> Even though that project is long in the past for me, I’m really curious how other people do this. Anyone come up with something better?
I've always gone the other way. Bland fields (Lines 1-4, city, state, postcode, country) or - when I didn't need to validate it, a textarea for free form entry.
Most of the time validation has been required by the shipping provider, so freeform hasn't been possible. As the shipping providers haven't got anything 'better', we stick to their format and field lengths (which are terrible for out-of-country addresses)
I've always gone the other way. Bland fields (Lines 1-4, city, state, postcode, country) or - when I didn't need to validate it, a textarea for free form entry.
Most of the time validation has been required by the shipping provider, so freeform hasn't been possible. As the shipping providers haven't got anything 'better', we stick to their format and field lengths (which are terrible for out-of-country addresses)