oh hai, i needs to builds webforms, pls, thx.

September 13, 2007 10:05 AM

Good tutorial(s) for learning how to build web forms?

I need to build some forms in php and also modify some current forms (sorry can't post them). Yes I can google and find dozens of tutorials, but I'm looking for ones that are particularly good at conveying an understanding of how they're built. Yeah, I can take'em apart and do try and error to figure out how it works, but I'd prefer to do that WITH a tutorial.

posted by Brandon Blatcher to computers & internet (6 comments total)

There's really not to it, as long as you don't want to know what happens on the web server. That part varies widely and is a bit complicated. With PHP answering web requests, it's a bit smaller, but still no small topic.

As long as you're only asking about what your client does, then it's cake, and you should know 80% of it in a half hour.

At this point you may decide it's time to further define your question.
posted by cmiller at 10:16 AM on September 13, 2007

I had the same problem but ended up using hosted forms from Wufoo. It might not work in your case, but it was a very good solution for me at the time.
posted by remcobron at 10:26 AM on September 13, 2007

Some form-related tools I've found helpful lately:

• Icebrrg
• Diaz's Ajax Form
• JotForm

I'm having some trouble telling from your question if the main concern is writing markup for a proper semantic/accessible form, or if it's getting a grasp of the actual programming that sends/processes the form.
posted by deern the headlice at 10:46 AM on September 13, 2007

I am trying to get a grasp of the actual programming that sends/processes the form.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 11:48 AM on September 13, 2007

Basic overviews about forms (not PHP-specific, but the concepts are applicable):
Basic forms tutorial; another brief tutorial.
A conceptual overview of forms.

PHP: Getting started with PHP: User Interaction and Forms

I recommend using the CodeIgniter web application framework for PHP (it's similar to CakePHP). It includes a form validation library that makes forms easier; CodeIgniter's got good documentation and helpful forums.

Form markup/UI design:

A CSS-based Form Template
CSS-Based Forms: Modern Solutions
Styling form controls
Styling even more form controls
Styling form controls with CSS, revisited
Getting a Form's Structure Right
Functioning Form has a lot of good articles on forms.
posted by kirkaracha at 12:44 PM on September 13, 2007

Thanks Kirkaracha, that's exactly what I was looking for.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 1:42 PM on September 13, 2007