[Sigia-l] UI Design Question - Client Versus Server Side Validation

[Todd Warfel]

In our experience here at Cornell, client-side and server-side have both
proven to be advantageous. It depends on what purpose of the form.

For registration: we use a combination of client-side and server-side. We
use client-side to ensure that required fields are filled out and for
checking basic formatting. Anything beyond that, we use server-side to
check. 

For data entry: we use a combination of client-side and server-side, but
weighted heavily towards server-side. Very little client-side is used here
due to the nature of our data collection forms. We use server-side to
validate things like rare species, date and time stamps, habitat
information, etc. 

If you're concerned that people think their computers are crashing, then I'd
suggest you revisit your error messages. Well formatted and clear error
messages can work wonders. Stay away from technical jargon. Use clear
language. And have someone who's not in your development department review
the messages to make sure they make sense - someone in marketing,
communications, etc. is typically good.


On 2/25/03 4:48 PM, "Patrick Neeman" <pat at nexisinteractive.com> wrote:

> While it might seem simple enough to do on the client side, my fear is that
> acquisting is being hurt because, well, the target audience is probably at a
> pretty low level of sophistication, and might think their computer is crashing
> or something when they get that error box.


Cheers!

Todd R. Warfel

_//message first [method second]
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Information architecture
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In theory, theory and practice are the same,
but in practice, they're not -- anonymous