I have heard a lot about Etisalat lately and so I decided to check out their site. On a scale of 1 - 10, I would give it a 7.5. The othe 2.5 isn't a knock. The site's layout is simple (what I like) but I feel it could have been better sha. For instance, i went to the "contact us" page and was shocked to see there was no form on there.

This got me to thinking, maybe not being in the country, there is something I am missing. Perhaps those of us living in Nigeria can help shed better light. Why do many of our Nigerian-based sites not have contact forms? Here are some reasons I have come up with. Feel free to agree or disagree by posting your responses:

1) Developer doesn't know how to layout a form

2) Developer is unable to write the necessary code to validate form fields, both on the front and back ends. So he doesn't even add forms to the site and smartly discourages the client against using one.

3) Developer isn't even aware of the existence of forms.

4) Company can't afford to pay someone dedicated to replying emails and routing them to the appropriate departments

5) Company doesn't want to deal with emails and prefers to be contacted via phone or in person.

6) Developer is so used to using a WYSIWYG tool so much so that if they can't figure out how to get it to layout a form, since they can't code from scratch, they don't even bother learning how.

None of the above are legitimate reasons not to use forms. Having said that, a contact form is a must. Not everyone has the luxury of (not to mention, they may not even be knowledgable) having a calling card handy to start making calls from abroad. Some may not even be aware of time differences. Someone like me hates to be put on hold by customer service. With a form, you fill out the form and don't have to bother about the above, among others. Of course, the company on its end has an obligation to answer such emails otherwise the purpose of the form is rendered useless.

Your thoughts/comments please.

i feel very sick when i have to copy an email address, open my box before i could pass my message across.

Thats the trend now with nigerian sites and etisalat sef dey ready, u know! naija for life

webdezzi,

I hate that too but I think you might agree with me that you hate this even more: You inadvertently click the email address link and since you don't have Outlook, you have to wait as outlook **slowly** loads up. Then you have to close the window and then click the "don't save this email address" prompt button, all because some "webmaster" didn't put a form on the page. By the time all is said and done, you might have forgotten the reason why you wanted to send the email in the first place

una dey vex? when una tear muzzle finish, create a simple thread on how to use the php mail() function to create a web form. it'll help a lot better than this flenty flenty noise u pipz are shouting in ma ear 
see stress o, this beautiful sunday afternoon, Guru and Yawa no go let persin hia word.

don't u just hate the "mailto:" function and him strong head? 
na, i love it 
well because it drives u two nutz 

come Yawa, time don reach wey u go stop to dey tasi "Nigerian sites" anyhow, else

well, you sound right

I dont use outlook and it loads up slowing asking you to create an email account.
i close it and another outlook window comes up, telling you to start composing.

so i just copy the email address from that outlook express "From:" field and fire up my yahoo mail.

Now there is a good chance i am going to forget that email address in the clipboard if after opening yahoomail, i realized i got a new mail.


@ Dual core,
I know it drives you mad too

webdezzi:

@ Dual core,
I know it drives you mad too

how u take know na?
well it doesnt, i use mozilla thunderbird for office and personal mail accounts, so if i click it just takes me to a compose window and i do ma thing and send.
Where it drives me nuts is when i mistakenly click on it and the compose window opens. Since its a mistake, i'll want to close it but will now have to answer a silly question like "Do you want to save in draft". Ahh mehn there should be "Yes", "No" and "Hell No(and dont u freaking ask me again!!)" buttons to such dialogue boxes.

Dual Core, at least I was right in some sense

Per your "Nigerian sites" comment, look, I love my Nigerian developers but as I have been saying for months, we can't just let things slip by and be partial. I have read some posts on here to the effect that Nigerian developers "suck". I don't agree with that statement but believe we have some ways to go. I was chatting with someone earlier today and told him that our problem isn't coding. Many at times it is the ability to think logically. You don't just read some ebook you got from google and call yourself a "webmaster". Even I don't call myself that. Besides, what does that mean? A good developer is always improving upon him/herself. You may be the greatest coder in the world but if you can't layout a simple solid architecture, of what use is your coding prowess?


Per the tutorials on mail et al, I hereby challenge you, as I have challenged others to go through the webmaster section of NL and do a scoresheet of tutorials I have posted here (including a free ebook) vs tutorials you have posted. When you are done, I expect an apology for the direct/indirect insinuations. I also invite all to contact me privately for my portfolio. I am not all talk. Believe me, all I want is for us to move from the proverbial milk to bones. *Not all* Nigerian-based developers are bad but I think I can make a general statement based on what I see on NL. Some of us have a long way to go.

hmmmmmmmmm, oya yim me ur porfolio, sharp sharp. the one u showed me on sunday afternoon, is it part of it?

@Yawa

From your postings, it is obvious that you do not know the difference between feedback and contact page, even with all the explations given under your ealier related post  https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-172133.0.html.

Etisalat implemented Contact page - http://www.etisalat.ae/index.jsp?lang=en&type=channel&currentid=9139e15c0b56a010VgnVCM1000000a0a0a0a____&parentid=f268800d1f52a010VgnVCM1000000a0a0a0a____

as well as  feedback page http://www.etisalat.ae/index.jsp?lang=en&type=channel&currentid=8e8cef484523a010VgnVCM1000000a0a0a0a____&parentid=f268800d1f52a010VgnVCM1000000a0a0a0a____

Look at the way the two pages are structured and check my reply to your earlier post.

Thanks Abidemi.  I wasn't aware of my not knowing the difference b/w the 2.  Sorry about that.  I will punish myself by banishing myself to kirikiri.

Now back to your post.  2 MAJOR flaws:

1) This post is about lack of contact FORMS and not contact us/feedback pages, and

2) I just click both links and NEITHER had a form on it.

Now, who's the dumb one? and on that note, based on your IQ, I won't bother checking your response to my earlier post.

@Yawa,

You did not see any form because you are always in a rush to see flaws in what others have done. If you click on any of the links on the feedback page you will see form.

Example : http://www.etisalat.ae/index.jsp?lang=en&type=content&currentid=8e8cef484523a010VgnVCM1000000a0a0a0a____&contentid=5bd93a00a06c5110VgnVCM1000000c24a8c0RCRD&parentid=f268800d1f52a010VgnVCM1000000a0a0a0a____

Lesson of the day : Always get to the root of the matter before passing judgement.

@Abidemi

1) this post is about CONTACT forms. I only used etisalat's site as a reference. There are CLEARLY many other sites out there WITHOUT contact forms and others have agreed more or less that this is true.

2) I am actually not in a rush.  I clicked 3 levels deep on the contact section.  There is a book called, "Don't make me think" and I suggest you use it.  Users are accustomed to seeing a form when they click "contact us" and not a series of links.  When I see a link, I have to pause, waste precious time and ask, "okay, so what do I do now?  Which should I click?"  Those options could have been rolled into a dropdown.

Lessons of the day:
1) Don't RUSh to ASSUME because it makes an ASS out of U and ME and I don't want the "ME" part in there.

2) READ and UNDERSTAND

@Yawa,

Still expecting your final decision on my offer. Hope you will be online (Y!M) by 8.00pm Naija time.

Wat offer? I am chatting with 5 others right now. Too bad u will hv to wait till later as I am about to log off

na wa o.

yawa-ti-de:

I am chatting with 5 others right now.

and she made it look like i was the only one
hope i'm the only one toasting and the other 4 are just discussing webdesign biz?!

@Dual Core,

You are not the only one toasing, but we may be toasting for different things. I am toasting her for business, I don't know what you are toasting her for.

@Yawa,
The offer is being CSS and related issue moderator on my portal forum.

I was toasting her for erm. . .

Hey, I'm following this thread and so is others. Can you pls get back and be more serious. If you don't know what to do, you can explain the big deal between Feedback page and Contact us page.

Cheers!

OmniPotens:

Hey, I'm following this thread and so is others. Can you please get back and be more serious. If you don't know what to do, you can explain the big deal between Feedback page and Contact us page.

Cheers!

Check

https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-172133.0.html.

These days the internet makes every thing very easy.  Just by using google any newbie can setup a contact form is less than 10 minutes so i don't think that having technical know how is the reason behind sites not having feed back forms.  It might be that the site owners do not have the time to follow up emails or may not be able to give quick response to mails as some people make it a duty to check mails once or twice a day.  This is my own simple believe.  
on a lighter mode i really love it when you Guru's trade words.  Please keep it up. You are keeping the rest of us entertained. (sabi sabi)

@idhigbe,

I assume you don't count me as a guru cos I am not. That title to me is reserved to those who have been tried and tested in the theater of coding experience and I am yet still a baby

@Abidemi,

I don't mind contributing but without money, I won't moderate, sorry. As Shina Peters used to say, "Money for hand, back for groooooound" I would also take another line of his to heart, "me i no dey play with women o (alright). I no dey play with women at all o. "

@Dual Core and his ilk
I knew u guys were toasting! I have seen it all and could smell it from 10 miles away.

oya make una stop to toast yawa, cant u people just face the html & php part of her?

Dual Core:

oya make una stop to toast yawa, can't u people just face the html & php part of her?

Na Jealousy ooooooooo!

that is what happens when you have just 1 female student in a mechanical engineering class.

she becomes their goddess.

_{[s]people sha, they pretended as if they were learning, and now their real self starts to manifest[/s]}

@topic

I finally decided to visit etisalat's website (ignoring my busy schedules), i really cant see anything wrong with it.
the site is neat and composed and has a contact form

May God forgive us!

hahhahaha, i never bothered to check, and i never will. its really non of ma biz

webdezzi,

A link to that form should please be posted here (note: not the feedback form but the contact form) so that I can stand corrected. Again, I am not knocking the site. As my original post goes, I actually like it. I am just getting frustrated at what seems like a trend amongst us developers in Nigeria which is that many sites don't have contact forms and where they do exist, many aren't validating either on the front or back ends. It needs to stop IMHO.

Thanks,

@Yawa-ti-de,

No disrespect please, if you are still asking for a link to contact form, it shows that you do not know how to implement contact and feedback page. There is nothing wrong in not having form on contact page and it is not limited to developers in Nigeria.

You can check the followoing link to one of the leading sites in UK and see how they have implemented contact and feedback page, hope that will give you better understanding of it.

http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/topics/topic.aspx/emea/segments/odg_dhs_splitter_intel?c=uk&l=en&s=gen&ST=.del&dgc=ST&=5186&lid=121454

Abidemi

No disrespect either but 2 wrongs don't and shouldn't make a right. If that were the case, are you telling me that if you found out today that Bill Gates didn't wipe his buttocks after taking a dump, that you wouldn't either just because he is one of the richest men in the world? If so, I tip my hat to you.

Which takes more time:

1) Copying and pasting an email address into your email program and trying to figure out how best to frame your question

2) Clicking the mailto link, waiting for your email program to load and going through #1 above (in part)

3) Filling out a form with all the information that the company expects of you.

You be the judge.

Again, 2 wrongs don't make a right. Otherwise again, drinking urine just because your girlfriend does wouldn't be justified.

By the way, most business sites (I know this from working with such) design their sites *on purpose* in such a way as to confuse visitors so they don't know how or who to contact. Why? because attending to customers (some of which are, letz face it, plain stupid) costs time and time is money. Just thought I should throw that out there.

@Yawa,

Could you please tell me the difference between Contact and feedback page?

And make reference to where they have been used according to your definition.

Abidemi,

I am still of the opinion that they are one and the same thing. However, I was taken to school on this in recent times. Check out https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-172133.0.html and judge for yourself.

For the record, I still think there is no difference between the two but hey, I can't be right all the time.

Contact is for contact
Feedback is for feedback

Its part of my ethics to put both in one page cuz a contact is just an address and phone number or something. Just about 5 lines, how can 5 lines be the only thing to sit on the body of a page wen i can add a form to make the page server dual purpose. But hey, if the dude signing my check says he doesn't want a form, heck he's getting his scanty looking, formless contact page

A contact page is different from a feedback page.
u can however say a feedback page is same as an enquiry page
then again, an enquiry page isnt the same as a contact page

oya if any body fight hia again eh

Yawa, the mail
You want make i trek come ur house before u do am abi?
i am vexing o

Dual_core

do wat? I honestly don't recall. In other news:

That is what I have been saying. No need creating 2 separate pages when you could combine everything onto one form and dynamically display one field or another by passing a name/value pair. Heck, you could even, again dynamically, prefill certain fields based on the name/value pair.

Oh well, as I said, I am not exactly the sharpest knife in the drawer.