I put together this Chrome Extension because on one day last month I think I literally clicked on ten mailto links that I thought were buttons. Was so frustrated. Figured others might have the same problem!
@dshan totally understand the frustration. But your post was a little wrong - you don't need to use a Chrome extension to have the Gmail web interface be your default mailto link opener. Chrome does a bad job of showing the option (it's a generic gray icon in the right side of the address bar that looks like <>), but it's just a regular setting like anything else.
I agree it's annoying to pop open another app from your web browser, but the most powerful thing about having someone send email is a user's access to their address book. If we just provided a form, a user would have to copy and paste email addresses of their friends.
The default mail opener configuration is definitely something that eludes most users, but the only way things get better is if the configuration becomes more obvious or all browsers give access to the address book when filling out a contact form. Even then, would you trust a website that they won't spam your friend's email address?
@miles_matthias You're right about that setting. I actually set it for a co-worker this week; totally slipped my mind when drafting that post. I'll update it now.
@miles_matthias To be clear, I definitely get that in certain cases using these links makes a lot of sense (contact, support) I don't know which use case you're referring to with regards to needing friends emails / access to the address book, but I'm sure I'd agree.
@miles_matthias I'm just surprised at how many sites I'm seeing use these links behind stuff like Learn More buttons. I consider those landmines. I didn't expect (nor want) to be thrown to email to send you an email. It's about the surprise.
Now I use an ugly icon to avoid those surprises:)
@dshan for example, share your referral code with your friends. You'll see that in something like the Uber app, where you can email, facebook, or tweet your referral code to friends.
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