Can a "mailto:" link be used within Rise?

Feb 08, 2017

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.

Thanks!

85 Replies
John Say

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

Alex Marin

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.

John Say

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

 

Ashley Terwilliger-Pollard

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! 

Heather Hossfeld

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! 

Alyssa Gomez

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:

  • Create a URL/Embed block or lesson.
  • Paste the "Share" link to the Google Form in the block or lesson.
  • Voilà! Now you have an embedded Google Form.

Here's an example of what that could look like!

Curricula  Tannahill

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?

 

Alex Marin

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!.

Steve Semler

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?

Steve Semler

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!

Ashley Terwilliger-Pollard

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?

Leslie McKerchie

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.