plugin ransom: zem_contact

plugin ransom: zem_contact

<txp:zem_contact> produces a flexible, customizable email contact form. It’s intended for use as an enquiry form for commercial sites, and includes several features to help reduce common problems with such forms (invalid email addresses, missing information).

Features:

  • Arbitrary text fields can be specified, with min/max/required settings for validation
  • new: Support for checkboxes and drop-down lists
  • new: Nonce-based script spam prevention
  • Email address validation, including a check for a valid MX record (Unix only)
  • Safe escaping of input data
  • Automatically generates an accessible form layout, including <label> tags
  • Valid XHTML

nb – I’ve added several new features to the plugin, namely the checkbox and select list support, and improved the error handling and email address validation. The ransom amount stays the same.

This plugin is being held for ransom. That means it will be made freely available under an open-source license once a total amount in cash contributions have been received:


Deadline: December 16.

It doesn’t matter whether the goal is reached by many people each contributing $1, or a single person contributing the entire amount. Dontations of $US 5.00 or more receive a special bonus; more details here.

Download:

The plugin is now available for download: zem_contact

24 November 2004, 02:37 by zem ·

?: all donations of $5.00 or more will be refunded, and smaller donations will be counted towards the next plugin, if there is one.

1. I would like to donate but don’t want my name on your site.

2. I want my dosh back if it isn’t published.

3. Why not just release it to those who paid?

— na    Oct 20, 04:57 am    #

1. That’s fine – anonymous contributions are welcome, and I've had a few already. Just leave a comment with the payment and I'll list whatever pseudonym or site you want, or none at all.

2. As the fine print says, donations of $5.00 or more will be refunded if it’s not published.

3. I can’t release it selectively, because Textpattern requires plugins to be released under the GPL, which obviously permits redistribution. And GPL expressly prohibits non-disclosure clauses, so I can’t release it to contributors on the condition that they don’t redistribute it.

— zem    Oct 20, 05:03 am    #

Zem, just a question. When I set up my web design site using TextPattern, I converted some of my static pages, one of which is the contact page, which I just cut and pasted into a Contact section. Is there an advantage to using this plugin designed specifically for TXP?

My current Contact page uses the NMS Form Mail plugin that doesn’t have the security issues that Matt Wright’s formmail.pl had.

Just wondering.

— Joni    Oct 24, 01:22 am    #

Off the top of my head, zem_contact:

* allows you to specify form validation rules (min, max, required) for individual fields

* checks that the user’s email domain exists before accepting the form, to guard against typos (it’s unfortunately fairly common for users to enter their own email address incorrectly)

* automatically builds an accessible, valid XHTML form, with label tags

* is a PHP-based Textpattern plugin with no external dependencies, so it can easily be edited and extended

The demo should give you a pretty good idea of how easy it is to use.

— zem    Oct 24, 06:07 am    #

It’s a shame more people aren’t seeing how useful this plugin is. Any chance the ransom demands could be tempered a little? Maybe $200 was a little too high.

— Chris Winfield    Oct 30, 03:23 pm    #

It said on the ‘more info’ page that it was going to cost $100. When/why did it change to $200?

I’m debating whether to throw down some cash for this. I’m a poor guy, but it is something I desperately need very soon…

— Jeff Clark    Nov 2, 03:43 am    #

Jeff, the $100 ransom was for the previous plugin, zem_dropcash. Sorry about the confusion; I’ve updated the article to make that a little clearer.

Chris, I’m wary of changing the rules during the game, because the ransom figure probably influenced the amount contributed already – changing the goal might be unfair to those people. Rather than adjust the ransom, I’ve made some improvements to the plugin. They’ll be announced here as soon as I’ve finished testing.

— zem    Nov 2, 04:15 am    #

Hope it reaches 200 till the 16th, my paypal contribution should arrive somwhen next week.
Goog luck, great work, espescially the check for the validity of the e-mail host.

— evernever    Nov 13, 01:51 pm    #

This seems to be a great plugin and it really should be published. I have to see what I can affort and will donate accordingly. Thumbs up!

— Eric    Nov 15, 02:31 am    #

I dropped what little cash I could now, but fortunately for Zem—and mroe fortunately for other TXP users out there, my Christmas bonus will be coming the first week in December. I’d like to give more because I really think this is going to be one of the more beneficial plugins being offered.

Anyone who’s ever wrestled with a formmail script knows this. And I don’t have to tell you about the security issues rampant with the Matt Wright scripts. (Some web hosts won’t even allow those on their servers and rightly so.)

From what I can see of the demo, this looks like a very USER FRIENDLY plugin.

Come on, people. You can live without that double mocha latte for ONE day. Pony up some cash!!

— Joni    Nov 16, 12:08 am    #

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