var blank = "\n\r\t ";

     function is_blank(field) {
         for (var i = 0; i < field.length; i++) {
             if (blank.indexOf(field.charAt(i)) == -1)
                 return false;
         }
         return true;
     }

     function validate(the_form) {
         var message = "";
         var empty = "";

         for(var i = 0; i < the_form.length; i++) {
             var field = the_form.elements[i];

             // IMPORTANT: the type property is not available in Netscape 2.0
             // or MSIE 3.0
             if (((field.type == "text")
                         || (field.type == "textarea")
                         || (field.type == "password"))
                     && field.mandatory) {
                 if ((field.value == null)
                         || (field.value == "")
                         || is_blank(field.value)) {
                     if (field.name == "email") {
                     	empty += "\n          Email Address";
                     } else if (field.name == "userword" ) {
                     	empty += "\n          Password";                                         
                     } else if (field.name == "reword" ) {
                     	empty += "\n          Re-enter Password";                                         
                     } else if (field.name == "lname" ) {
                     	empty += "\n          Last Name";                    
                     } else if (field.name == "fname" ) {
                     	empty += "\n          First Name";                    
                     } else if (field.name == "ssn" ) {
                     	empty += "\n          Social Insurance Number"; 
                     } else if (field.name == "Institute" ) {
                     	empty += "\n          Institution";                   
                     } else {
                     	empty += "\n          " + field.name;              
                     }
                 }
             }
         }
         if (!empty)
         {
         	return true;
         }

         if (empty) {
             message += "Please complete missing information below:"
                     + empty + "\n";
         }
         alert(message);
         return false;
     }