Form validation

Form validation

Hi, I'm newbie on jQuery, I need to validate a form I have tried to do :
  1. jQuery(document).ready(function() {
  2.     jQuery("#submit_btn").click(function() { 
  3.         //get input field values
  4.         var user_name       = jQuery('input[name=name]').val(); 
  5.         var user_email      = jQuery('input[name=email]').val();
  6.       
  7.         var user_message    = jQuery('textarea[name=message]').val();
  8.         
  9.         //simple validation at client's end
  10.         //we simply change border color to red if empty field using .css()
  11.               var proceed = true;
  12.               if (user_name == "") {
  13.            $('input[name=name]').css('border-color','red'); 
  14.             proceed = false;
  15.         }
  16.        if(user_email==""){ 
  17.             $('input[name=email]').css('border-color','red'); 
  18.             proceed = false;
  19.         }
  20.      
  21.         if(user_message=="") {  
  22.             $('textarea[name=message]').css('border-color','red'); 
  23.             proceed = false;
  24.         }

  25.         //everything looks good! proceed...
  26.         if(proceed) 
  27.         {
  28.             //data to be sent to server
  29.             post_data = {'userName':user_name, 'userEmail':user_email, 'userMessage':user_message};
  30.             
  31.             //Ajax post data to server
  32.           jQuery.post('contact_me.php', post_data, function(response){  

  33.                 //load json data from server and output message     
  34. if(response.type == 'error')
  35. {
  36. output = '<div class="error">'+response.text+'</div>';
  37. }else{
  38.    output = '<div class="success">'+response.text+'</div>';
  39. //reset values in all input fields
  40. jQuery('#contact_form input').val(''); 
  41. jQuery('#contact_form textarea').val(''); 
  42. }
  43. jQuery("#result").hide().html(output).slideDown();
  44.             }, 'json');
  45.         }
  46.     });
  47.     
  48.     //reset previously set border colors and hide all message on .keyup()
  49.     jQuery("#contact_form input, #contact_form textarea").keyup(function() { 
  50.       jQuery("#contact_form input, #contact_form textarea").css('border-color',''); 
  51.         jQuery("#result").slideUp();
  52.     });
  53.     });
The code work great if I define <fieldset> ...</fieldset>
but if I use <form>...</form> don't work, special the red border in the input box not are fixed like in the case of use <fieldset>

Many thanks for help
Vito