[thelist] international friendly form

[Ben Dyer]

>For example: I now live in France. In France, we have *départements*, which
>map roughly on to States. However, we don't use them, as our postal code
>(*not* zipcode) tells anyone who cares what our *département* is. So my
>postal code is 06140, which makes it vey clear that I live in département
>06, r the Alpes-Maritimes.

But how do we categorize all of this?  And where do we learn this?  What
happens when the rules change?

Dear God, what happens when the rules change?

I remember thinking about what I'd have to do if Puerto Rico became a state
or Quebec gained independence.  God knows about provincial problems in
Spain, how do we treat Israel/Palestine?, Scotland?, etc.?  No more Zaire
(now a second Congo), Eritrea and Ethiopia.  Plus U.S. export restrictions,
etc. Oh Lord, what about the E.U.?

How on earth can we possibly change all of our forms (and I maintain
hundreds of them) when something changes?  And where could we learn when
this happens?

I mean, yeah, it comes with the territory, but I can't possibly do all of
this and I'm betting almost nobody else can either.  The only solution *HAS*
to be to make it generic.  Or to draw a line at making it generic.  But
where do you draw that line?

U.S.? Canada? Britain? France? Germany? Spain? Italy? Russia? Scandinavia?
Japan? Bangladesh?

I suppose you have to make that judgment call (or your client does), but
eventually, no matter where that line is drawn, you're going to upset
somebody.  So, you have to draw the line where it's cost-effective.

One of the web sites I maintain is a Theological Seminary that has many,
many international students and alumni (from everywhere: Albania to
Zimbabwe), and even their paper forms are generic.  They have come to the
conclusion that the only effective way to deal with everybody at some level
is through being as generic as possible.

Whew.  Anyways, that's enough.

<tip>
Some dumb forms with their verification are incorrectly restrictive, even to
some Americans.  Remember, some mail can't be delivered without a correct
XXXXX-XXXX zip code because often, a P.O. Box will be the last four digits.

I ran into this several times in college (having no official street
address).
</tip>

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Ben Dyer
Senior Internet Developer
Imaginuity Interactive
http://www.imaginuity.com
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