madmasel.hu / 14 September 2026
We did not keep an entire mail backend alive for one contact form
The old Namecheap/PrivateEmail-based PHP mail flow had lost the service it depended on. For a static site, FormSubmit proved to be a simpler and better-fitting replacement, with a dedicated thank-you page and CAPTCHA.
Situation
The contact form originally posted through PHP and depended on an old mailbox. Once that mailbox disappeared, the obvious reaction could have been to build new SMTP infrastructure and manage new secrets. The rest of the site was entirely static, though, which would have meant keeping a server-side runtime alive for a single form.
Approach
We first separated the SMTP secret from the code, then simplified further by switching to the already proven FormSubmit pattern. The flow became a native HTML form with CAPTCHA, an explicit recipient and a dedicated thank-you page. The unnecessary PHP, Apache-specific and AJAX contact handlers were removed from the site.
Outcome
The form worked again while the site could return to a clean static nginx runtime. Fewer secrets, fewer server-side dependencies and fewer failure surfaces remained, while the user flow itself became simpler.