Web code to send an email

[KingAwesome]

Hi all,

Been struggling to find the answer online, but i need a simple online form that sends an email to someone. The difference to a standard form is that i want someone to be able to type in the subject and message body, but also the email address they want it to be sent to, and the webpage will send an email from [e-mail]

Any help would be greatly appreciated, cheers!

[S13_Alan]

Web pages can't just send emails on their own and how you'd make it work depends on a bunch of things.

Do you know what technology it is that sits behind the page?

Is it a php thing like Wordpress or something?

[essexd]

Do you want it hosted on your site, or on an external site?

Keep in mind room for abuse, if you're letting anyone use it to send random emails, it won't be long before you get blocked for spam by major email providers if it's found out.

[KingAwesome]

I'm absolutely flexible on the backend, if i need a specific requirement on the backend to get this working then I'll choose my hosting accordingly.

[KingAwesome]

aware of the abuse thing, and the potential for spam from the form, but hopefully other restrictions around the site will alleviate that problem.

[essexd]

Do you have any experience in PHP or other server side languages or would you need someone to do it for you?

[Akiraprise]

Something like Wordpress with "Contact Form 7" could do this easily,

But as mentioned there's a high chance these emails would end up in a user's spam folder so might be worth using alongside a mail delivery platform like Sendgrid

[KingAwesome]

Not a vast amount of experience, i can usually cobble stuff together but think this might be out of my reach without solid instruction... having someone do it would be the obviously easier answer but theres obvious costs to that i might not be able to afford

[essexd]

What is your site running off already? If it's just a html website, you could use a normal HTML form, some PHP to check it over and something like PHPMailer, or sendgrid/mailgun to send it.

[KingAwesome]

i have no existing site. I have another website that i can upload stuff to to test it, but will be on a new standalone site when done so the backend can be whatever it needs to be.

[akirk]

what could possibly go wrong ?!

wordpress with plugins as suggested above is one idea
phpmailer is a mailing library of code for php which is flexible and powerful to do what you need...

be aware of setting up the dns for your domain correctly... to authorise the website to send out as you...
you may want to add recaptcha or various other anti spam measures

biggest issue is that you may very rapidly be listed as a source of spam, many spammers now using humans to fill in forms... you will then be blacklisted...

it is probably not a lot of work for someone who knows what they are doing...

[essexd]

KingAwesome said:

i have no existing site. I have another website that i can upload stuff to to test it, but will be on a new standalone site when done so the backend can be whatever it needs to be.

If you're wanting to do it yourself, Wordpress, but I'd recommend finding someone to do it for you.

[babelfish]

Google Form https://www.google.co.uk/forms/about/

Jot Forms https://www.jotform.com/

Just embed them in your web page using an iframe

[threadlock]

akirk said:

what could possibly go wrong ?!