[WEB4LIB] Re: CGI SCRIPTS

[Thomas Dowling]

----- Original Message -----
From: TMGB <bennettt at am.appstate.edu>
To: Multiple recipients of list <web4lib at webjunction.org>
Sent: Friday, February 19, 1999 9:52 AM
Subject: [WEB4LIB] Re: CGI SCRIPTS


>Probably the most EASY solution is to just use a regular form and set
>enctype to "text/plain" and input type to "text" as shown here:
>
><FORM METHOD="POST" ACTION="mailto:user at myschool.edu"
>enctype="text/plain">Today's Date [mm/dd/yy]&#160;<INPUT type="text"
>name="REQUEST FOR LIBRARY INSTRUCTION Date of Request: " size=8>

I can't agree with this.  ACTION=mailto has several known problems which
can make your form totally unusable.  Some versions of Internet Explorer
do not support it at all.  Current versions of both Netscape and IE may
support it only if configured to use their own mail program, but not if
they're using Eudora, Pegasus, etc.  Some browsers may "support" it in
ways you don't expect, such as opening a blank e-mail message addressed to
user at myschool.edu.  Some will send the request, but won't  honor the
text/plain enctype or separate the name/value pairs onto separate lines as
you seem to expect.

>From a public service pespective, another problem is that a mailto action
doesn't take you anywhere else.  The user clicks the submit button, copes
with a wordy and possibly scary dialog box about the security and privacy
implications of what's going to happen, and ends up...right back at the
form.  So expect your less experienced users to click that submit button
again and again and again, till they realize nothing else is going to
happen.

I don't see any way around it: if you want reliable forms, you need
server-side technology to handle them.  If you can't get that on a campus
server, you should either set up your own server to provide these
services, or go to an external source that runs stock CGI scripts.


Thomas Dowling
OhioLINK - Ohio Library and Information Network
tdowling at ohiolink.edu