Bug#290930: hyperref should support mailto

[Heiko Oberdiek <oberdiek@uni-freiburg.de>]

Hello Frank,

On Tue, Jan 18, 2005 at 09:55:44AM +0100, Frank Küster wrote:

> Hallo Heiko,
> 
> Ich denke, das ist eine ziemlich gute Idee:
> 
> Martin Michlmayr <tbm@cyrius.com> wrote:
> 
> > Package: tetex-extra
> > Version: 2.0.2c-3
> > Severity: wishlist
> >
> > It would be nice if hyperref.sty had a special command \mailto{} to
> > generate a mailto: link but have the text formated like an URL.  At
> > the moment, if you want to have mailto links in the text which look
> > like URLs, you need something like
> >
> >   \href{mailto:foo@example.com}{\textt{foo@example.com}}
> >
> > which is imho quite ugly.

With "normal" characters in the mail address, it is too trivial:
  \newcommand*{\mailto}[1]{%
    \href{mailto:#1}{\nolinkurl{#1}}%
  }
But one problem are special characters. This is not yet sorted
out/documented.
Next problems:
* Formatting:
  mail
  mail@address
  <mail@address>
  <mail>
  mailto:mail@address
  <mailto:mail@address>
  email: mail@address
  email: <mail@address>
  E-Mail: mail@address
  ...
  * fonts
  * uppercase/lowercase
  * ...
* Spam/robots problem, some want to hide or mask addresses.
  * internal address ("masking" of characters)
  * external address (eg. mail at address dot somewhere)
  * mail address without link
  * masking by JavaScript or ...

But why limiting this to mail addresses? The formatting issues
are also relevant for web addresses, ctan addresses, ...

Now we have the stuff for a new full package, who writes it or
starts with a description of a possible user interface and
writing a specification?

Yours sincerely
  Heiko <oberdiek@uni-freiburg.de>