What you need to know about Web Forms

A web form allows a user to enter data that is sent to a server for processing. When data that has been entered into HTML fields and the form is submitted, the names and values in the form elements are encoded and sent to the server. A form is a section of a document containing normal content, check boxes, radio buttons, menus and labels. Some of examples of forms are:

o   Contact Form

o   Order Form

o   Registration Form

o   Survey Form

Spammers are annoyingly everywhere. Most of them are caught by spam filters but every once in a while one or two get through. So how can you protect your website from hacker and create a spam filtered form?

Following are the methods which will helps you in creating quality and spam secure form:

Use CAPTCHAs- A CAPTCHA is a visual image that is written in a strange font and is difficult to read. It will be impossible for a computer to read CAPTCHA text, but a human can read them. You can add three types of CAPTCHA’s to your web form:

·        Standard CAPTCHA: The user has to type a few letters that are displayed on the screen to complete the form submission.

·       Simple math CAPTCHA: A very easy arithmetic test. A very simple mathematical equation is displayed in image user has to type solution for that equation.

·        Google ReCAPTCHA: Google ReCAPTCHA is a very powerful anti-spam device. It displays CAPTCHA’s which are Easy for people and hard for robots.

Validations: The form should have checks/validations so that the user does not submit any incorrect information. Even if forms are clear and labels explain what is required, customers will still make errors, such as using the letter 'o' instead of a zero, or 'I' instead of the number one. So make sure to set these types of validations to your form. It will help you prevent spam.

Data Confirmation Screen- Data confirmation screen will be displayed after form submission. What happened with this option is that it displays a web page after the form has been completed which allows the sender to review and check the data for confirmation. And subscriber should be asked to visit mail box for confirmation of email address. It will prevent you from automated submission robots.

Highlight Required Fields- Clearly mark all the compulsory fields. Notifying site visitors that field is required is a great way to increase user interaction with form. There are several times when a user won’t understand what a form element means. So you can overcome this problem by adding help text for labels. Display hints when a user clicks on a particular field of your form.

Use In-Line Error Check- When user make a mistake when completing a form, don’t make them wait until they click the submit button on the page. Quickly displays an easy to understand error message and ask user to correct mistake. This enables customers to quickly rectify any problems and reassures them that they have completed the form correctly.

Fields Labels- Quality of field labeling means the format in which users are expected to enter information should be made clear.