4 ms·

Not everything is web development.

Etheryte 3y ago
That is fair, but I don't think it changes the outcome. The only way you can verify an email address is correct is to send a verification email. If you want to help the user ensure their input was what they intended, having two inputs for the same value is a better way to do that than a regex on a single field. As an example, my email is 20 chars long, the whole email regex thing only validates one or two of those 20 chars and doesn't help against typos in any way. In short, it's a lot of complexity without any real upside.
- ceejayoz 3y ago
  Imagine how fast this falls down when writing, say, an email client. There’s a place for validation.
  - Etheryte 3y ago
    What exactly changes when validating in an email client? foo@localhost, foo@bar and f@b are all valid email address and your user may want to send an email to those address. There is literally nothing there for you to validate.
    - ceejayoz 3y ago
      If you are writing Gmail no one is sending to foo@localhost. It’s a typo. (And you certainly don’t want to send every bcc a verification email they have to click on!)
      - Thiez 3y ago
        What are you talking about with the bcc thing? Generally you receive someones email address once, and then optionally verify. If you fill the To/Cc/Bcc fields from your address book, everything should be fine. If you insist on typing something yourself and you enter a wrong email address, it just doesn't arrive (or reaches another recipient, depending on the typo).
        ceejayoz 3y ago
        > What are you talking about with the bcc thing? That neither solution proposed upthread - double inputs, or a verification email - is as user-friendly as catching "oops you forgot a dot" validation on the field in an email client.
        Etheryte 3y ago
        I think you're wildly overestimating how useful that is compared to the complexity of the solution in the linked article. Mistyping a "," for a "." is as likely of a typo as typing "gnail" instead of "gmail". My personal email is over 20 characters long, and statistically nearly every typo I can make is something you simply can't check for. To put another way, as anecdotal experience I've encountered many forms online that won't accept my email address or phone or whathaveyou because of buggy validation. I can't recall when I mistyped my email, but surely it's possible I've done it at some point, however the difference is in the price I pay. If I mistype my email and don't get a confirmation email or w/e I can always try signing up again. However if I can't use the form because the validation is bugged there is no straightforward recourse I can take as a user.
        ceejayoz 3y ago
        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfect_is_the_enemy_of_good https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfect_is_the_enemy_of_good
        kartoffelmos 3y ago
        Except in this case "good" will fail to deliver emails to perfectly valid email addresses.
kwhitefoot 3y ago
What difference does that make?

That is fair, but I don't think it changes the outcome. The only way you can verify an email address is correct is to send a verification email. If you want to help the user ensure their input was what they intended, having two inputs for the same value is a better way to do that than a regex on a single field. As an example, my email is 20 chars long, the whole email regex thing only validates one or two of those 20 chars and doesn't help against typos in any way. In short, it's a lot of complexity without any real upside.

ceejayoz 3y ago
Imagine how fast this falls down when writing, say, an email client. There’s a place for validation.
- Etheryte 3y ago
  What exactly changes when validating in an email client? foo@localhost, foo@bar and f@b are all valid email address and your user may want to send an email to those address. There is literally nothing there for you to validate.
  - ceejayoz 3y ago
    If you are writing Gmail no one is sending to foo@localhost. It’s a typo. (And you certainly don’t want to send every bcc a verification email they have to click on!)
    - Thiez 3y ago
      What are you talking about with the bcc thing? Generally you receive someones email address once, and then optionally verify. If you fill the To/Cc/Bcc fields from your address book, everything should be fine. If you insist on typing something yourself and you enter a wrong email address, it just doesn't arrive (or reaches another recipient, depending on the typo).
      - ceejayoz 3y ago
        > What are you talking about with the bcc thing? That neither solution proposed upthread - double inputs, or a verification email - is as user-friendly as catching "oops you forgot a dot" validation on the field in an email client.
        Etheryte 3y ago
        I think you're wildly overestimating how useful that is compared to the complexity of the solution in the linked article. Mistyping a "," for a "." is as likely of a typo as typing "gnail" instead of "gmail". My personal email is over 20 characters long, and statistically nearly every typo I can make is something you simply can't check for. To put another way, as anecdotal experience I've encountered many forms online that won't accept my email address or phone or whathaveyou because of buggy validation. I can't recall when I mistyped my email, but surely it's possible I've done it at some point, however the difference is in the price I pay. If I mistype my email and don't get a confirmation email or w/e I can always try signing up again. However if I can't use the form because the validation is bugged there is no straightforward recourse I can take as a user.
        ceejayoz 3y ago
        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfect_is_the_enemy_of_good https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfect_is_the_enemy_of_good
        kartoffelmos 3y ago
        Except in this case "good" will fail to deliver emails to perfectly valid email addresses.

kwhitefoot 3y ago

What difference does that make?