Using Web Forms

In this Section --

Introduction
Moving Around in Web Forms
Submitting Web Forms
Expiring Web Forms
Sample Form

Introduction

Many sites on the Internet use web forms. In addition, Technet's graphical interface will increasingly use web forms as an easy way to interface with government services and other information sources. Here are a few pointers to help you with web forms.

Moving Around in Web Forms

The most important thing to remember is that you can always use your mouse and just click into whichever field you want to fill out. However, there are a few keyboard shortcuts worth looking into.

First, to move from one field to another (once you've already clicked in the first field), you may press the [TAB] key. If you move forward too many fields, you can press [SHIFT]-[TAB] to move to the previous field. Again, these short cuts are completely optional; you may always use your mouse to click into any field, but this saves you the time it take to switch from mouse to keyboard and back again.

If you use [TAB] to move to an option, pressing [ENTER] will make that option the selected option.

Submitting Web Forms

Many web forms have a button labeled or labeled , but this button may read whatever the page designer wants or may be an image. Often, you can submit forms by pressing [Enter] when you've filled out all the fields.

Submitting forms often take a bit longer than other activities on the web because the form information must be processed. In the case of Technet's Premium Services, a government database is queried for you, which adds additional time. The good news is that when the results come back, they are ready to be printed or saved for later viewing.

Expiring Web Forms

Because of the way forms are put together, occasionally you may see a message telling you that your form has expired from the cache. Don't be alarmed. If asked to Repost form data, you will usually want to click .

Sample Form

This is a sample form. Submitting this form will bring you back to the top this page.

These round "boxes" are called radio boxes. Typically they offer you choices, of which you can only pick one (and one must always be selected). Note that one box is already selected: if you don't change it, that's how it will be submitted.

Please send the regular package.

Please send the deluxe package.

Extras:

These boxes are check boxes. They are used when you can pick most than one item from a list. These can also be set to be already selected: in this sample form, they are not.

Also Send the Screen Saver.

Also send the Monthly Planner

Sign me up for the Automatic update.

Another way of doing the same thing is to use a selection list. If you want to select more than one item from such a list, click on the first item normally, then hold the [SHIFT] key down and click on any other items you want. Note that some forms like this will not allow multiple selection. If not all of the available selections are available, you may scroll the box.

The first box on the left is a dropdown box. Click on the down arrow button at the right of the box and you will see a list of possible values, of which you may or may not be able to pick more than one.

The Credit Card Number field is a text box field. It will only let you enter 16 characters. The Expiration Date, also a text entry field, will only let you enter 4 characters.

Please select payment option:

Credit Card Number: Expiration Date:

This last kind of box is a text box. It is typically used for comments or other uses where being able to type in multiple lines of input is useful.

Please enter any comments you have in the box below:

The Reset button (see below), which some but not all forms have, allows you to reset the form back to its original state, which may include setting some buttons to a default value. And last but not least, the Submit (also see below) button sends the information you've entered in for processing.

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