> Yes, someone asked about this recently so I have it handy.
> 
> c/o Alfredo Yong
> 1. use "method='GET' in the form tag
> 2. use the name "to" for the destination input box
> 3. use the name "subject" for the subject input box
> 4. use the name  "body"  for the body input box
> 
> you should will end with a link like this:
> "mailto:destination@w...?subject=the_subject&body=the_body"
> 
> Patrick
> 
I'm currently using the method Patrick describes for the contact form on
the website of the company I work for. While it does work, sort of, it has
many drawbacks.

I originally put the characters starting with the "?" in the mailto url,
which is the argument to the action parameter in the form. This worked okay
most of the time, but then I got emails from a visitor who kept getting
notices every 4 hours, for several days, that the email server (hers) was
unsuccessfully attempting to send the mail to our server.  I had to get our
email administrator to fix something on our mail server so the problem
would stop. The visitor had Groupwise (Novell) on her mail server; our
email server is MS Exchange, which runs Outlook. 

Then at the request of the mail administrator I removed the characters
after the ? from the parameter in the form's action url, leaving it just
"mailto:destination@w..." The incidence of blank email forms coming
thru the server to the webmasters address shot up dramatically. I'd gotten
a few before changing the action line, but now I get several like that a day.

I wrote the form specifically so I could write a Javascript validation
script so people couldn't just email me with useless queries like, "Where
do I take my test?" (My company, Experior Assessments, gives licensing and
certification tests in 48 states, for a couple dozen types of occupational
and professional licenses.) So in order to forward a query, I have to know
at least what test the visitor wants, and for which state. I'd hoped to
force them to give me that information by making those fields required, but
many people just use the simple webmaster email link anyway and continue to
write "Where do I take my test?" queries, making it neccessary for me to
reply with a query about which test, which state?  Thus a simple process is
made into something which can take 2 or 3 emails back and forth to
straighten out.

Also I'm unable to make a new "Thank you" page come up after users press
the submit button. This means many people will mail me the form 4 or 5
times because they think it didn't go through. 

The only way to solve these problems is for me to write a script that goes
on the server to process the input and send out output such as a new page.
 When I can get around to fixing this, I'm planning to learn a simple ASP
sendmail script so I don't have to put up with this nonsense anymore.  The
lesson here is

*********** You gotta have a script on the server!!!!!!!!!!! No way around
it!!!!!!!!!!**************

You can go to the form on our site at www.experioronline.com/contact.htm to
see my code. 

Jenny McDermott