=mailto. (1) The mailing address can be kept 
> secret, so users can only send submissions to that address via the 
> script. (2) The form entries can be validated by the script. (3) The 
> script can generate a response page. (4) The script can also record 
> submissions in some other way if desired, e.g., collecting statistics or 
> saving submissions in an archive file. (5) The script will work in 
> browsers that don't support action=mailto.

Actually, I was referring to mail.pl as just another form of action=mailto,
for your reason #5, and I still didn't understand it until another message
just received in this thread where it was pointed out that some people don't
have access to the server (ISPs with no shell accounts, like AT&T Worldnet,
I guess). Personally I think that those people should get a "real" ISP, but
not everyone lives in an area served by such, so I can't really say that. ;)

Reasons #2-4 are why action=mailto is a poor substitute for the "real" thing.

__________________________________________________________________________
    Walter Ian Kaye <boo@best.com>     Programmer - Excel, AppleScript,
          Mountain View, CA                         ProTERM, FoxPro, HTML
 http://www.natural-innovations.com/     Musician - Guitarist, Songwriter

Received on Wednesday, 9 April 1997 15:47:15 UTC