When giving out your email address on a site, do people still use the mailto:email@example.com syntax for the link?
Does this work with people using web mail clients? I use gmail and whenever I click on a mailto:... link it actually tries to bring up my desktop mail app.
Answer
mailto: links are still the standard way to display e-mail addresses, largely because it's the only way to link to e-mail addresses. Webmail clients generally require a toolbar or plugin to become the default application handler for mailto: links, but it's still better to have the link than to not have it: for people who don't have their webmail service set up to handle mailto: links, then it'll just be the same for them as not having a link. For those who have a properly configured desktop or webmail client, the link is very convenient. And I think it's safe to say that most people, even if they use something like Gmail, have their mailto: application handler properly set up.
The only thing you need to worry about is making clear to users that a link is an e-mail link. Don't do something like:
Give us your feedback on our website.
or
Those links (not real mailto: links since SE doesn't allow them) could be misconstrued as regular hyperlinks to a feedback form or a help page. So it's best to simply make the e-mail address the link text, e.g.:
Send feedback to: feedback@foo.bar
Get help from our friendly support team: support@foo.bar
As long as you do that, no one will be surprised. And those who don't have a mailto: handler set up, will be able to easily copy and paste the link text (or the mailto: email address from their browser context menu).
Edit:
There are situations where a contact form might work or be preferable, but it's not a universal solution. There are business situations in which personal contact info needs to be published, and requiring people to contact you via a web form instead of their preferred email client is suboptimal. So you should use each where appropriate.
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