Yeah, CSS wont do that.
CSS is for styling and formatting only.
What you want is to learn some PHP (http://www.php.net/).
Build your form, and use a PHP script to handle the form data.
Here is a quick form that I have been playing with at work from time to time-
click for working verison (http://web1.greatbasin.net/~ecsyle/webform.php)
<style>
.form_required{
color:#FF0000;
font-weight:bold;
}
.form_error{
border:1px dotted #636363;
background-color:#f3f3f3;
color:#646464;
font-weight:bold;
padding:10px;
margin:3px;
}
</style>
<?php
//setup form
$showform=true; //define form as true- we use this to show the form until we send the email
$mailto = "your@email.com";
$subject = "Contact Form: New Message";
//function cleanForm - strip tags and trim - could be, and should be, updated to more versatile
function cleanForm($value){
$value = trim(strip_tags($value));
return $value;
}
if(isset($_POST['contact'])) //if we clicked submit, start processing form
{
//check for required fields
/*
to require another field, copy paste the if statement and change the post value and error message.
if (empty($_POST['value'])) {
$error[]="Error message here";
}
*/
if (empty($_POST['name'])) {
$error[]="Please enter your name.";
}
if (empty($_POST['email'])) {
$error[]="Please enter a valid email address.";
}
if (empty($_POST['comments'])) {
$error[]="Please enter your comments or suggestions.";
}
//clean up fields - we are removing all html from the fields
$name = cleanForm($_POST['name']);
$email = $_POST['email'];
$title = cleanForm($_POST['title']);
$company = cleanForm($_POST['company']);
$address = cleanForm($_POST['address']);
$city = cleanForm($_POST['city']);
$state = cleanForm($_POST['state']);
$zip = cleanForm($_POST['zip']);
$comments = cleanForm($_POST['comments']);
//create message
$message = "
name - $name
email - $email
title - $title
company - $company
address - $address, $city, $state $zip
comments - $comments
";
$headers = "From: $email\r\n"; //show mail as being sent from sender, and not localhost
//check for errors during processing. if no errors, send email
if(isset($error)){
$required="<span class=\"form_required\">*</span>";
print"<div class=\"form_error\">";
foreach($error as $line){
print "$line<br />";
}
print"</div>";
}else{
mail($mailto, $subject, $message, $headers);
print"<h1>Thanks $name, your message has been recieved.</h1>";
$showform=false;
}
}
if($showform == true)//if form is true, show the contact form
{
?>
<form action="" method="post" enctype="multipart/form-data">
<table>
<tr>
<td align="right"><?=$required?>Name: </td>
<td><input type="text" name="name" value="<?=$_POST['name']?>" /></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="right">Title: </td>
<td><input type="text" name="title" value="<?=$_POST['title']?>" /></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="right">Company: </td>
<td><input type="text" name="company" value="<?=$_POST['company']?>" /></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="right">Address: </td>
<td><input type="text" name="address" value="<?=$_POST['address']?>" /></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="right">City: </td>
<td><input type="text" name="city" value="<?=$_POST['city']?>" /></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="right">State: </td>
<td><input type="text" name="state" value="<?=$_POST['state']?>" /></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="right">Zip: </td>
<td><input type="text" name="zip" value="<?=$_POST['zip']?>" /></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="right"><?=$required?>Email:</td>
<td><input name="email" type="text" value="<?=$_POST['email']?>" /></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="right"><?=$required?>Questions or comments: </td>
<td><textarea name="comments" rows="10" cols="40"><?=$_POST['comments']?></textarea></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td> </td>
<td><input type="submit" name="contact" value=" Contact Us " /></td>
</tr>
</table>
</form>
<?php
}
?>