Javascript email link encoder

Your web site might be contributing in how much junk mail (spam) you receive, especially if you include an email address on your web site. The Javascript email address link encoder tool here will help reduce possible spam by 'disguising' a raw email address in an encoded ASCII form.

Whilst spam can be derived from many ways, spam is mostly generated by Spam-Crawlers and Spam-Bots. Spam bots, also known as email address harvesters, are quite probably the single most insidious manner by which spammers collect the email addresses off innocent victims.

The sole purpose of a Spam-Crawler is to constantly comb the web in search of email addresses. It scans for "mailto:" links and anything that looks like user@host.name (a regular looking email address formation) within web pages.

The principle outlined here to combat this action is quite simple. HTML characters are encoded using the entity syntax for a character. For example abc would encode to abc. The idea is to encode the text so it's no longer plain text but can be decoded easily by the browser, but not so easily by spambot. This technique eliminates the mailto: URL that most spambots look for.

Although ASCII or JavaScript Encoding increases the level of protection an email address on your web site has against spam bots, neither type can guarantee complete immunity against the increasingly sophisticated programming of modern spam bots to decode these techniques.

Please note also (just in case it crossed your mind), the encoding process on this page is done by Javascript. You must have Javascript enabled in your browser or it will be unable to encode. Javascript is a client-side programming language so it's all done on your PC. This is not a sneaky way for me to 'grab' or 'obtain' your own email address. Your email address you provide here is not saved or recorded. I can assure you complete privacy.

My goal as a fellow web site owner is to help you in the ongoing battle against spam. Reducing the amount of spam on the web actually helps everyone by decreasing traffic congestion. This encoding method is not foolproof but it is an effective method of immunity against these evil creatures.

Hit 'Highlight Text' button and then right-click over highlighted text. Select 'copy' command and then paste encoded text in your page where you want your email address to display. Your encoded email address is formatted to produce the standard 'mailto' tag as following:

<a href="mailto:your email address">your email link here</a>