Purchase Order Database Design Tips for the Web
An ill-conceived database not only restrict some people from using your site/services, but they also disrespect the user. At least dare to get your customers name and other information right.
Personal Information Fields
Name
Most but not all order forms use separate fields for the purchaser's name. There are commonly 2 name fields, occasionally there are 3.
First Name
Middle Name (optional)
Last Name
Since the purchaser's name is necessary to process an order there should be some form of required field validation. Issues in validating names are:
Mandatory fields - no empty or null fields
Not everyone has a first, middle & last name. Reserve required field validation for last name onl.Example
While trendy or used primarily by celebrities there are some people who have legally changed their name to only one name. It is legal to have only one name, design for what is legal not necessary what is 'common' in the U.S.
In some countries there is no distinction between the various parts of a name or the order is different.
Suggestion for alternative validation:
Set a form validation script to alert the user to the blank field. E.g., "This field has been left blank. Is that correct? [OK] [CANCEL]"
Type of entry accepted
Do not limit to alphabetic letters only.
In my personal experience I have been very frustrated by fields that did not accept either spaces or hyphens. Hyphens are popular in names outside the use and are becoming more common here. I have randomly grabbed some names to use as examples form a couple of mail lists I belong to
Sandra Van Der Westhuizen
Cheryl Wise-Rasey
Suggestion for alternative validation:
Allow for a hyphen and add a form note on using the "-". This accommodates those who require a null field(s) and those who use a hyphenated name
Consider using a character set in document that allows for accented letters. Especially important if you are marketing outside of the U.S.
Length of fields
The old FirstName = string(10); LastName = string(15) stuff does not work for many names. While names in the U.S. and much of the western world are short (less than 15 characters per name section) you cannot assume that all people placing orders will have names that fit in a
Address
Allow for an address with multiple lines, while residential address in the U.S. tend to be one line business address and overseas address can be considerably longer. Example:
U.S. developers tend to think in street address, city, state and zip. Most remember to add country for an international form but fail to take into account:
Different countries address conventions, Examples
PO Box 74-235, Auckland 1015, New Zealand
Get UK address
Get Singapore Address
Lack of state or province see New Zealand example above
Postal codes that include alpha characters such as the London example above.