Stupid, stupid form designers

Chris Maunder

Yes, this is a rant but it's also an issue that affects many programmers and most web users. Have you ever seen those forms where they ask you to enter your State or Province from a drop down, while also asking for your country. And, of course, the dropdown only contains US states? If you are going to go to the trouble of actually offering other than the US in the 'Countries' drop down, then maybe it might be worth offering a choice of State that isn't in the US. I don't get it. What do you guys do in this situation?

a) Email the webmaster with an angry email saying their site sucks (yes - I know many of you do that. I have examples in my intray ;)) b) Try and work around it then essentially give up c) Say you are from Alabama.

cheers, Chris Maunder

Jon Newman

Chris Maunder wrote: c) Say you are from Alabama. You forgot the Zip Code I've lost count ho many times i've signed up with: City: Liverpool State: Washington Country: England ZipCode: 12345

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Jonathan 'nonny' Newman
Web Designer, Programmer, Lover, Visionary Leader... Homepage [www.nonny.com] [^]

David Wulff

d) just leave straigt away. If they don't want me I'll find one in the UK.

David Wulff

"I feel inclined to blow my mind, Get hung up feeding ducks with a bun. They all come out to groove about; Be nicer than fun in the sun." - Itchycoo Park (Small Faces)

David Cunningham

Chris Maunder wrote: c) Say you are from Alabama. I think we, as the international community should all get together and pick 1 state to be from, and we should pick on that will look statistically suspicious like, say, Idaho or Maine. David

Stephane Rodriguez

Chris Maunder wrote: What do you guys do in this situation? Fill with random choices. As long as the form submission proc does not try to match things like the zip code and state, or even if the e-mail address domain really exists, it's possible not to care about it. Of course, as soon as the form will be validated, the web sites will tank by themselves since no one is going to provide actual personal info (let aside the fact that non US citizens simply won't be able to do so).

Nnamdi Onyeyiri

Jonny Newman wrote: City: Liverpool State: Washington Country: England ZipCode: 12345 You didnt do very well in geography did you ;P

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Shog9 0

David Cunningham wrote: statistically suspicious like, say, Idaho or Maine I'd go with Montana... ;) ---

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Paul Watson

Chris Maunder wrote: c) Say you are from Alabama. The worst is when they force you to put in a VALID zip code. e.g. 12345 does not work. The only zip code I know is 90210. So they think I am from Beverly Hills, South Africa :rolleyes: Oh and as for your problem... Something worse is what Microsoft do: You select your country and then start filling in other fields and the bloody page refreshes to show another drop down of the States/Provinces/Counties in the country you selected. Might be fine for guys with gigabit lines where you don't notice the refresh, but not for the rest of us. Very irritating, don't do it (and don't preload all the possible combinations using JavaScript either. Takes a day and a bit to download the page then.)

Paul Watson
Bluegrass
Cape Town, South Africa

Macbeth muttered: I am in blood / Stepped in so far, that should I wade no more, / Returning were as tedious as go o'er DavidW wrote: You are totally mad. Nice.

Anders Molin

Chris Maunder wrote: c) Say you are from Alabama. Yea, have used that one ;) - Anders Money talks, but all mine ever says is "Goodbye!"

Nish Nishant

Chris Maunder wrote: c) Say you are from Alabama. I always chose Alabama, India and if they forced me to enter a 5-digit zip I enter 90909 [these scripts only check if the first number is 9 I guess] Nish

Author of the romantic comedy Summer Love and Some more Cricket [New Win] Review by Shog9 Click here for review[NW]

Smitha Nishant

Hello Chris, I say...I am from CA. Because some sites do a zipcode check and so its easy for me to enter the CA zipcode, as its in my visiting card [as part of our headquarter's address] Smitha The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams. --Eleanor Roosevelt

Nish Nishant

Paul Watson wrote: The only zip code I know is 90210. LOL! Et tu Paul? Another case of great minds and like thoughts! Nish

Author of the romantic comedy Summer Love and Some more Cricket [New Win] Review by Shog9 Click here for review[NW]

Nish Nishant

Smitha Vijayan wrote: Because some sites do a zipcode check Use 90210 [ haven't you seen that TV series? ] Nish :-)

Author of the romantic comedy Summer Love and Some more Cricket [New Win] Review by Shog9 Click here for review[NW]

Nish Nishant

Anders Molin wrote: Yea, have used that one Looks like this is another rare case where Anders and I agree ;-) Nish p.s. Nice to know that I have so many fellow-Alabama-ians in the Lounge :-)

Author of the romantic comedy Summer Love and Some more Cricket [New Win] Review by Shog9 Click here for review[NW]

Ranjan Banerji

If it is for some stupid subscription then I just enter garbage (even though I live in the US). Figure why do they need to know all that in the first place. If it is for some serious business then I dump that web site because if they cant even get this part straight then how can I trust them with getting anything else done right. :-) If they are the only provider of a service that I desperately need, then I try and contact them. :-)

Ranjan Banerji

Somehow, I can never get myself to say I am from Alabama.... lol choosing a random state is a lot better....

Ranjan Banerji

Well a good ZIP code check should check for a valid zip code. and zip codes do not need to start with 9. Alabama? yuck!!!!! shiver!!!!!!!! least you can do is choose a cool state. :-) Montana or Alaska.

Steven Hicks n 1

Fix the thing, and provide the option for users to add contries (with your approval off ofcourse), if they were already registered I would let them add it automatically. -Steven

CPA

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Nish Nishant

Ranjan Banerji wrote: Well a good ZIP code check should check for a valid zip code In such cases I use 90210 Ranjan Banerji wrote: and zip codes do not need to start with 9. Oh, didnt know that :-) Ranjan Banerji wrote: Alabama? yuck!!!!! shiver!!!!!!!! It's the first one on the combobox and I never drop it down and thus settle for alabama. Nish

Author of the romantic comedy Summer Love and Some more Cricket [New Win] Review by Shog9 Click here for review[NW]

Roger Wright

Ranjan Banerji wrote: I can never get myself to say I am from Alabama I understand that - that stigma could be hard to overcome. If you sign up for a magazine subscription, they're likely to send you the coloring book edition. The Beverage of the Month Club will only send beer, and the retail catalogs you receive won't have shoes in them. On the bright side, though, any spam you get will be composed with nice, short monosyllabic words.:) It is ok for women not to like sports, so long as they nod in the right places and bring beers at the right times.
Paul Watson, on Sports - 2/10/2003