A way for users to put information into a computer system.
50
votes
7answers
2k views
Auto capitalization of name input fields
Is it appropriate to add auto capitalization on input fields where the user has to add first or last name text?
44
votes
13answers
2k views
Best UI to allow expert users to enter an ip address? (IPv4)
I am working on a web application which requires users to enter an IPv4 address (in dotted-quad decimal notation) for most of the primary tasks they need to perform. Our primary target "user" is a ...
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 ...
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 ...
25
votes
17answers
5k views
Form for inputting operating hours of a business
I am designing an interface where restaurants need to input their operating hours. I am thinking of using a slider control for timings for a single day, and then let the user choose days of the week ...
22
votes
11answers
4k views
Better way for users to select a date range
In my application, users select a date range for which results are required. The UI looks something like this:
My users don't like this, because the date picker requires them to select a specific ...
21
votes
5answers
784 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?
19
votes
7answers
2k views
Best way to offer a large amount of selectable options (without using Javascript)?
I come from stackoverflow and have no answers for this one, so I turn to the UI guys for assistance.
Let's say I have a library application that allows a user (librarian) to add a book to the ...
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 ...
16
votes
10answers
2k views
Is it a good idea to enforce a minimum comment length?
In a social application focusing on a niche community where the level of comment quality matters, is it a good idea to enforce a minimum comment length?
For example, see this set of comments on a ...
14
votes
2answers
283 views
When should auto-correction occur?
I was using MS Excel and a question arose concerning input auto-correction: when is the right time for it?
Some context first: as I'm in France the comma (,) is used as decimal separator. Thus when I ...
13
votes
8answers
1k views
App interface for changing relational percentages
Has anyone ever seen or used a good app interface (web or mobile) for changing relational percentages? E.g I need to change 3 amounts to make up £100 and I need to be able to use any permutation to do ...
13
votes
5answers
1k views
Appended and Prepended Checkbox: when can I use this?
A was taking a look at Twitter Bootstrap, and, looking at the Prepended and Appended checkboxes, just cant figure out where, why and when I can use it.
Can someone give me a good example?
13
votes
4answers
401 views
When is it a good idea to perform actions on mouse-down *as opposed to click/mouse-up*?
I've grown used to the GUI paradigm of pre-select on mouse-down, action on mouse-up. In fact, I rely on it, sometimes canceling an unwanted action after mouse-down by dragging outside of the click ...
12
votes
5answers
1k views
Credit Card input format
Somewhere, in one of the Usability books I read ( probably Donald Norman ), there was a suggestion that the normal format for entering credit cards was wrong. The usual format is 16 characters in a ...
12
votes
6answers
444 views
Does the use of a WYSIWYG editor by itself improve the UX?
As someone with a lot of background writing low-level software, I've always felt a strong dislike for WYSIWYGs such as CKEditor or TinyMCE in the browser. To me they are mostly problematic, as they ...
12
votes
5answers
1k views
How do I elegantly limit text area input by size not by character count.
I am building a web app that requires user input of text and images to be placed on a PDF page which will later be printed as a letter. This page will have a specified area for text and a specified ...
11
votes
4answers
150 views
Should you optimize mobile experiences based on individual handedness?
In abbood's question "How to implement a stack exchange style voting for mobile?" he answers his own question with the following mock-up:
My immediate thought was that the up-vote control was on ...
10
votes
5answers
359 views
What would be the best way to let a user add a URL to a form?
Currently our webapplication simply shows a textbox with no validation at all.
There is a small icon placed next to the textbox that allows the user to open the URL in a new browser window to check ...
10
votes
3answers
439 views
Best way to combine sign in and sign up in the same form?
I want both forms to be extremely simple - sign in much like facebook in the header with 3 inputs side by side - email, password then "sign in" (or is "log in" better?).
I also want to USE THE SAME ...
10
votes
7answers
466 views
How to mark an input field with text longer than its width?
Given a form with many input fields, some have long text which exceeds the input field width. I wish to mark those input fields in some way which indicates they have more text than is visible.
I have ...
10
votes
3answers
411 views
FORMS: When to use dropdowns, and when to use dynamic lists?
Interesting that I couldn't find a discussion of this already.
When should we use dropdown selects, and when should we use dynamic lists (updated as you type) in web forms?
My opinion:
Dropdowns ...
9
votes
5answers
615 views
UI Lag: What's considered “smooth”?
I'm building a drawing application that let's users annotate images and diagrams in a freehand style.
Not unlike a glorified MS Paint program, but there is heavy background processing going on.
...
9
votes
5answers
489 views
Progressive Validation and Disclosure
I am trying to find an example of progressive validation. We have a UI for a a visual editor where a user does things like indicate dimensions in pixels or percent.
The editor properties are in sets ...
9
votes
2answers
117 views
Asking for multiple postal addresses
I need to design an intuitive form to get one or more (current and previous) postal addresses.
I have created a quick mockup of the current idea
When a user clicks 'add another address' the idea ...
8
votes
5answers
628 views
What is the best way to display date validation errors?
I am performing date validation on several forms. This validation includes making sure a date does not fall on a weekend, does not fall on a major holiday, is at least 3 business days from the current ...
8
votes
4answers
211 views
Submit textbox input without button
The users have a table and in the last row they have 6 different text inputs, one per column.
This inputs will define a variable in the Database.
I am trying to think how can I do it to avoid ...
8
votes
3answers
274 views
Using Dropdowns AND Radio Buttons to avoid confusion
For you reference I wanted to point out that this is a Video project.
I am designing a menu in which the user can choose 1 of 4 formats for SD (standard definition) and two options for HD (high ...
8
votes
5answers
288 views
Best way to add an amount multiplier
I'm working on a financial web-application, and in some pages, the user has to fill an amount. We are dealing here with large amounts, and they are generally thousands or millions of $ / €.
In ...
8
votes
3answers
98 views
Showing sub check boxes on a form?
I have a form where I have a group of check boxes that are only applicable if a 'master' check box is ticked. At the moment, when the check box isn't ticked it looks like this:
When the text box is ...
8
votes
3answers
279 views
How can I provide a simple dialog for a user to enter multiple email addresses (for invitations)?
I'm creating a dialog (modal) that asks the user to enter multiple email addresses to which an item on the website is shared to. The dialog is about 530x500 pixels big.
Right now I'm asking the user ...
7
votes
7answers
216 views
Will the future absence of the physical keyboard hurt the desktop User Experience? [closed]
With so many future UI designs focusing on 3-dimensional, hands-on interfaces, it appears clear that the physical keyboard is going to soon be obsolete.
(i.e., John Underkoffler's presentation)
...
7
votes
6answers
640 views
Wizard or Tab ?
When I want to make an input dialog with lots of input field, do I need make the dialog in wizard style
or tab style?
Any suggestions?
7
votes
5answers
659 views
Best way to accept user input of multiple numbers?
I am building a (very) small WPF app that needs to accept user input in the form of a series of numbers.
The user will be entering anywhere from 1-30 numbers (all 6 digit numbers) and then clicking ...
7
votes
5answers
264 views
Usability of an email field without label “email”
Does it make sense to a user that this field is for email only?
Or is it confusing?
7
votes
4answers
327 views
Background images in input boxes
I have been experimenting with right aligned background image treatments in input boxes for the web lately. Are there any rules of thumb for this type of implementation?
Is it considered great ...
7
votes
3answers
197 views
How will multi-touch computer design impact the future of User Experience? [closed]
Today I came across a video for a multi-touch, large screen user interface prototype, designed by a company called "Second Story" in Portland, Oregon. I am excited about the direction this will go. I ...
7
votes
3answers
257 views
What is the best interaction pattern for entering a range on a mobile phone?
I have a mobile application where I need to filter a list by a range. (Imagine a dating app where you want to filter people by age). How should one design the range picker?
A person should be able to ...
7
votes
2answers
92 views
Display input text that exceed input width
I'm having some issues when the user types extensive text in a small input field.
I need some good way to display data that will be cut off.
I tried to use a Bootstrap based Tooltip or Popover on ...
7
votes
2answers
196 views
Allowing user to input a constrained value
I need to allow users to enter a number between X (minimum number) and Y (maximum number). X and Y will have different values depending on the specific client set-up of the tool. These values could be ...
6
votes
4answers
812 views
Any usability studies on password strength meters?
I put together a password strength meter for a signup form, and overall it works very well. It hooks into our DB for the "rules" (number of characters required, mix of letters and numbers, etc.), and ...
6
votes
3answers
220 views
Are extensive validations necessary on mundane input forms in a website?
I'm having a rather bitter affair with my client who also happens to be my boss at office. He is a completely non-technical dumb muggle in terms of application development. The frustrating thing is ...
6
votes
4answers
176 views
How to unobtrusively confirm a user's choice in a survey?
I'm running a survey on students to collect their feedback of the courses of study they've undertaken in a college.
They have to answer the same question for every course they study. There are some ...
6
votes
2answers
127 views
Is there any research into the cost of switching between using a keyboard and a mouse?
My intuition and own experience tells me keyboard shortcut keys can be faster than using the mouse. However, some tasks like browsing the internet or a folder hierarchy truly benefit from using a ...
6
votes
4answers
2k views
Best Web UI for Large Amounts of Data Input
I'm looking for a good solution when users need to enter large amounts of data into a web application.
Example
A store owner wants to enter 30-40
new products into the system every
month. The ...
6
votes
2answers
117 views
Numeric data input in a web based scientific software
(Note: I'm more a backend developer, so please forgive my lack of UX terminologies. Don't hesitate to edit the text or the tags)
We are working on an online scientific software with specific ...
6
votes
3answers
381 views
What problems could arise from displaying a label inside a textbox during data entry?
Just made the finishing touches on a new technique I developed for using a label in a textbox.
Here is the live demonstration: http://powabunga.nfshost.com/bestform/
There were a few things I was ...
5
votes
4answers
293 views
Least obstructive text input boxes within text
I have some text with many text input boxes. I have been told (more than once) that the input boxes make the text hard to read.
What I have done is available at wikilearner.net/wiki
Do you ...
5
votes
6answers
498 views
Recomendation for choosing a start date / month
I've got a few forms on my web app that require a start date, which is always the first of a month. Currently i'm using the jQuery date picker plugin that disables every day of the month except the ...
5
votes
5answers
1k views
Dealing with Area Codes in Phone Number fields
Ok so I know a similar(ish) question has been asked before re: friendly format for Phone Numbers.
My question however focuses on a more specific part of this question, namely the 'dropped' first zero ...
