Member Avatar for oohmygod831

im designing a website using dreamweaver mx 2004 and i would like users to contact me via email using a form and when they press a button it sends the information in the form as an email to a specific address.

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by xeno439

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A concise, practical update for this old thread: running the Dreamweaver files from disk will not send mail — a form submission needs either the user’s mail client (mailto) or a server-side endpoint to send messages. was right to ask about server support. Also note that Flash-based services mentioned by are obsolete (Flash reached end‑of‑life), so avoid Flash for new projects. MDN: forms overview — Adobe: Flash EOL. (developer.mozilla.org)

Three practical paths (fast → robust):

  • Static site, no backend: use a hosted form service (they accept POSTs and email results). Examples: Formspree or provider form handlers. Good for prototypes or student projects. (help.formspree.io)
  • Server-side PHP (common on shared hosting): use a maintained library like PHPMailer to send via authenticated SMTP rather than relying on raw mail(); this reduces header‑injection and deliverability problems. Short example:
use PHPMailer\PHPMailer\PHPMailer;
require 'vendor/autoload.php';

$mail = new PHPMailer();
$mail->isSMTP();
$mail->Host = 'smtp.example.com';
$mail->SMTPAuth = true;
$mail->Username = 'smtp-user';
$mail->Password = 'smtp-pass';
$mail->setFrom('no-reply@example.com','Site');
$mail->addAddress('owner@example.com');
$mail->Subject = 'Contact form';
$mail->Body = $_POST['message'];
$mail->send();

PHPMailer docs and current PHP mail caveats. (github.com)

  • Server-side JavaScript: Node apps commonly use Nodemailer and test inboxes like Ethereal during development. For static-hosted sites, Netlify Forms also provides form handling and spam protections. (nodemailer.com)

Troubleshooting & hardening checklist: confirm hosting supports PHP/Node and outbound SMTP; use authenticated SMTP (or library transports) to avoid spam delivery problems; add server‑side validation, strip CR/LF from header fields to prevent header injection, and add CAPTCHA/honeypot to limit spam. Resources: PHP mail notes and common header‑injection guidance. (php.net)

Summary: for a college project start with a hosted form service to get email working quickly; when deployed on a server, switch to a library (PHPMailer or Nodemailer) with SMTP and basic hardening as shown above — that gives reliability and control while avoiding the pitfalls discussed earlier in the thread.

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Member Avatar for DaveSW

do you have a server side language like php available on your server?

Member Avatar for oohmygod831

its not being uploaded yet as its a college project but when its finished it will be but i dont have a server as yet. at the moment im just running the site from a disk.

Member Avatar for DaveSW

ok in that case you have a few options open to you:

1) the traditional mailto: note this doesn't work unless the user has dedicated email software. AOL users willl think your site is junk.

<FORM METHOD=POST ACTION="mailto:someone@$nailmail.com" ENCTYPE="text/plain">
<!-- your form here -->
<INPUT TYPE="submit" VALUE="Send">
<INPUT TYPE="reset" VALUE="Clear">
</FORM>

2) Javascript processing:
http://www.javaworld.com/javaworld/jw-06-1996/jw-06-javascript.html
Doesn't work for users with javascript disabled (about 10%)

3) Borrow someone elses php processing: see link below, second post, someone offering to handle low volume email.
http://www.webdeveloper.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=39991

Member Avatar for oohmygod831

thanks dave

Member Avatar for DaveSW

no worries ;) which did you choose?

Member Avatar for xeno439

no worries ;) which did you choose?

try
or

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