Web Site Design: US State
-
I think this can be a general question because the problem isn't unique to the USA. Does everyone know their zip code (or postal code)? Does everyone know their state? For example, if I was in Englewood, Colorado which would I be more likely to know. That I was in 80111, or that I was in Colorado?
Recent blog posts: * Event Organisation (Feedback) * LINQ to XML (part 4) * Scottish Developers June Newsletter My Blog
-
Colin Angus Mackay wrote:
That I was in 80111
80111 is so pretty in the summer :)
xacc.ide - now with TabsToSpaces support
IronScheme - 1.0 alpha 4a out now (29 May 2008)leppie wrote:
80111 is so pretty in the summer
Actually, early spring is really nice. A little snow on the ground and on a crisp day you can get an excellent view of the rockies.
Recent blog posts: * Event Organisation (Feedback) * LINQ to XML (part 4) * Scottish Developers June Newsletter My Blog
-
I'm not sure completely how the US postal address system works, but what's the harm in adding the extra field? If it's in the spec document just do it. Typically in the UK if you post to another county, you add the recipient's county to the address.
He who makes a beast out of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man
Phannon wrote:
but what's the harm in adding the extra field
Irritate your users who know the accuracy of the post code. This is a serious and valid issue, how much redundant crap do you force you customers to enter. Hint - think of the immigration forms you write out on the plane anytime you cross and border!
Never underestimate the power of human stupidity RAH
-
leppie wrote:
80111 is so pretty in the summer
Actually, early spring is really nice. A little snow on the ground and on a crisp day you can get an excellent view of the rockies.
Recent blog posts: * Event Organisation (Feedback) * LINQ to XML (part 4) * Scottish Developers June Newsletter My Blog
Ah shaddup - a crisp morning here is 29 deg.
Never underestimate the power of human stupidity RAH
-
I have a question for you US CPians. I am designing/coding a web site. And I'm doing the register/payment stuff at the moment. And according to the specs we need to ask for the US state (only for US citizens of course), but is that even necessary? Isn't the zip code unique enough? What would you as US citizen prefer: *Enter only the Zip code *Enter zip code AND US State Hmmm...what to do?
"When you have made evil the means of survival, do not expect men to remain good. Do not expect them to stay moral and lose their lives for the purpose of becoming the fodder of the immoral. Do not expect them to produce, when production is punished and looting rewarded. Do not ask, `Who is destroying the world?' You are."
-Atlas Shrugged, Ayn RandThe ZIP code is enough to identify the state. In most cases, it can also identify the town/city or a small set of towns/cities. Two things to watch out for... The ZIP code information available from the USPS may not match up with what a person has been using all their lives as their mailing/billing ZIP code, and this information may change(!), so you will have to use (and pay for?) a USPS lookup service to make sure you have the correct information (or load and cache it daily or something). I (born and still in the US) am used to having to enter town/city, state and ZIP code, so having all three on a form is no big deal, IMHO. Peace!
-=- James
Please rate this message - let me know if I helped or not! * * *If you think it costs a lot to do it right, just wait until you find out how much it costs to do it wrong!
Remember that Professional Driver on Closed Course does not mean your Dumb Ass on a Public Road!
See DeleteFXPFiles -
Phannon wrote:
but what's the harm in adding the extra field
Irritate your users who know the accuracy of the post code. This is a serious and valid issue, how much redundant crap do you force you customers to enter. Hint - think of the immigration forms you write out on the plane anytime you cross and border!
Never underestimate the power of human stupidity RAH
Mycroft Holmes wrote:
Hint - think of the immigration forms you write out on the plane anytime you cross and border!
Very true, those things suck! Take up about half the flight (exaggeration).
He who makes a beast out of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man
-
The ZIP code is enough to identify the state. In most cases, it can also identify the town/city or a small set of towns/cities. Two things to watch out for... The ZIP code information available from the USPS may not match up with what a person has been using all their lives as their mailing/billing ZIP code, and this information may change(!), so you will have to use (and pay for?) a USPS lookup service to make sure you have the correct information (or load and cache it daily or something). I (born and still in the US) am used to having to enter town/city, state and ZIP code, so having all three on a form is no big deal, IMHO. Peace!
-=- James
Please rate this message - let me know if I helped or not! * * *If you think it costs a lot to do it right, just wait until you find out how much it costs to do it wrong!
Remember that Professional Driver on Closed Course does not mean your Dumb Ass on a Public Road!
See DeleteFXPFilesJames R. Twine wrote:
The ZIP code is enough to identify the state
Not so sure. I remember doing a project that required US addresses. We looked at a USPS specification for ZIP codes and though the vast majority are location based some are not; specifically this covered Federal bodies, but there were others. Additionally, in some rural areas on state borders there are ZIP codes which cross the borders. Sorry, but it does mean that both State and ZIP are required.
Panic, Chaos, Destruction. My work here is done.
-
I have a question for you US CPians. I am designing/coding a web site. And I'm doing the register/payment stuff at the moment. And according to the specs we need to ask for the US state (only for US citizens of course), but is that even necessary? Isn't the zip code unique enough? What would you as US citizen prefer: *Enter only the Zip code *Enter zip code AND US State Hmmm...what to do?
"When you have made evil the means of survival, do not expect men to remain good. Do not expect them to stay moral and lose their lives for the purpose of becoming the fodder of the immoral. Do not expect them to produce, when production is punished and looting rewarded. Do not ask, `Who is destroying the world?' You are."
-Atlas Shrugged, Ayn RandWell, if the lowest level of accuracy you're after is "State" then you could probably get away with just a Zip Code, but then you'd have to do a look up/conversion from Zip-to-State. Not 100% sure, but I'd think Zip Codes do not cross State lines so that would work (again, not 100% sure), but why do all that work when having a State text field would do the trick. BUT, if you're trying to get further down to the city/town level, Zip Codes won't always work. Zip Codes are so small in some areas that even small towns can have dozens and some Zip Codes are large and can have many towns. As a US citizen (born and raised) we're used to State/City/Zip Code (5 or 9 digit) and in most cases, for payment usage they want the exact billing address which is often time different then the mailing address. Also, be aware that Zip Codes constantly change as far as cities go, new ones added all the time and city names change all the time as well (my City name has changd 3 times in 7 years).
-
The ZIP code is enough to identify the state. In most cases, it can also identify the town/city or a small set of towns/cities. Two things to watch out for... The ZIP code information available from the USPS may not match up with what a person has been using all their lives as their mailing/billing ZIP code, and this information may change(!), so you will have to use (and pay for?) a USPS lookup service to make sure you have the correct information (or load and cache it daily or something). I (born and still in the US) am used to having to enter town/city, state and ZIP code, so having all three on a form is no big deal, IMHO. Peace!
-=- James
Please rate this message - let me know if I helped or not! * * *If you think it costs a lot to do it right, just wait until you find out how much it costs to do it wrong!
Remember that Professional Driver on Closed Course does not mean your Dumb Ass on a Public Road!
See DeleteFXPFilesThanks for the reply. Does that mean that there's to set of ZIP codes? That seems kind of confusing. If a person enters their state/city/and the zip code they know and use, that would be unique enough for billing purposes, would it not? Or do I need the "official" ZIP code from USPS?
"When you have made evil the means of survival, do not expect men to remain good. Do not expect them to stay moral and lose their lives for the purpose of becoming the fodder of the immoral. Do not expect them to produce, when production is punished and looting rewarded. Do not ask, `Who is destroying the world?' You are."
-Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand -
James R. Twine wrote:
The ZIP code is enough to identify the state
Not so sure. I remember doing a project that required US addresses. We looked at a USPS specification for ZIP codes and though the vast majority are location based some are not; specifically this covered Federal bodies, but there were others. Additionally, in some rural areas on state borders there are ZIP codes which cross the borders. Sorry, but it does mean that both State and ZIP are required.
Panic, Chaos, Destruction. My work here is done.
Thank you for your reply. So it seems that State is always required. That's good to know. I was simply wondering whether it was redundant, and even though it appears to be in most cases, even a single case is enough to make it required information.
"When you have made evil the means of survival, do not expect men to remain good. Do not expect them to stay moral and lose their lives for the purpose of becoming the fodder of the immoral. Do not expect them to produce, when production is punished and looting rewarded. Do not ask, `Who is destroying the world?' You are."
-Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand -
I have a question for you US CPians. I am designing/coding a web site. And I'm doing the register/payment stuff at the moment. And according to the specs we need to ask for the US state (only for US citizens of course), but is that even necessary? Isn't the zip code unique enough? What would you as US citizen prefer: *Enter only the Zip code *Enter zip code AND US State Hmmm...what to do?
"When you have made evil the means of survival, do not expect men to remain good. Do not expect them to stay moral and lose their lives for the purpose of becoming the fodder of the immoral. Do not expect them to produce, when production is punished and looting rewarded. Do not ask, `Who is destroying the world?' You are."
-Atlas Shrugged, Ayn RandTechnically speaking, zip codes are not geographic locations. They represent US postal service service areas and as such are used for sorting mail for delivery. Most zip codes do map to a single city and state, but some are not within the US at all (military bases have zip codes) and others may map to more than one state/town. I can't speak for every citizen of the US, but I suspect that everyone over 15 years old knows their city, state & zip code. For payment information I would definitely collect all the needed details, not just zip code.
-
James R. Twine wrote:
The ZIP code is enough to identify the state
Not so sure. I remember doing a project that required US addresses. We looked at a USPS specification for ZIP codes and though the vast majority are location based some are not; specifically this covered Federal bodies, but there were others. Additionally, in some rural areas on state borders there are ZIP codes which cross the borders. Sorry, but it does mean that both State and ZIP are required.
Panic, Chaos, Destruction. My work here is done.
Yes, I excluded things like Military/APO codes. But even if a ZIP spans multiple states, the value can be used to "hint" or populate a drop-down. Basically, what I said previously for cities/towns can be extended to state(s) in the same way. But agreed, having to enter all three is not a problem and is likely a better idea. Face it -- if ZIP codes worked for everything, we would be using it for everything by now... Peace!
-=- James
Please rate this message - let me know if I helped or not! * * *If you think it costs a lot to do it right, just wait until you find out how much it costs to do it wrong!
Remember that Professional Driver on Closed Course does not mean your Dumb Ass on a Public Road!
See DeleteFXPFiles -
Phannon wrote:
but what's the harm in adding the extra field
Irritate your users who know the accuracy of the post code. This is a serious and valid issue, how much redundant crap do you force you customers to enter. Hint - think of the immigration forms you write out on the plane anytime you cross and border!
Never underestimate the power of human stupidity RAH
Mycroft Holmes wrote:
think of the immigration forms you write out on the plane anytime you cross and border!
I lost (or had stolen) my passport recently, and the embassy (yes, I was abroad) were quite shocked that I could rattle off passport number, date of issue, expiration, place of issue and birth... But when you fill in these forms 3 times a day some trips, it soon sinks in... I now have to look at it again, being shiny and new though. Iain.
Plz sir... CPallini CPallini abuz drugz, plz plz help urgent.
-
I have a question for you US CPians. I am designing/coding a web site. And I'm doing the register/payment stuff at the moment. And according to the specs we need to ask for the US state (only for US citizens of course), but is that even necessary? Isn't the zip code unique enough? What would you as US citizen prefer: *Enter only the Zip code *Enter zip code AND US State Hmmm...what to do?
"When you have made evil the means of survival, do not expect men to remain good. Do not expect them to stay moral and lose their lives for the purpose of becoming the fodder of the immoral. Do not expect them to produce, when production is punished and looting rewarded. Do not ask, `Who is destroying the world?' You are."
-Atlas Shrugged, Ayn RandRequiring both the state and the zip code will allow you to catch typos in the zip code by validating against the state. I recommend using both fields. /ravi
My new year resolution: 2048 x 1536 Home | Articles | My .NET bits | Freeware ravib(at)ravib(dot)com
-
I have a question for you US CPians. I am designing/coding a web site. And I'm doing the register/payment stuff at the moment. And according to the specs we need to ask for the US state (only for US citizens of course), but is that even necessary? Isn't the zip code unique enough? What would you as US citizen prefer: *Enter only the Zip code *Enter zip code AND US State Hmmm...what to do?
"When you have made evil the means of survival, do not expect men to remain good. Do not expect them to stay moral and lose their lives for the purpose of becoming the fodder of the immoral. Do not expect them to produce, when production is punished and looting rewarded. Do not ask, `Who is destroying the world?' You are."
-Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand -
Rohde wrote:
according to the specs we need to ask for the US state
'nuff said. Do what the customer wants. If you have a doubt, talk with him about it. But do not decide at his place.
Yes of course. That is also what I'm doing. I was merely wondering, for future projects, if it at all was necessary - I hate redundancy and the less we can irritate the user the better.
"When you have made evil the means of survival, do not expect men to remain good. Do not expect them to stay moral and lose their lives for the purpose of becoming the fodder of the immoral. Do not expect them to produce, when production is punished and looting rewarded. Do not ask, `Who is destroying the world?' You are."
-Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand -
Phannon wrote:
but what's the harm in adding the extra field
Irritate your users who know the accuracy of the post code. This is a serious and valid issue, how much redundant crap do you force you customers to enter. Hint - think of the immigration forms you write out on the plane anytime you cross and border!
Never underestimate the power of human stupidity RAH
Mycroft Holmes wrote:
think of the immigration forms you write out on the plane anytime you cross and border!
I think it depends on the border you are crossing. The only time I've filled these out is entering the USA.
Recent blog posts: * Event Organisation (Feedback) * LINQ to XML (part 4) * Scottish Developers June Newsletter My Blog
-
I have a question for you US CPians. I am designing/coding a web site. And I'm doing the register/payment stuff at the moment. And according to the specs we need to ask for the US state (only for US citizens of course), but is that even necessary? Isn't the zip code unique enough? What would you as US citizen prefer: *Enter only the Zip code *Enter zip code AND US State Hmmm...what to do?
"When you have made evil the means of survival, do not expect men to remain good. Do not expect them to stay moral and lose their lives for the purpose of becoming the fodder of the immoral. Do not expect them to produce, when production is punished and looting rewarded. Do not ask, `Who is destroying the world?' You are."
-Atlas Shrugged, Ayn RandWhile most people in the US are used to entering the zip code and state information, I prefer to type as little as possible. I also find it extremely irritating to have to stop typing and reach for the mouse to select my state from a drop-down list. A proper interface should rely entirely on one input device, not mix them on one page. The zip code is sufficient to identify anyplace, so long as your list is current. The zip code uniquely defines the specific post office that handles the mail for that range of addresses, just as the 3-digit prefix and area code of a phone number identify the specific central office (CO) that handles the electrical connection to the destination phone. Both are used for routing decisions. There are exceptions, though, as at my office where one zip code is used for deliveries to the physical office location, while another is used for the postal box where we pick up mail. A different office handles route deliveries, for some odd reason.
"A Journey of a Thousand Rest Stops Begins with a Single Movement"
-
James R. Twine wrote:
The ZIP code is enough to identify the state
Not so sure. I remember doing a project that required US addresses. We looked at a USPS specification for ZIP codes and though the vast majority are location based some are not; specifically this covered Federal bodies, but there were others. Additionally, in some rural areas on state borders there are ZIP codes which cross the borders. Sorry, but it does mean that both State and ZIP are required.
Panic, Chaos, Destruction. My work here is done.
williamnw wrote:
Additionally, in some rural areas on state borders there are ZIP codes which cross the borders.
All zipcode data bases that I have dealt are based on the U.S. PO's "Gold" database. They all have a single two character field for the state abbreviation.
Jon Smith & Wesson: The original point and click interface
-
I have a question for you US CPians. I am designing/coding a web site. And I'm doing the register/payment stuff at the moment. And according to the specs we need to ask for the US state (only for US citizens of course), but is that even necessary? Isn't the zip code unique enough? What would you as US citizen prefer: *Enter only the Zip code *Enter zip code AND US State Hmmm...what to do?
"When you have made evil the means of survival, do not expect men to remain good. Do not expect them to stay moral and lose their lives for the purpose of becoming the fodder of the immoral. Do not expect them to produce, when production is punished and looting rewarded. Do not ask, `Who is destroying the world?' You are."
-Atlas Shrugged, Ayn RandYou cannot require a zip code. A zip code is merely a hint to the USPS and is not part of an address. Unless you are sending mail via USPS you have no need of it. Even then, it's still not required; only preferred, as are all-uppercase and no punctuation. In many cases, when I know the enterprise won't be sending mail anyway, I don't even provide my actual address. Even AOL was able to charge my credit card without having my correct address. On a related note: I really dislike forms that use a drop-down for state or age or something else that would otherwise require (perhaps) two keystrokes to enter. On many Webforms I have to press 'A' four (or five?) times to get to AZ. :mad:
