Issue #9 - the mailto: URI scheme
This week was really busy, so I thought I’d write a quick newsletter about something I know, a topic I don’t have to research a lot. As it turns out, I didn’t know as much as I thought, and again I learned something new. Gotta love HTML <3.
Have a great weekend,
Manuel
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HTMHell Newsletter Issue #9 - the mailto: URI scheme
You can pre-fill header fields and the message body, when you link to e-mail addresses.
<a href="mailto:manuel@matuzo.at?subject=HTMHell%20issue%209%20was%20fantastic&body=Thanks,%0D%0AManuel!">
manuel@matuzo.at
</a>
When linking to e-mail addresses, you can provide the subject, recipients, and the e-mail body. You do this by writing the e-mail address followed by a ?, the header name, =, and the header value (see example above).
Recipients
There are different ways to link to no, one or multiple e-mail address(es).
mailto: only
If you don't provide a value for mailto:, your default e-mail client opens a new e-mail window with all fields empty.
<a href="mailto:">
mailto: only
</a>
mailto: only, with single address
The “To:” field filled with a single e-mail address.
<a href="mailto:manuel@matuzo.at">
mailto: only, with single address
</a>
mailto: only, with single address
mailto: only, with multiple addresses
Separate multiple recipients with a , (comma) and no space between.
<a href="mailto:manuel@matuzo.at,manuel@webclerks.at">
mailto: only, with multiple addresses
</a>
mailto: only, with multiple addresses
mailto: + to parameter
You can also define multiple recipients by using the to parameter.
<a href="mailto:manuel@matuzo.at?to=manuel@webclerks.at,info@webclerks.at">
mailto: + to parameter
</a>
mailto: + cc parameter
The “To:” and “Cc:” field filled with different e-mail addresses.
<p>
<a href="mailto:manuel@matuzo.at?cc=manuel@webclerks.at">
mailto: + cc parameter
</a>
</p>
mailto: + bcc parameter
The “To:” and “Bcc:” field filled with different e-mail addresses.
<p>
<a href="mailto:manuel@matuzo.at?bcc=manuel@webclerks.at">
mailto: + bcc parameter
</a>
</p>
Subject
You can define a subject by using the subject parameter. Special characters and spaces must be url encoded.
<p>
<a href="mailto:manuel@matuzo.at?subject=This%20is%20a%20subject">
mailto: + subject parameter
</a>
</p>
Body
You can define a message body by using the body parameter.
<p>
<a href="mailto:manuel@matuzo.at?body=Hi!">
mailto: + body parameter
</a>
</p>
Special characters, line breaks and spaces must be url encoded
<p>
<a href="mailto:manuel@matuzo.at?body=Hi!%0D%0A%0D%0ATom%20%26%20Jerry%20are%20the%20best!">
mailto: + body parameter
</a>
</p>
mailto: + body parameter with special characters and line breaks
It's not possible to add HTML to the message, it's plain text only.