Contract -- Form? Fax? E-mail? Snail Mail? Other?

Hello everybody,
Some web designers make a contract with thier clients, some do not. I personally
think that having a contract(which covers everything from copyright to
deadlines) is the way to go.
When I'm not in the same geographical area with my client how should the
contract be signed?

-One way to do it would be: send the contract with snail mail to the client, the
client signes it and sends it back. This, however, takes way too much time and
therefore is not an option.

-The second way would be to get the client to check a checkbox("I agree with
everything in this contract" or something like that) in a contract on my
website. This probably isn't the best way to go as I can't prove that I didn't
do anything with the database.

-The third way would be using e-mail. This option isn't also the best way to do
it as I could forge the e-mail. Yes, there are digital signature laws in some
countries, but not in all of them.

-Last option I could think of is FAX. The client prints out the contract from my
website, signes it and faxes it to me. This is the best way I could think of to
solve the problem.

Would the fax way survive a court-battle? Does anybody know better ways to do
it?


Thanks,
Lauri

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