1. Don’t ask too many questions.
   Only ask for information that you’ll actually use. For example, if you plan to respond to form submissions via email, only ask for an email address, not their email address and phone number. Short forms are more likely to be completed and most of us don’t like giving away all our contact information anyway.
   
   
2. Ask specific questions.
   In a generic web site contact form, for example, ask the user for a specific piece of information in the “message box” field. Asking something like “What type of of service are you most interested in?” or “What is the biggest challenge for you in X area?” will give you better information to work with than “Enter your message here:”. (With more specific information, you can address a user’s specific needs right away when responding to them.)
   
   
3. If a field has a validation requirement, tell the user what the requirement is.
   For example, tell the user you need their phone number entered in the format: 703-555-5555, rather than giving them the error “Please enter a valid phone number.” What is an appropriate entry to you may differ from what the user things is appropriate.
   
   
4. Confirm successful submissions.
   After a user clicks the “submit” button, there should be some kind of confirmation that their message was received (or an error message if there were any problems.) We like to display all the information the user submitted, and ask them to contact us if any of the information is incorrect. You’ll also want to tell the user when they can expect a response to their submission.
   
   
5. Post and adhere to your privacy policy.
   Any time you collect user information, you should have an easily accessible privacy statement that addresses what you collect, how you use it, and under what circumstances, if any, you disclose it. If completing a form means you’ll add their email address to your newsletter system, for example, you need to be clear about that upfront.
   
   
6. Consider your audience.
   As with everything web related, forms should be created with the end user and their specific goals in mind. You may need separate forms for existing customers, new prospects, or different situations. Don’t try to service all users from the same form.

Finally, and most importantly, make form completion easy, intuitive and as painless as possible.

Recommended Reading:
Smashing Magazine’s review of form design patterns on 100 popular web sites.

Also see:
Netdrafter’s How to Properly Test Web Forms

Once any kind of web form has been created, it needs to be thoroughly tested before released to web site visitors. We do a good deal of testing on the development end, but it’s a good idea for you to conduct testing as well, from the user end. Here’s how:

1. Attempt to submit the form before completing any information.
   The form should respond by preventing submission and assisting the user with the completion process.
   
   
2. Test each field individually.
   Did all the field validations work? For example, if a field is noted as “required”, were you able to submit the form without supplying this information? Were you able to submit a piece of information in the wrong format? (Ex: an email address formatted without the ‘@’ symbol, a phone number that is missing digits, etc.) Are field character or selection limitations in place and sufficient?
   
   
3. Review the user instructions.
   Are the form instructions clear? To they give enough instruction to reduce the possibility that the user will encounter an error message?
   
   
4. Review error messages.
   Do the error messages correctly describe the problem? Is there enough information to assist the user in correcting the problem?
   
   
5. If present, does the CAPTCHA work?
   A common type of CAPTCHA requires that the user type the letters of a distorted image that appear on the screen, before a form is submitted.
   
   
6. Does the form function without the use of Javascript?
   If Javascript is turned off in the browser, there should be a secondary mechanism to handle form validation.
   
   
7. Review the “Thank You” page.
   Were all fields collected as planned? Were provisions made for handling blank fields? Does the language on this page properly confirm submission? Is the language sufficient to indicate any “next steps” for the user? Is the language consistent with company branding?
   
   
8. Test response emails.
   Review any email messages sent to the user and/or the administrator after form completion. Did messages arrive at their intended destinations? Were all the fields properly displayed?
   
   
9. Test the database.
   If response information was sent to a database, did it arrive properly? Are provision in place to reject incorrect or malicious data?
   
   
10. Test logic and conditionals.
    Were all calculations correctly executed? Were any special rules (if this, do that) correctly applied?
    
    

Be sure to consider (and handle) the following possibilities:

1. Incorrectly formatted or fake email addresses.
2. Misspellings and misinformation.
3. Submitting information to early in the process.
4. Abandoning a process before completion. (Either on purpose or by error of their browser/computer/internet connection.)
5. Incorrect data types. (Supplying a date in the format 7-1-07 when the format 2007-07-01 is needed.)
6. Errors in imported, submitted, or stored data.
7. Other silly and random user mistakes.
8. Form spam.

Things Netdrafter does to minimize the possibility of user error:

• Print directions to assist the user.
• Require specific web form fields.
• Validate web form fields before accepting the information.
• Provide form field examples.
• Use consistent and intuitive program logic and flow.
• Follow our own form design best practices.

Also see:
Netdrafter’s 6 Tips for Effective Web Forms

Wikipedia describes an “unconference” (or BarCamp) as network of open, participatory workshop-events, whose content is provided by participants. So, it’s an event where the content is totally audience generated and the agenda is spontaneous, often not created until everyone arrives. This leads to quite a unique experience, both from an attendee and planning perspective. (This format was really a challenge for my organized and scheduled mind, but I saw real value in enabling audience members to address their specific interests at this precise moment in time. It’s a neat concept.)

The Program Grid

There were 45 sessions to choose from and a wide variety of topics: everything from how Frank Lloyd Wright’s “destroying the box” architecture influenced the user experience, creating unique Photoshop brushes, measuring UX, audience research methods, UX on mobile devices, to a demo of the new toys in the MIT Media Lab.

Rachel Pastirik - Listening to How an Unconference Works

Attendees were required to participate to some degree: either by leading a discussion, showing a demo, sharing information, or by creating another type of collaborative session. The conference was specifically for web designers, user experience practitioners and information architects.

Most email marketing vendors (i.e.: Constant Contact) offer a message archival service, but for an additional fee. To avoid the additional fee, there are two ways you can manually “archive” that content, making it available to a larger audience.

Manual Archive Options

1. Use the “View Online” link:
   Some vendors offer a link your subscribers can click to view the message in a web browser. (Look for something like “Having trouble viewing this email? Click here.” at the top or bottom of your campaign messages.) You can simply create a link to this location on your web site or blog so visitors can read old messages.
2. Re-purpose the message content:
   Rather then linking to the content, you can publish it to your web site using any old content management system, or even easier, your blog software.

Getting the Message Content into your Blog

1. Using your email campaign software, send yourself a copy of the message you’ll be “archiving.”
2. In your email program, get the HTML source code for this message.
   • In Outlook 2007, double click the message title to open it in a new window.
   • In the ribbon tool bar, select Other Actions > View Source. This will open the code powering the message in a new Notepad window.
   • In the new Notepad window, select everything (press ctrl-A), and copy it to your clipboard (ctrl-C).
3. Open your blog admin software and create a new post.
   • In WordPress, click the “HTML” tab to the right side of the post’s content area. (This will change the content editor from “Visual” to code view.)
4. Paste the code into the post content area (ctrl-V).
5. Use the blog software’s “Visual” or “HTML” editor to make any needed changes.
6. Make any additional post setting selections and publish the message as a normal blog post.

Notes:
- You might consider adding a blog category called “Newsletters” or something similar, to best organize these types of posts.

From the PHP.net web site: “PHP is a widely-used general-purpose scripting language that is especially suited for web development and can be embedded into HTML. Much of its syntax is borrowed from C, Java and Perl with a couple of unique PHP-specific features thrown in. The goal of the language is to allow web developers to write dynamically generated pages quickly.”

PHP was first assembled in 1995 and has been in continuous development ever since. According to the Programming Community Index, as of December 2009, PHP is the third most popular (and steadily growing) programming language. It is in use on over 20 million websites and installed on over 1 million web servers.

PHP is often noted for it’s superior scaling and development speed over Java and .net.

Reasons we chose PHP:

• open source
• overwhelming community support and documentation
• high performance, robust, and designed for web scripting
• interpreted or dynamically compiled
• ability to code within HTML
• low training and maintenance costs

Some well known web sites that use PHP include: Yahoo (search and news), Facebook and Friendster (social networking), YouTube (video), Wikipedia (wiki), Flickr (photo management), YouSendIt (file management), iStockPhoto and Photobucket (stock photography/image hosting), Vimeo (video sharing), Digg (news/user generated content), and millions of others.

Some well known applications written in PHP include: phpMyAdmin (database admin tool), osCommerce (e-commerce suite), Drupal and Joomla (content management software – CMS), Wordpress (blogging), MediaWiki (wiki), SugarCRM (customer relationship management – CRM), and thousands of others.

We’ve worked with Java, .net, Perl, Cold Fusion, Visual Basic, and even Ada over the years and PHP is the clear favorite.

Case Studies and Further Reading:
- IBM: From Net.Data to PHP: A Comparison Study (PDF)
- PHP at Yahoo (PDF)
- PHP vs Java vs Ruby

Want to know more about our server setup and technology? Head on over to our “High Tech” Hosting page.

Looking for good PHP reference books and resources? Check out our post: Good Reference Books: Web Basics.

Since web pages often change, it’s a good idea to refresh your browser window and clear your browser’s cache regularly.

Refresh Steps:

1. Press your browser’s ‘refresh/reload’ button of the ‘F5′ key.
   The page should visually flicker and appear to reload itself.
2. If that doesn’t work, try a hard refresh, by holding down the ‘Shift’ key and pressing ‘refresh/reload’.
3. If you’re still seeing old content, dump your browser’s cache using the directions below.

Dump Browser Cache Steps: (Internet Explorer)

1. In the ‘Tools’ menu, choose ‘Internet Options’
2. Click ‘Delete Files’ in the ‘Temporary Internet Files’ area of the ‘General tab’
3. Click ‘OK’

Browser Cookies and History
While you’re dumping your browser cache, you might also want to consider dumping your cookies and clearing your browser history. Web sites you’ve visited and cookies from web sites you log in to create small files on your computer. It’s a good idea to clean these files out once in a while. The options for cleaning these areas up are located in the same place as the cache clean up functions.

We usually dump our browser cache and cookies on a weekly basis.

The font was originally created to mirror the typeface found in comic books. BUT – is a comic book really the feeling you want viewers associating with your business? Does a stop sign using Comic Sans convey the same impact or sense urgency? Click on the Stop Sign graphic to the right to enlarge it and see. (I think it makes the requested action look more like a suggestion.)

I make these statements and provide the following links mostly in jest, but seriously, I believe that there is only one audience that Comic Sans is suited for: children.

It seems that John Stossel of ABC’s 20/20 agrees.

John and I aren’t alone. Check out the growing support for the “Kill Comic Sans” movement:
- Comic Sans: The Font Everyone Loves to Hate
- Typeface Inspired by Comic Books Has Become a Font of Ill Will
- All About Comic Sans – History, Examples and Best Practices
- Ban Comic Sans: the source for anti-comic sans propaganda

There are thousands of possible font choices, but sadly, only a few that are “web safe.” Check our our blog post about these standard fonts but please, whatever you do, don’t fall in love with web safe choice #3!

What do you think? Is my hatred of the misuse of this font justified? Do you use Comis Sans in your marketing materials?

An investment in totally awesome Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software allows us to track customer account details. What does this mean for you? The online support form and system quickens our response time. Trying to catch us on the phone in our virtual on line communications environment – is like trying to catch a falling star. You need a lot of patience. Automated information moves at the speed of light and allows us to move with it.

Why use Netdrafter Online Support?

• Get quick access to answers.
• Learn as you go and be more independent.
• Helps us be organized and provide even better support to you.

This is what you get:

1. Online Ticketing System
2. Online Support Blog and FAQ
3. Project specific documentation (included with Design, Redesign, and Programming projects.)
4. Product specific documentation (included with software implementations, ex: Content Management Systems, Blogs, etc.)

Let’s Illustrate the Efficiency of Netdrafter Support Solutions

If you have a problem and you email us instead of using the support form – we have to cut and paste the info into our CRM system and then manually – (argghh) assign staff to solve the problem. That zaps up valuable time and energy. (And we need those resources to be there for you.) So please take a moment and automate your inquiry by using the support forms so that we can analyze its urgency and respond appropriately. Believe it or not the software snags the information, sorts it, and assigns it. The grand finale – the software stores and tracks your support and account history. Now that’s progress we can all rely on.

For The Detailed Mind – We Chose Salesforce.com as our CRM solution.

We’re not a point and click solution shopper, nor do we jump at the hottest, latest and greatest solution of the moment. We invest our time and skill in product research and testing on all of our product solutions. Here are our reasons for going with Salesforce.com.

• This tool is one of the “big boys” for online CRM. Guess who else uses it? Motorola, U.S. Department of the Treasury, Time Warner, Kaiser Permanente, and Symantec. It’s expensive but it does the job.
• The software is completely administered and utilized online. We can access it anywhere – anytime.
• We registered as a development partner with Salesforce and this relationship allows us to write custom add-on software. We’re big on custom coding and integration with our existing systems (i.e. online support and contact forms).
• The software is well written which is a major, big deal and we can customize it.
• Great support. The company stands behind its product and we get excellent turnaround support time. Excellent.
• And finally, at Netdrafter we have our eye on the future. This tool will help us get there and we will take you with us.

We’re Not a 24 Hour Operator, but we do operate Monday – Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. EST – excluding federal government holidays. Normal turnaround time can be 24 hours for complete problem resolution – but as we all know some problems take longer to fix and get to than others. So – let’s work together and stay focused on the final objective – resolution. We’re here for you, we just need to have the opportunity to provide the best possible solution – and sometimes that takes time.

For detailed Support Information, as well as our Online Ticketing form, visit: www.netdrafter.com/support

We recommend Arial, Courier New, Georgia, Times New Roman, Trebuchet MS and Verdana for easy readability.

1. How many direct sales (or actions) did the campaign generate?
2. How many opens and bounces were reported for the message?
3. Which links were clicked on and what traffic was generated on the web site?

The amount of sales and responses should be pretty easy to track. Any web server statistics or analytics program can help you determine resulting web site traffic. The message statistics however are a little more tricky to analyze. This statistics, while pretty accurate, are not exact. The deffinition of “success” will vary from campaign to campaign, but here’s a bit of information to help you make sense of it all.

Please note: You cannot properly track the success of an email campaign without a proper email marketing program. (Microsoft Outlook, for example, is not meant to be a mass email tool and won’t provide you with the trackable statistics noted below.)

Campaign Statistics Definitions

Open rate: The percentage of recipients actually opened the email. Not all email readers allow for open tracking however and some text-only readers cannot track at all. As with many Internet technology statistics, an open rate is an approximate value.

Bounce rate: The percentage of recipients that could not receive the message. There are a number of reasons a message could not be delivered. Some include: non-existent addresses (once active addresses that have been deactivated), incorrect addresses (typos, misspellings), undeliverable addresses (the receiving server was temporarily unavailable, overloaded, or could not be found), full mailboxes, or blocked addresses.

Click-through rate: The percentage of people who opened the message and clicked on at least one link.

Industry Averages

Constant Contact, a popular small business email marketing program, reports the following average industry rates for emails sent in 2009.