Recently Scott Stiefvater and I were discussing the principles behind the CMS driven model of website design that MB/I favors.  In that conversation he mentioned the three levels of content and presentation (the core application, the modules, and the interface and display).  This reminded me of the six elements of design presented in Scott McCloud’s visual textbook Understanding Comics.

From inception to presentation these layers are: the idea, the form, the idiom, the structure, the craft, and the surface. This week I’d like to look at the two …

Clients are often torn on whether to have a simple e-mail address or a contact form on their websites. On the one hand, users don’t like filling our forms and would find the e-mail link more user friendly. On the other hand, it’s nice to collect a minimal amount of information from each user for tracking and marketing purposes. It’s a fine line… how do you decide?

From the user’s perspective. You should consider having a form if:

• Your company has a well-functioning communications process to handle website leads. If by filling out a form, the user can get in touch with …
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If your website has an unprotected contact form, sign-up form or guestbook, you are asking for trouble. Websites large and small, old and new, popular and rarely visited—all are at risk. You need to protect the data your clients provide!

What is the problem?
Internet robots (aka “bots”) find web forms and maliciously interfere with them. Bots can send thousands of spam emails through otherwise respectable web forms. Bots can also fill in the forms, signing up for e-mails, and even ordering the services and products you offer. Some bots use virus-laden attachments to get into forms to steal users’ passwords and …