TIP 65

Mailto Links in Unexpected Locations

When you click a link on the Web, what do you expect? To get a new page that contains information about the anchor you just clicked.

What don't you expect? To spawn an email program that demands that you write stuff rather than read it.

Mailto links should be used on anchors that explicitly indicate that they're email addresses, either by their format (donald@duck.com) or their wording (send email to customer support). Don't place mailto links on names; clicking on people's names should usually lead to their biography.

Again, interaction design must meet users' expectations. The more that things behave consistently, the more users understand what they can do and the greater their sense of system mastery. Violated expectations create a sense of oppression, where technology rules humans and reduces their ability to steer the interaction.

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