Web Forms, Email and Scripts

Forms and scripts are an integral part of many websites. Typically, these sites gather some information from the visitor, perform various amounts of processing, then perform some follow on action.

The nature and degree of complexity is nearly limitless, but there are a number of common scenarios:

• Double Opt-in Confirmation
  Double Opt-in confirmation covers many different situation, all focussed on guaranteeing email subscription information is confirmed by the subscriber. Subscriber information is registered into an owner managed database, but only after the site sends an email to the subscriber and who must reply with confirmation. Either the website owner or the subscriber can then manage subscribers and chosen preferences through a password protected mechanisms.
  
  
• Tell-a-Friend
  Many sites include a Tell-a-Friend capability to allow website visitors to easily share interesting content with friends. Server-side scripts send an email to designated recipients. A best practice with this capability is to clarify that no email addresses are collected, only used for the purpose of emailing the information.
  
  
• Order Configuration with Email Receipt
  A step up in complexity is to include order calculations and backend processing that can provide immediate estimates or feedback on requested information. At a visitors request, estimates and other derived information can be forwarded by email. This sort of script-based application can prove invaluable in sales lead generation and order fulfillment, especially when order configuration can be completed on-the-spot.
  
  
• Custom Applications
  Web-based applications can be arbitrarily complex, performing all sorts of calculations and back-end processing on behalf of visitor information. For instance, a custom Google-Map application for Boy Scout Troop 4 performed route calculations, and custom list generation, including detailed maps for their Christmas tree pickup service.