At least it helps if you don't block on empty fields then - I keep getting annoyed when sites demand I enter "state/province" for international shipping when my country doesn't have that concept.
Or demand that I enter 6-digit postal code when we only use 4. Or not being able to handle non-ASCII chars. And things like that - helping people is fine and useful, but blocking a user because you set up assumptions valid only for your locality is a huge annoyance.
If your country doesn't have the concept of separate city/country, (Singapore doesn't) - you can just enter "Singapore, Singapore, Singapore"
Or UK, London, London.
Totally agree that systems should not presume to known (often incorrectly) the format/content of such fields, outside of areas where they can. (I.E. Validating Postal Codes in regions like Canada, United States, etc..)
> I keep getting annoyed when sites demand I enter "state/province" for international shipping when my country doesn't have that concept.
And uses a select box of US states, so even if your country did have such a concept (and used it for mail, which may not be the case) you couldn't give it.
Yup, I’ve done that far too often, I even have a bookmark to a small script that just replaces the next input box I click on with a freeform text input.
Or demand that I enter 6-digit postal code when we only use 4. Or not being able to handle non-ASCII chars. And things like that - helping people is fine and useful, but blocking a user because you set up assumptions valid only for your locality is a huge annoyance.