What does `mailto:` do when there is no email client?

email, html, javascript, mailto

Solution

As a web developer you don't have any control over the software that a user chooses to open their email, since it's handled by that user's web browser settings, or the OS. If a user has no email program installed on their machine and no operation defined for "mailto" links in their browser, nothing would happen.

Problem

I am developing a website. What does `mailto:` open in if there is no email client (like Outlook, Thunderbird, etc.)? It works on my computer, which has Outlook, but what if one wants `mailto:` to open in, say, gmail.com? What do I need to put in the `mailto:` statement for that to happen?

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