Forms are generally used to retrieve user input such as text, selected radio button, selected checkboxes and actions like pushing a button
121
votes
23answers
13k views
OK/Cancel on left/right?
Should OK button be on left of Cancel button or vice versa?
Are there any studies suggesting either of the solutions?
19
votes
1answer
1k views
On forms, is inline placeholder text better than a label outside each field?
I am familiar with research on label placement to the left or above. I tend to go with right justified with the label to the left of the field for my form designs.
However, inline placeholder text ...
207
votes
12answers
36k views
Should I use Yes/No or Ok/Cancel on my message box?
Semantically, the Yes/No buttons are roughly equivalent to the Ok/Cancel buttons, but in general what would you recommend to use? Should I always use Yes/No or always use Ok/Cancel? Or does it depend ...
18
votes
10answers
4k views
What's the best way to highlight a Required field on a web form before submission?
This seems subjective, and it is; a client of mine would like me to highlight the required fields on the web forms in their application with a red asterisk, and I'm looking for an alternative since ...
29
votes
8answers
4k views
Is a cancel button necessary in a web form?
Personally I have never used it. I don't put information in a form and then decide everything needs to be cleared. I would edit one field.
Plus cancel in a UI suggests canceling an action which is in ...
32
votes
8answers
2k views
How much information should you ask for when users register?
So the company wants all the information it can get on the users of its site, but how much should be asked for upon registration?
On one hand, it would be easier for the users to enter only personal ...
10
votes
6answers
2k views
How do you indicate progress to users in a multi-step form?
What do you think of the following form design which I've prepared?
there's a progress bar in the top
on the right side the steps are listed, and every time the current state is indicated by ...
11
votes
7answers
1k views
“Sign Up” vs “Create an Account”
Which pick is better for a service? Especially if I would like the website to resemble American style.
Gmail and Dropbox say: "Sign In or create an account"
Yahoo says: "Sign In. New here? Sign ...
52
votes
16answers
4k views
Do you need a search button with a search box?
On websites with a search box, should you add a button they can click on, or will users understand a search box like on this site?
The target group is not very technical, such as women aged 40-60.
21
votes
6answers
7k views
What should be the default option of a required dropdown list?
Given that there is no logically default animal from the list of animals below, what should be the "Default Value" below, according to best practice?
<label for="animal">Animal ...
3
votes
3answers
778 views
Should edit details form be in a modal dialog or directly on the page?
I'm building a site that users can login and register on and on the Account Page I am implementing the Edit Details form. My question is, what would be best: the form be right in the page or in a pop ...
143
votes
18answers
33k views
Is this rotating cube interface user-friendly?
I'm working on a prototype for an innovative form interface, where different parts of the form are shown on different sides of a cube. The cube rotates, and the user can fill it out as the cube spins. ...
23
votes
4answers
2k views
Studies showing that the more form fields there are the less conversions you will get
Same old story really; another client is requesting that they need x number of fields on their Contact Us form, and no amount of explaining that less=more will suffice without providing objective ...
8
votes
3answers
576 views
Design recommendation for a button
I have a form in which the user requests a report to the system by clicking the Send Report Request button. The system then produces scheduled reports according to the interval the user selected ...
77
votes
8answers
6k views
Why might right aligned field labels be better?
For the longest time, I've used left-aligned labels in my forms, like this:
I did this because I thought having the labels left aligned made it easier for readers to scan the list of labels.
...
31
votes
8answers
2k views
Merging firstname/last name into one field
I am entertaining the notion of a single field for name entry on our scheduling web app. I think this is an excellent case for a "forgiving format" to make it easy to enter their names quickly.
I ...
27
votes
11answers
4k views
Most User-Friendly Form Fields for Entering Date/Time?
What are the different ways to have fields in an application for date, time, or both? What are the pros and cons for each?
The most common seem to be a combination of 2–3 drop-downs, or some form ...
19
votes
3answers
2k views
Input form label alignment top or left?
Although I have researched on input form label alignment, I need solid suggestion on when to use form label alignment top and when to use left and why?
For example in the below form username and ...
28
votes
10answers
1k views
Should you place the “add a comment” form above or below the list of comments?
There seems to be very little consistency across most sites when it comes to placing the comment form.
Which do you think is the most usable, above the comments list or below?
Above the list:
...
15
votes
5answers
675 views
How can I deal with diverse gender identities in user profiles?
I'm trying to work out the wording for (preferably) a gender dropdown in a user profile of a site I'm working on. I want to be inclusive of people who don't gender orient to either male or female ( ...
8
votes
5answers
488 views
Where should form instructions or hints be placed?
I was browsing Forrst and came about a screenshot of a form designed with Twitter Bootstrap that had the label on the left, the input field on the right, and the instruction that it's required under ...
13
votes
4answers
662 views
Common pattern for “multiple fields, at least one required”
Clearly the asterisk is a popular web standard for identifying unconditionally required fields.
But what if any one field out of several is required? For example, there are separate fields for home ...
5
votes
3answers
1k views
How to organize a form with many fields?
Where I work, we have a system that has a screen with several fields. There are approximately 50 fields and all are important and should appear.
//edited in gimp :D
Any suggestions on how to ...
4
votes
4answers
976 views
Usability of hiding the submit button (and using the enter key to submit)
More and more commonly, I find that websites elect to hide or remove the submit button from forms. One obvious example is this site (along with other StackExchange sites), whose search field lacks a ...
14
votes
3answers
408 views
Should first and last name be formatted?
When collecting first and last name from users, should the name be formatted if it will be shown to the user again?
Example: BILL is formatted to Bill
It seem almost impossible to account for all ...
10
votes
6answers
2k views
Hide or disable form options? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Don't hide or disable menu items?
On a create/edit form, where the options available to the end user will depend on their previous input, in order to give the user ...
5
votes
3answers
378 views
Why are primary/call-to-action buttons usually plain blue?
I understand the reasoning for using blue in general, for backgrounds, etc...
What I'm asking about is the blue in twitter bootstrap framework and other similar frameworks. It seems to become a sort ...
4
votes
4answers
549 views
edit & save buttons - do I need them? where to place them?
I'm designing a simple app for the Android platform.
I have a page with some data, this page can be reached by two options:
create new page- input fields are empty
edit existing page- input fields ...
2
votes
5answers
464 views
Form layout. Vertical Labels vs Horizontal Labels. Images inside
After reading
http://www.lukew.com/ff/entry.asp?1502
and
http://www.uxmatters.com/mt/archives/2006/07/label-placement-in-forms.php
Placing labels above input fields is preferable, but if you choose to ...
17
votes
7answers
2k views
What makes a good form?
I've recently been given the challenge to create a preferably 'fun and engaging'-form, consisting of about 40-50 fields. The form consists of four parts, Employee-contact-info, Employment-description, ...
24
votes
14answers
4k views
How Yes or No Questions Should be Represented in Forms
This question started out on the Pro Webmasters SE. See: http://webmasters.stackexchange.com/q/8578/1847
I am a web developer. My designer gave me a mock-up of a web form. In it, there are several ...
14
votes
1answer
4k views
Why is it inaccessible to create a form with no submit button?
Considering the W3C advice on including submit controls, is it still possible for a form to be accessible if the only way to submit it is by pressing the return/enter key?
21
votes
5answers
779 views
Auto Advance to Next Field
When is it appropriate to 'auto advance' from one text field to the next, as in phone numbers and SSN?
16
votes
3answers
968 views
Character limits on fields - pros and cons and best practices?
Some of our form fields have character limits. We're debating whether we should reflect the current size of data entry, or to simply hard-limit and inhibit data entry beyond that size.
In HTML, ...
14
votes
7answers
684 views
Login / Sign-Up as one form [closed]
Has anyone seen any good examples of a basic form (e-mail / password) that a site uses for both existing users to login and for new members to start a registration process?
Yes, I'm thinking ...
6
votes
2answers
479 views
Should the cursor change to pointer over radio buttons, checkboxes, their labels and selects?
I always do so because to me it feels nicer; it implies an action will happen on click. Especially for radio/checkbox labels, where the for attribute is correctly used.
This is not the default ...
13
votes
7answers
1k views
Disable the save button until changes are made?
We have a list of complicated things, which the user can click on to get a new view in which they can edit all the details stored for that thing.
The edit view already has a Cancel exit mechanism ...
11
votes
4answers
1k views
Is there a recommended location for a submit button in relation to a cancel on the web?
On the web, is there a recommended location for the submit (Go, Search, Submit, etc) button in relation to the cancel, reset or back button? I'm thinking the recommended positions makes it easiest for ...
8
votes
4answers
467 views
How do I handle secondary navigation within a wizard-style form that will work for touch screens?
I am working on redesigning the UI for a Web app that registers users for something work-related (so my audience is captive). One of the main reasons for the redesign is to make it mobile-friendly; I ...
6
votes
3answers
257 views
Placement of delete button on form
I have a form which edits a flight, and it should be possible to delete them. I have considered putting a delete button in the index page, which lists all the flights, but the table rows are clickable ...
5
votes
5answers
488 views
Forgotten Passwords - is there a real benefit to asking for memorable password hints on signup?
On several signup forms I see fields such as "Choose your Memorable Password Question". Is this actually benifical nowadays? Surely a more secure method if someone forgets their password is to build a ...
13
votes
4answers
270 views
What's the Best Interface for Entering Canadian Postal Codes on a Smartphone Keyboard?
Typical smartphone keyboards are modal. There is usually a basic QWERTY/Basic punctuation keyboard by default that can be switched to numeric/extended punctuation mode.
This works reasonably well ...
10
votes
4answers
342 views
How to tell the user that an input box is autocomplete-enabled?
Is there a good graphical sign which tells the user that a particular field on the page is autocomplete enabled?
For instance, the field name says "Document author". When you start typing in that ...
8
votes
1answer
186 views
Should I allow users to select a valid but disqualifying option?
I'm working on an application form where a user must be 18 years or older to apply.
Should users be able to select years that would equate to them being younger than 18 or should I remove them from ...
5
votes
1answer
273 views
Unifying Search and Browse
I am working on a part of a website right now. Let's just call it a Map for now. Every user has a map, which displays his or her interests as images in a grid. Quite obviously, the user can add or ...
5
votes
1answer
292 views
Is a 'back' button needed on a web form?
I am re-designing a multi-page web form that currently contains 'back' and 'continue' buttons.
I am wondering -- is the 'back' button necessary? If the user wants to go back, they will know to use ...
14
votes
5answers
771 views
What are the best practices of button alignment?
There are reasons to align buttons to the left, center, or right. What are the best practices of button alignment and what factors should we consider? Which buttons should be on the left, center, and ...
12
votes
9answers
2k views
friendly format for Phone Numbers
Currently on my website users are required to input their phone number in a very specific format (555-555-5555). If you forget the dashes it breaks. Does anyone have a good suggestions for how to be ...
11
votes
4answers
716 views
Right-Click menu awareness on Web Application
The web application I am building has a custom right-click menu. I'm concerned that the user might not find this menu as normally right-clicking will only display the default browser's menu. Is there ...
10
votes
4answers
914 views
Better approach to blue/underlined for link?
We have a web application that allows users to query a database.
The results are returned in a breadcrumb style interface.
We brought this change in at a new version, and assumed it was ...
