Gist jsFiddle Test

fiddle.css

input.required { background-color: #EDA }
label { width: 10em; float: left; }
label.error { float: none; color: red; padding-left: .5em; vertical-align: top; }

fiddle.html

  <form method="post" id="contactForm">
    <table>
      <tr>
        <td><label for="txtName">Name:</label></td><td><input type="text" class="required" name="txtName" id="txtName"/></td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td><label for="txtEmail">Email:</label></td><td><input type="text" class="required email" name="txtEmail" id="txtEmail"/></td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td>Phone Number:</td><td><input type="text" title="Phone" name="txtPhone" id="txtPhone"/></td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td colspan="2">Preferred contact method:</td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td colspan="2">
          <input type="radio" name="radioContactMethod" id="radioContactMethod" value="E" checked="checked" />Email 
          <input type="radio" name="radioContactMethod" id="radioContactMethod" value="P" disabled />Phone
        </td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td colspan="2">
          Notes:
        </td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td colspan="2">
          <textarea name="txtNotes"></textarea>
        </td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td><button onClick="$('#contactForm').validate();">Submit</button></td>
      </tr>
    </table>
  </form>

fiddle.js

$(document).ready(function(){
    $("#contactForm").validate();
  });

fiddle.manifest

 name: Demo
 description: Demo
 authors:
   - Jonathan Powell
 resources:
   - http://ajax.aspnetcdn.com/ajax/jquery.validate/1.9/jquery.validate.js
 normalize_css: no