I'm currently testing out and learning rise. In an introductory "lesson" we would like to show photos and contact info for staff. I would like to make the staff person's email address be a link that would open the learner's email app. I tried editing the embed link function in rise, but no matter what, it automatically appends "http://" in front of the "mailto:" link. Any help will be appreciated.
Mailto: URLs do not work but what you can do is to use a URL shortener to create an HTTP address that forwards to your mailto: URL. There are a few URL shorteners available out there but I have found that it works with http://is.gd. On the is.gd site, enter your mailto: URL like "mailto:someone@example.com" and then click on the "Shorten!" button. Copy the generated HTTP URL shortcut and use that URL in your Rise hyperlink.
If you're getting that error, I believe that you are using the URL/Embed content type in Rise.
I would recommend that you use the Text block in Rise and then edit your text to add a hyperlink. Please check out my Peek video here to see a demonstration.
Just wanted to also give you a heads up that responding via email includes your signature here in ELH. You are welcome to visit the forum discussion and click on the "edit" below your post to remove that information. No worries on our part - just in case you don't want any information publicly...I always double check when I see the "confidential" email disclaimer!
Chiming in here -- I found this thread searching for information about this feature because I need to add a Contact section in one of the courses I'm creating in Rise. It would be great if the "mailto" could be one of the options when creating a hyperlink.
That said, another Block suggestion would be for a Contact/Comments form, where the user can enter their email address and comments and hit submit.
Rise is great -- as soon as we tried it for one project, we started coming up with ideas for all the other projects we could use it for. We're looking forward to seeing it grow!
Thanks for adding you voice to the conversation, Heather. And really cool idea for the contacts/comment form! I'd be happy to pass that suggestion along to the team for you.
In the meantime, have you thought about creating a contact/comments form by embedding a Google Form in Rise? Try this:
This should really be considered a bug, not a feature request. Being able create a simple link to a email address shouldn't require the use of 3rd party URL shorter services.
First, it hides the intended destination of the link, which from a cyber security stand point is a major issue. You can't expect learners to click on a link named "support@domain.com" then have it point to a URL that look like this "https://is.gd/1olhzu".
Second, it now means that a pivotal piece of functionality like contacting support is riding on the availability of some unknown server/service.
I understand this was meant as a work-around solution but it is basically a non-starter for any professional businesses/organizations.
Can this be escalated to a "bug" status and provide us with a roadmap for implementation please?
Yeah I agree with that part about the cyber security part. The company might have a block on any non approved websites. Even if it's to email someone in their own organization if the address is "https://is.gd/1olhzu".
I tried to paste the Google Forms link as a link in the course description and other text blocks, but that link just got changed to the course index page.
Using the URL/Embed block lesson, Rise gives me the error "Please enter a valid URL or iframe."
I'm looking at other "How to's" for Rise, but I'm not quite finding the right help or answers for this and I can't replicate Alyssa's example. Suggestions?
Looking at your link compared to Alyssa's I can see that it doesn't include the height and width attributes. I looked for the "Send - Embed" option that you mentioned and all I found on a google doc/form was the Publish - Embed option which gave me an embed code similar to Alyssa's.
Could you share more about the steps you went through to copy the embed code?
That video was certainly helpful and I think I've identified the difference :)
We advise using this format when embedding:
<iframe src="Insert Your URL Here"></iframe>
and you'll use that in the URL/Embed lesson or the Embed block type.
So, that is what Alyssa shared above. When I follow the same steps you shared in your video, I get the size attributes as well and it fails.
So, you can either use the format above and insert the URL in that format or simply insert the URL into the Embed block as you can see in this quick video.
We're currently testing Rise and deciding whether to use this software as an organization and, while this is generally very good software, being able to use basic functions like mailto links do make a significant difference.
85 Replies
Hi Martin,
Mailto: URLs do not work but what you can do is to use a URL shortener to create an HTTP address that forwards to your mailto: URL. There are a few URL shorteners available out there but I have found that it works with http://is.gd. On the is.gd site, enter your mailto: URL like "mailto:someone@example.com" and then click on the "Shorten!" button. Copy the generated HTTP URL shortcut and use that URL in your Rise hyperlink.
Here is a sample course with mailto links:
http://articulate.fyi/2lswmCT
To give credit where credit is due, I found the solution in this thread.
John
I have the same issue. It isn't working.
I tried is.gd and bitly and both options fail in Rise.
Rise responds with
"We are unable to generate an embed for this URL. Please check that the URL is valid and the content is publicly accessible."
When I try to paste the shortened link. I tried several emails and it's the same result each time.
Any help would be appreciated.
Hi Alex!
If you're getting that error, I believe that you are using the URL/Embed content type in Rise.
I would recommend that you use the Text block in Rise and then edit your text to add a hyperlink. Please check out my Peek video here to see a demonstration.
This is the shortened URL I used in the video:
https://is.gd/KRzR1D
This shortcut goes to mailto:someone@example.com
I see.
Ok so you can't use the URL/Embed. Good to know.
Thanks.
Hi Alex,
Just wanted to also give you a heads up that responding via email includes your signature here in ELH. You are welcome to visit the forum discussion and click on the "edit" below your post to remove that information. No worries on our part - just in case you don't want any information publicly...I always double check when I see the "confidential" email disclaimer!
Chiming in here -- I found this thread searching for information about this feature because I need to add a Contact section in one of the courses I'm creating in Rise. It would be great if the "mailto" could be one of the options when creating a hyperlink.
That said, another Block suggestion would be for a Contact/Comments form, where the user can enter their email address and comments and hit submit.
Rise is great -- as soon as we tried it for one project, we started coming up with ideas for all the other projects we could use it for. We're looking forward to seeing it grow!
Thanks for adding you voice to the conversation, Heather. And really cool idea for the contacts/comment form! I'd be happy to pass that suggestion along to the team for you.
In the meantime, have you thought about creating a contact/comments form by embedding a Google Form in Rise? Try this:
Here's an example of what that could look like!
This should really be considered a bug, not a feature request. Being able create a simple link to a email address shouldn't require the use of 3rd party URL shorter services.
First, it hides the intended destination of the link, which from a cyber security stand point is a major issue. You can't expect learners to click on a link named "support@domain.com" then have it point to a URL that look like this "https://is.gd/1olhzu".
Second, it now means that a pivotal piece of functionality like contacting support is riding on the availability of some unknown server/service.
I understand this was meant as a work-around solution but it is basically a non-starter for any professional businesses/organizations.
Can this be escalated to a "bug" status and provide us with a roadmap for implementation please?
Yeah I agree with that part about the cyber security part. The company might have a block on any non approved websites. Even if it's to email someone in their own organization if the address is "https://is.gd/1olhzu".
Which by the way: "https://is.gd/1olhzu" or whoknows@notagoodidea.com is Hilarious!.
Thanks for sharing your feedback on this issue.
Having an official mailto hyperlink option is on the radar for our team, but I do not have a timeline to provide on this.
Is there any update on the status of this issue? This is a much-needed feature!
Hi Martin,
Thanks for checking in. No movement on this feature yet - but as Leslie mentioned it's something they're looking into.
In case you're wondering, here's the process we go through with feature ideas!
Could you at least make it so Rise doesn't keep automatically populating the http:// in front of the MailTo: link?
Also, if you could please allow us to use " character in the url we could at least use this for gmail:
https://mail.google.com/mail/?view=cm&fs=1&to="YOU@YOUREMAIL.COM"
Hi Holly,
I did share this idea as a part of the feature request we've submitted - so we'll keep you posted here with any updates on that.
I tried to paste the Google Forms link as a link in the course description and other text blocks, but that link just got changed to the course index page.
Using the URL/Embed block lesson, Rise gives me the error "Please enter a valid URL or iframe."
I'm looking at other "How to's" for Rise, but I'm not quite finding the right help or answers for this and I can't replicate Alyssa's example. Suggestions?
Hi Steve, I'm happy to lend a hand! Would you mind sending me the "Share" link to the Google Form? Thanks!
Hi Alyssa,
Here is the link from the Send > Embed HTML dialogue:
<iframe src="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe23_BMX-yCmrLXszVKIXelbnd-0dniY0_2xTcGid7U4uDKeQ/viewform?embedded=true" width="760" height="500" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0">Loading...</iframe>
Thanks!
Hi Steve,
Is this what you're looking for? This is the embed code I used in that Embed block:
Do you know why the link format you provided above is different from the one I received from the Send > Embed dialogue?
Hi Steve,
Looking at your link compared to Alyssa's I can see that it doesn't include the height and width attributes. I looked for the "Send - Embed" option that you mentioned and all I found on a google doc/form was the Publish - Embed option which gave me an embed code similar to Alyssa's.
Could you share more about the steps you went through to copy the embed code?
Sure, I took a Peek vid of the form and the process:
https://360.articulate.com/review/content/74faab70-4b82-4b79-ad3d-b1149877edc4/review
Hey Steve! Thank you!
That video was certainly helpful and I think I've identified the difference :)
We advise using this format when embedding:
<iframe src="Insert Your URL Here"></iframe>
and you'll use that in the URL/Embed lesson or the Embed block type.
So, that is what Alyssa shared above. When I follow the same steps you shared in your video, I get the size attributes as well and it fails.
So, you can either use the format above and insert the URL in that format or simply insert the URL into the Embed block as you can see in this quick video.
Hope that helps and clears up any confusion.
Just chiming in to second this request! Hope to see it rolled out soon, it will definitely help us utilize Rise for different types of products.
We're currently testing Rise and deciding whether to use this software as an organization and, while this is generally very good software, being able to use basic functions like mailto links do make a significant difference.