It's very interesting how the "you know the city, the state, the country" mantra here is really "you know the city, the state and obviously the country is the USA no other possibilities are considered or worth considering"
Put the zip code first
101–110 of 330 posts
Re: Put the zip code first
#102> From those 5 characters you can determine the city, the state, and the country False. Many zip codes include more than one city, and some even cross multiple states. And you can't always tell the difference between codes from different countries. Now you're not just instantly filling the rest of the form, you're implementing fancy multi-country filtering logic, editable drop downs, etc. Given the obvious incompeten…
if there are multiple cities, then just don't auto fill
that way it's faster and easier for 90% (just a guess) and no different for folks that have multiple cities on that zip
Re: Put the zip code first
#103> From those 5 characters you can determine the city, the state, and the country False. Many zip codes include more than one city, and some even cross multiple states. And you can't always tell the difference between codes from different countries. Now you're not just instantly filling the rest of the form, you're implementing fancy multi-country filtering logic, editable drop downs, etc. Given the obvious incompeten…
This. I have to fill out a form that requires uses the ZIP code to look up cit(ies) and state, but often has multiple options for county, which I have to look up in a separate tab independently. It's not the huge time saver it should be... unless we start including ZIP+4, but I couldn't even tell you my own address with +4.
Re: Put the zip code first
#104Earlier quoted context omitted.
Should be titled "Put the Zipcode and country first". Would be simple enough to have someone type the zip or postal code first, then move the countries that are known to have that zip code to the top of the drop down (still in alphabetical order), and all the other countries below that (also in alphabetical order). Leave all the fields editable, i.e. the postal code only suggests, ranks, or prepopulates. Seems like t…
ZIP Code (tm) is claimed as a trademark by the US Postal Service. If you don’t have a ZIP Code, why would you put something in the ZIP Code field?
Put a postal code first.
Include a field for the country that is autofilled via Geolocation API or geoip if that's unavailable.
Re: Put the zip code first
#105I definitely agree in principle. But - without doxxing myself - I input my zip and the city is not correct. It’s a very close neighboring suburb (where the boundaries are definitely blurry) but it’s not the city on all the legal documents for my current house.
Legal address doesn't matter for mail, and all of this stuff is about mail/shipping. This includes billing addresses. I would have assumed that you knew that. I know people whose ZIP code belongs to a neighboring town (because mail works that way) and it basically becomes their de-facto address.
Probably not safe to assume my level of knowledge about any subject matter
Re: Put the zip code first
#106> From those 5 characters you can determine the city, the state, and the country False. Many zip codes include more than one city, and some even cross multiple states. And you can't always tell the difference between codes from different countries. Now you're not just instantly filling the rest of the form, you're implementing fancy multi-country filtering logic, editable drop downs, etc. Given the obvious incompeten…
This 1000 times. I’ve tried implementing what OP has mentioned, and quickly learned it isn’t possible. A city can also exist in multiple zip codes. And there can be multiple cities with the same name in the same state. So, to be safe, you have to enter city, state, and zip.
I don’t understand either of these arguments. They both appear to reinforce the point made in the article. At worst a zip code contains multiple cities? Voila the city box becomes a dropdown. It’s 2025. JavaScript.
Re: Put the zip code first
#107Earlier quoted context omitted.
This 1000 times. I’ve tried implementing what OP has mentioned, and quickly learned it isn’t possible. A city can also exist in multiple zip codes. And there can be multiple cities with the same name in the same state. So, to be safe, you have to enter city, state, and zip.
> A city can also exist in multiple zip codes. And there can be multiple cities with the same name in the same state. These are reasons you cannot deduce the Zip from the city, not the opposite. A ZIP+4 actually encodes all other information for a US address.
Wrong. There can also be multiple cities in the same ZIP code. There is not a 1:1 relationship with a 5-digit ZIP as everyone is assuming here.
Re: Put the zip code first
#108US-centric. I typed a Mexico postal code (it’s five digits) and got routed to somewhere in Maine. So - yeah the whole “I can tell you’re in the US just by the zip code” premise is entirely flawed.
The UI pattern is still stupid. You should be able to quickly enter forms like this on a keyboard. When I look for a part for my car, I pick “Honda”, “Model Year”, “model”, “trim”. With address forms, if I type “U” in a keyboard aware field, it defaults to “US Minor Outlying Islands”. Places that try to accommodate will put the US and Canada first. If you asked country, first, you could utilize the postcode method. S…
Small distraction, entering the year first is preferred for vehicles, as manufacturers changed names (Nissan/Datsun) or were discontinued (Saturn, Pontiac) after known years.
Re: Put the zip code first
#109Earlier quoted context omitted.
> A city can also exist in multiple zip codes. And there can be multiple cities with the same name in the same state. These are reasons you cannot deduce the Zip from the city, not the opposite. A ZIP+4 actually encodes all other information for a US address.
Nobody knows their +4 code. You cannot ask for information 90%+ of people won't have.
Of course they do.
Let me uh just grab my utility bill...
Re: Put the zip code first
#110Somehow a lot of Japanese websites use this trick. Far more often than USian websites.