On Aug 24, 7:45 am, "Creed Erickson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> On Fri, Aug 22, 2008 at 10:08 PM, RobG <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> > The mailto pseudo protocol [...]
> > is generally considered deprecated. [...] it wasn't a good idea to rely on
> > it in the first place.
>
> This is new to me. For my edification could anyone offer any citations
> explaining or discussing this view? I'm not arguing with the idea that
> mailto: is suboptimal, but I'm curious about it being thought of as less
> than good form.
The term "deprecated" was probably a bit strong, "less than good form"
is certainly on the right track. Since no one else has responded,
I'll expand a little.
When developing a web-based application, there is an expectation by
users (rightly or wrongly) that it will work in any reasonably modern
browser - it is often touted as a benefit of such an approach. This
expectation persists even where the client specifies an SOE that
includes a particular OS and browser, often right down to the version.
Of course, developers are somewhat literal in their translation so
that if whatever they develop works in the SOE, that's good enough. I
have just been involved in developing a web-based enterprise
application where the SOE includes IE 6. As a consequence, the
application doesn't work in any other browser, only IE6.
Now that is OK if the client is fully aware of, and accepts, the
consequences, but most aren't and don't. In the OPs case, the mailto
pseudo protocol has been developed for a particular browser (and
probably e-mail client) and "works" just fine, but as soon as a
different browser and e-mail client is introduced it goes belly up.
It doesn't matter that it was iPhone/Safari/Mail, it likely would have
happened with any number of other OS/browser/e-mail client
combinations (and may not have for others). I first stumbled across
this issue when trying to get Lotus Notes to work like GroupWise.
So you've got to ask yourself, do you feel lucky? You can either
develop for the SOE and wait for it to break then smuggly say "but you
specified the SOE and it works there"; you can include likely
alternative platforms at the design and test stages (which is hard to
justify when the client says "but we only use <insert SOE here>") or
you can stick to standards and methods that are known to be at least
reasonably cross-browser and platform.
Sticking to standards doesn't guarantee that it won't fall over on
untested platforms, but at least you have more chance that it will
work.
Getting back to the OPs case, a possible solution is to use a form
instead that starts the e-mail trail (I'll guess that the motivation
for e-mail is that it provides a cheap and simple workflow and
provides text editing and formatting functions that are superior to
browser-based editors) or trims back the functionality expected of
mailto to the bare minimum.
As always, the OP is free to do whatever is considered "best" and has
a little more information to use when making that decision (or not).
--
Rob
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