Force user to read a textarea

[xscully]

Is there a way to force the user to read a textarea?

Just like those 'agreements' that is used in a few offline
instalation..

You have to scroll all the way down of the textarea and then the I
AGREE button is enabled... is there a way to do that with JS?

Tks a lot =]

[Zif]

xscully wrote:

Is there a way to force the user to read a textarea?
Stand behind them with a shotgun while they read it to you aloud? ;-)

Just like those 'agreements' that is used in a few offline
instalation..

You have to scroll all the way down of the textarea and then the I
AGREE button is enabled... is there a way to do that with JS?

Put the 'agree' button at the bottom of the scrolling div and tell
them that's where it is - no script required.

I don't think forcing users to scroll to the bottom provides any
additional force to the agreement.

If US court decisions are applicable to your jurisdiction, 'click
through' agreements have been tested already (though I guess the usual
caveats on contracts apply).

In a decision dated 12 August, 2005:

"An Illinois appeals court held that buyers who purchased computers
over the Internet were bound to an arbitration clause contained in
the "Terms and Conditions of Sale,” even though the buyers were not
required to click on an “I agree” button specific to those terms of
sale.

"The computer purchasers brought an action against the computer
manufacturer, Dell, claiming that it falsely advertised the Pentium
4 microprocessor was the fastest chip available. Dell moved to
compel arbitration; the trial court denied the motion. Dell
appealed, and the appellate court reversed.

"The buyers had purchased the computers on Dell’s web site, which
contained five pages of forms the buyers had to fill out to make the
purchase. Each of these five pages contained a blue hyperlink to the
“ Terms and Conditions of Sale .” The “Terms and Conditions of Sale”
included an arbitration clause. The “Terms and Conditions of Sale”
were also included on the printed invoice that came with the
computer."
<URL:http://lawprofessors.t ypepad.com/contractsprof_b log/2005/08/illinois_appeal .html>

--
Zif

[xscully]

that's a solution.. I'll show that the my client... I hope he likes
it.. xD

he was the one that asked me to 'force' the user to scroll till the end
to enable the button...

tks! =]

[Michael Winter]

On 17/10/2005 14:48, xscully wrote:

Is there a way to force the user to read a textarea?
No.
Just like those 'agreements' that is used in a few offline
instalation..

You have to scroll all the way down of the textarea and then the I
AGREE button is enabled...
Having to scroll doesn't constitute reading. I know I've just scrolled
through because I knew what the agreement entailed (I do read license
agreements, but I don't read the same 'stock' ones more than once).
is there a way to do that with JS?

No, but I don't think it would be a good idea even if you could.
If you're actually looking for a legally binding form of click-through
agreement, then there are issues you should be aware of. Some of these
have been presented by Andrew Patrick[1]. A few notes on the principles,
as I read them:

"Opportunit y to review terms"

It's important that a user can't just use some link to go directly to a
point beyond the agreement. In doing so, they would have access to the
content, but they wouldn't have agreed to the terms of use. To prevent
this, it may be considered necessary to use sessions to track users and
their consent, and eject those visitors without a valid session id to
the agreement page.

"Opportunit y to correct errors" and "Ability to reject terms"

An initially unchecked check box with the label, "I have read, and agree
to, the above terms and conditions", should be considered sufficient as
the user would have needed to take an explicit action to give their
consent. However, there should be a paragraph - perhaps after the check
box - that indicates that not agreeing will prevent them from using
whatever it is you're providing. Submitting the form without checking
that box should redirect the user away from the 'protected' area. Note
that all of this checking (and the redirection) /must/ be performed
server-side.

An alternative to a single check box would be two radio buttons. One
would read the same as, or similar to, the check box. The other,
initially chosen, would read something like "I do not agree to the above
terms and conditions, and understand that I may not use <whatever>."
This would render the paragraph that says much the same, unnecessary.

"Ability to print the terms"

It's not usually possible to print the entire contents of a TEXTAREA
element - only the visible portion is shown. It might be better to
mark-up the terms with normal semantic notation (paragraphs, headings,
lists, etc.) and wrap it all in a DIV element. You could then produce a
style sheet that renders a similar effect, and a print media style sheet
that removes that effect.
Don't use a pop-up though, as demonstrated in the image.

Mike

I'm not a lawyer. I'm just presenting my lay opinion.
[1] Patrick, A. (2002) Just-In-Time Click-Through Agreements
<URL:http://www.andrewpatri ck.ca/jitcta/jitcta.html>

--
Michael Winter
Prefix subject with [News] before replying by e-mail.