[thelist] usability

[Simon Willison]

Alida Ladak wrote:
> I'm working on a page where dates are displayed with the following format:
> 2-Dec-03.  The client wants a new feature that allows the user to input and
> submit a date. The client is not willing to invest in validation of the
> entry. I've been told that 98% of the time, the year that's entered by the
> user will/should be 2002 or 2003.

As others have said, without data validation your application is just 
/begging/ to be cracked open like a peanut. Server side validation is 
not an optional extra!

That said, on the client side you may find my Javascript date entry 
function useful - it's an alternative to a DHTML calendar widget (which, 
while pretty, can be quite a slow way of entering a date):

http://simon.incutio.com/archive/2003/10/06/betterDateInput