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Put the zip code first

zipcodefirst.com

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Re: Put the zip code first

#111

Post by fingerlocks »

Someone1234 wrote: post #95
ghostly_s wrote: post #86

Earlier 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.

If asking for the zip first was more common then we quickly learn those four extra digits because the auto fill benefits would be immediately obvious

Re: Put the zip code first

#112

Post by cozzyd »

aewens wrote: post #4
mttjj wrote: post #2

I 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.

My brother’s house is in the same boat. Unfortunately, not all ZIP codes exclusively belong to one city.

And boats can move from city to city!

Re: Put the zip code first

#113

Post by notpushkin »

avidiax wrote: post #50
loloquwowndueo wrote: post #10

US-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.

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…

Yeah. But also, are you ready to maintain a postcode to city mapping for every country you have a significant userbase in?

Re: Put the zip code first

#115

Post by sph »

Falsehoods US programmers believe about addresses: there are no other countries than the US of A, and if there are, they don’t really matter.

This person bought a whole domain for something that doesn’t work for 90% of the world, claiming it does, never even testing their assumption. Great job!

Re: Put the zip code first

#116

Post by gruez »

bell-cot wrote: post #92
bicx wrote: post #69

Earlier 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.

Make that 1003+ times. At least in my part of the US, even a pretty modest-size city will have multiple zip codes. And zip codes can have zero geographical footprint (meaning street address) - for example, some zip's are just for Post Office Boxes. And a physical address can have an official USPS address & zip of "Middle City", while physically being in (say) Middle Township. And other fun stuff.

>Make that 1003+ times. At least in my part of the US, even a pretty modest-size city will have multiple zip codes.

Is that an issue? Who cares that new york city has 20+ zip codes? Just fill autofill "new york city, new york".

>for example, some zip's are just for Post Office Boxes.

Again, is it bad except for some joker who wants something sent to an invalid address?

Re: Put the zip code first

#117

Post by tokyobreakfast »

modeless wrote: post #37

> 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…

> Instead, learn to use your browser's autofill feature, and design your sites with it in mind. If you do it right the user literally doesn't have to type a single character.

Funny that the best solution is circa-1997 Netscape 2.0-level technology, while everyone iterates on how we can make everyone's life worse with even more unnecessary JavaScript. Like we all collectively forgot what the tag does.

To type an address on a letter, something a 5 year-old could do with a crayon.

Address forms, with unnecessary and unhelpful drop-downs, many of which reject keyboard input and require use of a mouse to scroll through them, are the bane of my existence.

Re: Put the zip code first

#118

Post by notpushkin »

pstuart wrote: post #104
peyton wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Put country first. Postcode doesn’t make sense without one. Prepopulating one based on location is generally okay, but don’t assume it will always be the same.

Or just don’t try to be too clever.

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