[thelist] ASP: help with forms and ampersand

[the head lemur]

Rethink the form...

Make it as short as possible...

IMHO
Most shopping cart purchases and multi page forms are abandoned by
over-engineering the process.
The point of a form is to allow a visitor to make a series of choices in
order for the client to sell their products and or services.

Build it to give the client the information they are looking for, in an
order that they need, and send it as an email.

(this gets the client involved...it validates your work every time they open
their mail)

Point out to the client that every one of these email form submissions are
prospects who are pre-qualifying themselves.

if you are requiring mandatory fields, like email, name and phone#
(which most clients need to pursue their contact)
a simple script to make sure these are filled out will shorten the process.

<tip type=forms>
Remember to include a Thank you page for form submissions.
This does few things.
It is a good thing to do, allowing you to have an exit strategy and to give
one more shot at branding.

Also when checking the log files, checking the number of times the form was
called and the number of times the thank you page is called, you will over
time be able to fine tune the form. This also lets you know that the form
handler is working.
</tip>

the head lemur-alan herrell
http://www.lemurzone.com
Member Evolt.org
http://www.evolt.org
Member Web Standards Project
http://www.webstandards.org