// A function for validating all fields within a form.
  // The form argument should be a reference to a form element
  // The load argument should be a boolean referring to the fact that
  // the validation function is being run on page load, versus dynamically
  function validateForm( form, load ) {
      var valid = true;
  
      // Go through all the field elements in form
      // form.elements is an array of all fields in a form
      for ( var i = 0; i < form.elements.length; i++ ) {
  
          // Hide any error messages, if they're being shown
          hideErrors( form.elements[i] );
  
          // Check to see if the field contains valid contents, or not
          if ( ! validateField( form.elements[i], load ) )
              valid = false;
  
      }
  
      // Return false if a field does not have valid contents
      // true if all fields are valid
      return valid;
  }
  
  // Validate a single field's contents
  function validateField( elem, load ) {
      var errors = [];
  
      // Go through all the possible validation techniques
      for ( var name in errMsg ) {
          // See if the field has the class specified by the error type
          var re = new RegExp("(^|\\s)" + name + "(\\s|$)");$// Check to see if  the element has the class and that it passes the
          // validatino test
          if ( re.test( elem.className ) && !errMsg[name].test( elem, load ) )
              // If it fails the validation, add the error message to list
              errors.push( errMsg[name].msg );
      }
  
      // Show the error messages, if they exist
      if ( errors.length )
          showErrors( elem, errors );
  
      // Return false if the field fails any of the validation routines
      return errors.length > 0;
  }