What are the best practices for handling form data in PHP to ensure compatibility with users who have JavaScript disabled?

When handling form data in PHP to ensure compatibility with users who have JavaScript disabled, it's important to validate the data on the server-side to prevent malicious input and ensure data integrity. One way to achieve this is by using PHP's built-in functions like filter_input() or filter_var() to sanitize and validate form inputs before processing them.

// Example of handling form data in PHP with server-side validation

// Check if form is submitted
if ($_SERVER["REQUEST_METHOD"] == "POST") {
    // Sanitize and validate form data
    $name = filter_input(INPUT_POST, 'name', FILTER_SANITIZE_STRING);
    $email = filter_input(INPUT_POST, 'email', FILTER_VALIDATE_EMAIL);
    
    // Check if data is valid
    if ($name && $email) {
        // Process form data
        // e.g. save to database, send email, etc.
    } else {
        // Handle validation errors
        echo "Invalid form data. Please check your inputs.";
    }
}