Learning HTML
Basic HTML Tags
Anchors: Mail: <A HREF="mailto:username@hostname"> text </A>

In your text editor, enter the text below and save it as "sample16.html" on your floppy disk. Then return to Netscape and load the file.

Send your comments or questions to:
<A HREF="mailto:x1juser@exnet.iastate.edu">Jane User</A>
<BR>
Send your comments or questions to: John Smith 
(<A HREF="mailto:jsmith@aol.com">jsmith@aol.com</A>)
 

What am I supposed to see? sample16.html

Netscape recognizes a URL reference to an E-mail address via the mailto: resource. Note that there are no double slashes (//) after the mailto: resource, and immediately following mailto: is the E- mail address INCLUDING the hostname. When the user clicks on "Jane User", Netscape will start up its mail program (or an external mail program will start up if you've reconfigured the browser to accept this), with the To: line already addressed to x1juser@exnet.iastate.edu.

Since some browsers do not necessarily allow this and since there's always the possibility of error in setup, it is also recommended that you include the E-mail address in the text as well. In this way, everyone can see the address, and use an independent mail program to respond.

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Last Update: August 25, 1999
Contact: ISU Extension Training Team (eittrain@iastate.edu)