Chapter 11. Build Web Forms

IN THIS CHAPTER:

64 About Forms

65 Create a Form

66 Add Components to the Form

67 About FormBuddy

68 Set Up FormBuddy

69 Modify Your Form for FormBuddy

70 Set Up an Autoresponder

You have seen forms everywhere you have been on the Web. If you have gone to a site that has a Search button on it, or visited a page and bought something, you have seen a form.

Communication from you to the viewer is easyyou know how to do that. Communication from your viewer to you, though, is where forms come in.

HTML uses forms to enable a viewer to enter information into a page and send it to you. Unfortunately, HTML only knows how to send information; it does not know how to capture that information on your side and do something with it so that you can actually use it. In this chapter, you will learn how to build forms and capture information viewers send to you. In this case, you will learn how to mail the contents of a form to yourself and how to create a response page for your viewer so that he knows the information he sent has gone somewhere.

TIP

You will be creating a catalog form for ordering wine. You will notice that nowhere do we add a field for a credit card, and neither should you. Accepting credit cards is beyond the scope of this book. If you use the techniques we show you here for credit card information, your site is going to be vulnerable to security risks.

This form is designed for you to capture customer and order information for contacting the buyer. This is safe and serves as a way for you and your buyer to connectit does not put any credit card information out over the Web.