Web Page Form for the Ordinary Internet User
Internet Literacy - Part 5
Forward: In this part of the series, I explain the web page form as should be seen by the ordinary Internet user.
By: Chrysanthus Date Published: 31 Aug 2012
Introduction
Form
Consider the following paper form:
PERSONAL INFORMATION (Form Title)
First Name: ________________
Last Name: ________________
Email: _________________
Address: __________________
City: ________________
State: _________________
Country: ________________
Comment: ___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
__________________
This is an example of a form on paper. A web form is similar. In a web form, a short line above is a field (short horizontal depression). The long lines together would be a large rectangular field, called a Text Area..
A web page form will also have at least 2 buttons. A button is a swollen rectangle that when clicked, something happens. A button has a label (or title) on it, which indicates its purpose. One of the buttons that a web page form should have, usually has the label, “Clear”. When this button is clicked, anything that you have typed in the fields of the form is erased. The other button, which a web page form must have, has the label, “Send” or “Submit”. When you click this button, all the data (information) typed into the form is sent either to an email box or a database. The email box or database can be anywhere in the Internet. The email box or database usually has something to do with (is related to) the website that has the web page with the form. At the limit, they can be independent of the website.
You can have more than one form on a web page. In some cases, you can have more than one form that are for the same purpose. This situation can be found in a long web page that is promoting a product or service. The idea is that as you start reading at the top you can fill the emall form and purchase the item. Or, as you continue reading, in the middle of the page you may still fill the small form and purchase. You can still find the same form at the button of the web page.
The Search Form
A Search Form usually consists of a field and a button next to it. The button may be rectangular, having the label, “Search” or it may be very small having the magnifying glass symbol. The intention is that, you can type a phrase into the field and then click the Search Button to look for something of the phrase in the website (not in the Internet). If you do that a new page with the result will appear. If the search saw nothing, the result page will tell you so. If it saw one or more items, the result page will display a short paragraph for any item seen. There will always be a link in the paragraph (usually at the top of the paragraph), that when clicked, will lead you to a new web page having the details of the item.
A Search Form is one of those forms that can be found in more than one place on a web page. Having it in many places gives easy access to the customer (user) as he reads and scrolls to search for more information and continue to work with the page.
Other buttons can be found in a web form. You have what is called a Check Box. The check box is normally a small square box. When you click it, it develops a tick. When you click it again, the tick goes off. This on-and-off action is called toggling (a vocabulary you have to learn). With a check box, the label is next to it. The presence of the tick means Yes; the absence of the tick means No. It is like, yes, you want the item labeled, or no, you do not want the item labeled.
Another kind of button is called, Radio Button. However, a radio button is normally round. Here, Yes is the presence of a dot, and No is the absence of a dot. Also, radio buttons exists in groups. Only one radio button in a group can have a dot. In other words the labels of radio buttons in a group indicate options for the user to choose. However, you do not click the label, you click but the button.
The Ordinary Button: the ordinary button is a rectangular button, similar to the Clear or Submit button. This button has its label on it. When you click such a button, an action takes place on the same web page; for example, an image may appear or an image may be enlarged or some text may appear somewhere, etc. Note: this type of button can be used unofficially outside a form. It can be anywhere in the web page since its purpose is to cause an action in the web page.
A hyperlink is usually a short piece of text or image that when clicked a new web page appears. Some hyperlinks have a large amount of code associated with it. The Internet user does not see this code. This code is actually a form content. When you click it, the result you see on the screen is that of a form: either a feedback that your message has been sent or a new web page with data from some database.
Yes, today, you have to learn how to drive, how to read and write, be computer literate and be Internet literate. We stop here and continue in the next part of the series.
Chrys