WebReady-Sending Web Page Forms

Lesson 3
Sending and Receiving Email	Framed \| Unframed

Sending Email from Web Forms

Like email , web forms can be used to send messages and assignments.
The advantages of web forms over email is:

a user does not necessarily have to have an email account to send a web form (depending on the web form type)
a web form can be sent anonymously
web forms collect "form information", much like the printed forms we are so familiar with, with blanks for specified content
some web forms forward the information to an email account, others can send the information into a database for automated handling of the data.

Example of a Web Page Form (Inactive Form)

Name

Unless a form asks for your name or email address, the recipient will not know the source.

Text Area
The executive producer of "The West Wing", can affirm that there are parallels between the program and its famous real-life subjects. It's important to the creators that the program is real, as close to reality as a piece of fiction can be. And what I mean by that is, the creators all sort of came to the project with the idea that they wanted some emotional truth. Not necessarily that everybody says the exact things, or that everyone walks the exact way that they walk, or that they read the exact things that they read; but that the overall essence of what it would be like to work in the West Wing is reflected in the show.

A form contains ASCII text or plain text.

A form can hold more content than you can see. You can scroll the contents.

Formatting - A web page form acts very much like a plain or simple text email message. You can paste or type text into it and it will keep a limited amount of formatting:

A FORM WILL HOLD	A FORM WON'T HOLD
capitals	images
tabs	font colors or types
line breaks	links

A FORM WILL	A FORM WON'T
hold more text than may be visible	perform spell check
allow you to scroll text	accept non ASCII characters* (See illegal characters)

Two Kinds of Web Page Forms

Most commerical web page forms work seamlessly. You put your information in and click the submit button. Done. If an instructor isn't using a course management system, and is working on a limited budget (or no budget at all) he or she will have to make a own web forms using simple JavaScript. If you try to submit a web form and get an error message asking you what your form preferences are, then you are face-to-face with a JavaScript form, a client-side web form. Read on to find out about the two kinds of web page forms.

1. Client-side web page forms are written with Java Script.
Sending them requires you to have a configured email client in order to send them. "Client side" means that you ("the client") are storing the information on your computer. When you click "submit" or "send", the form with your text is sent using your email client (program) directly to your instructor's email server account.

Who can use them?
Email client users, who are using email programs such as Messenger, Outlook Express, Entourage, Eudora with configured browsers, can send this kind of web form. (AOL is the exception.)

The web page form

uses your
email program

to send the data to

directly to the instructor's email server account

where the instructor
picks it up.

2. Server side web page forms are written with CGI or PERL script. Sending them requires only a web browser in order to send them. "Server side" means the information is sent to the server and then redirected to the email server account of the recipient indicated in the form's script.

Who can use them?
Both email-client and web-mail users - Ideal!

The script in the web page form

uses your browser

to send the data to

a server which executes the script to place the data in the instructor's email account (on the same server.)

where the instructor
picks it up.

Contrast Summary

CLIENT-SIDE FORM (JavaScript)

SERVER-SIDE FORM (ASP, Perl, PHP, JSP, etc.)

requires email application configuration.
requires the web page author to place script in the web page code. No webmaster time or server script is needed. Free.
uses the email client to send the form to the email server.
functions through scripts executed by the browser. Due to variations in browsers the form functions may be handled differently. (e.g. Some browsers do not issue "successfully sent" messages; hence, the users hit the submit button 20 times!")
sends information to an email server account.

requires no email application configuration.
requires a webmaster to place the form script on the server.
uses the browser to send the form to the email server.
functions through scripts executed by the server; thereby concentrating the functionality onto one computer (the server).
can send to an email server account or a database.

Troubleshooting

error message - make sure you have filled out your web form preferences in your browser.
no response from recipient - follow up after 48 hours if you hear nothing from the recipient.
"Plan B" - contact your instructor and send the information using email

Resource

Wikipedia. Web Forms. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Form_(web)

Continue!

Centers for Teaching and Learning, San Mateo Community College District, CA USA Updated 9/12/2008 by Sevastopoulos