There was some discussion recent on #cosmo about the implementation of
the limited support in Cosmo for e-mailing info about an event.
The initial description of the feature was a somewhat kludgey but
easy-to-implement 'mailto' link that would launch the user's e-mail
client and create an e-mail message pre-populated with the event info
for sending. The IRC discussion involved the question of actually
implementing the minimal server-side support needed to e-mail the
information through Cosmo (or maybe even doing both, and allowing the
user to choose which way to send the event info).
Here are the pluses/minuses of each approach:
1. Mailto link
Plus:
Allows users to track the information sent in the context of their own
e-mail clients (i.e., there is a copy of the message in the Sent folder).
Minus:
1. Users will have to be on their own machine, or using their own login
on a network to use their own e-mail client.
2. Depends on the browser having the right mail client set to use mailto.
2. Sending via the server
Plus:
1. Requires no e-mail client to be configured or even installed on the
computer.
2. Users in kiosks or computer labs could still send their event info
via e-mail.
Minus:
If we wanted to store a record of the mail sent, we'd have to build
back- and front- end infrastructure to support that.
3. Giving the user a choice (i.e., implementing both)
Plus:
Users can have a record of their sent messages if they want so use their
own mail client, but can still send event info when they are using a
shared computer.
Minus:
1. Will take a bit longer than implementing either option separately
2. UI would be more confusing, especially to novice users.
It sounded like the impetus in the discussion was still toward the
simple implementation option of number 1 -- and I think that might make
sense until we really get our e-mail strategy lined out for the Web side.
Does anyone have any thoughts?
Matthew
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