Form Security

Security is the first concern

If you are sending or receiving email containing any kind of sensitive personal information (Social Security Numbers or credit card numbers), THAT INFORMATION IS NOT SECURE! Please contact a member of the Web Team as soon as possible. You may be exposing your correspondents' or your own personal information to unnecessary risk.

Don't ask for more information than you need

On the Web, people can become frustrated or discouraged quickly. Long, complicated forms that require more information than you really need can discourage your visitors from submitting a form in the first place. In general, the more information you ask for in a form, the fewer the people who will submit it. So keep your forms as short and to the point as possible.

Forms should also be accessible

As with all other content on your website, the forms on your site should be accessible to as many people as possible, including those with visual or other impairments.

Below are links to good sites with more information about accessible forms.

• American Foundation for the Blind on accessible forms
• Beginner level introduction to accessible HTML/XTML forms on the Web Standards Project website
• Learn more about accessible forms on usability.com
• See an article for advanced designers on making accessible forms prettier

When in doubt, contact the Web Team for help.

Forms on Web pages require technical skills. If you have little or no experience creating Web forms, please contact a member of the Web Team for help.