function email_validation(form)
{
	if (form.email.value == '') 
	{
	    alert('Please enter your Email Address.');
	    form.email.style.background = 'Yellow';
	    form.email.focus();
	    return false;
	}
	
	form.email.style.background = 'White';
	
	function trim(s) // trims whitespace - called from var below
	{
		return s.replace(/^\s+|\s+$/, '');
	}
	
	var error="";
	var tfld = trim(form.email.value);    // value of field with whitespace trimmed off
	var emailFilter = /^[^@]+@[^@.]+\.[^@]*\w\w$/ ;
	var illegalChars= /[\(\)\<\>\,\;\:\\\"\[\]]/ ;
	
	if (!emailFilter.test(tfld)) //test email for illegal characters 
	{              
	    form.email.style.background = 'Yellow';
	    alert('Please enter a valid email address.');
		form.email.focus();
		return false;
	} 
	
	else if (form.email.value.match(illegalChars)) 
	{
	    form.email.style.background = 'Yellow';
	    alert('The email address contains illegal characters.');
		form.email.focus();
		return false;
	} 
	
	form.email.style.background = 'White';	 
	

	return true;
}