when and how best to give feedback to users about invalid entries in data they have provided.
52
votes
6answers
3k views
Preventing a user from pasting from the clipboard into a mandatory form field
In my online checkout process I, like many checkouts, have a field for the customer's email address along with a field to confirm the email address. They are both identical text boxes and accept email ...
47
votes
13answers
5k views
What is best practice for designing form error messages?
I've seen quite a lot of research on form design, but so far, I haven't come across any studies on error message design best practices. The only piece of advice seems to be that each error should ...
28
votes
9answers
3k views
Is a confirm email address field still considered a best practice?
Having an input field to confirm an email address is pretty standard. However, I would like to know if using a confirm email address field still considered a best practice.
The Email/Confirm email ...
21
votes
10answers
1k views
When client and server side validations occur, doesn't it make for a better UX to only do server validations?
I find a problem on the MVC4 project I am working on now, using Fluent Validation, in that some validations are delegated to the jQuery client side validation, while some, such as the NotNull rule for ...
20
votes
12answers
2k views
Should date validation allow “091011”?
Should I allow users to input the MMDDYY or MMDDYYYY format for a date?
That is, should any date validation logic not trigger a validation error if the user just wants to put in the numbers without ...
16
votes
5answers
668 views
Is it better to have an icon in front of validation messages?
As you can see in the above image, there is a validation icon in front of the text. This is unnecessary, but I thought it might be good to catch the eye.
If there is no icon, it's still clear ...
16
votes
3answers
975 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
6answers
3k views
How to mark required (and optional) fields in a form where some fields are NOT editable?
I have a form showing properties of an entity in a web app: some of the fields in the form are read-only and some are editable. Within the editable fields, some are required to be filled with a value ...
14
votes
6answers
1k views
Disabled submit button on form vs allow submit then show errors?
We have a few different forms as part of a web-based medical application. These forms have quite a few fields - 10-20 depending on the form. Each has at least 5 or so required fields. We currently ...
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 ...
14
votes
4answers
232 views
Is it ok to force a user to reenter data instead of editing existing
Is it acceptable to force users to delete and recreate data they entered incorrectly or should they be provided with a way to edit every instance of that particular data?
Use Case:
The wireframe ...
14
votes
8answers
453 views
Is it ok to change the (US) address input field order in favor of a pre-fill feature?
I am working on an international site that requires the user to enter his postal address. I am wondering if it makes sense to have a slightly different order of input fields in favor of a time saving ...
13
votes
7answers
959 views
Is it bad practice to mark a field as required but not really require it?
I have a customer who wants a form on his site to collect address information but does not want to lose customers who are reluctant to give that information.
Since many people are simply lazy about ...
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
6answers
530 views
How would you create and validate personas for something that is not a person
There are a few questions here about personas, and research methods that you might use in order to create them, (some of which I've answered at length). Examples include:
What research methods can I ...
10
votes
7answers
928 views
Reasonable character limit for a comment field on a site feedback form?
I have a simple feedback form (see screenshot) on each page on a site. The user has to select whether the page was helpful or not (radio buttons yes/no) and there is also a text area input where the ...
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 ...
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 ...
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
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 ...
8
votes
2answers
94 views
Why do most Create Account forms clear the password fields upon wrong validation? [duplicate]
In most Create Account forms that I've used, when you enter in something wrong (username not long enough, passwords don't match, invalid email, etc.), it'll keep all the fields but erase the password ...
8
votes
2answers
539 views
Generic clientside form validation
I'm the author of the jQuery Form Validation plugin, which I started writing in 2006. Since then I've put quite some effort into improving the default interaction, without the developer using the ...
7
votes
5answers
2k views
Disabling submit-button until the user has completed the form
How do you think about disabling the submit-button until the user has completed the form or the required fields?
I find similar questions here on ux.se and somebody answered that the user will think ...
7
votes
2answers
73 views
Showing completion but not validation
I'm working on a wizard-esque form that will have multiple steps. I'd like to show that you've finished a step.
The catch is that we don't want to give the end-user the impression that the step is ...
7
votes
2answers
138 views
Does inline validation at login create a security risk or a perception of one?
When a user types their email address into a login form, I'd like to validate inline whether the email is associated with an account. The idea here is that, in the system in question, a large ...
6
votes
6answers
367 views
“Doesn't look like a valid…” versus “..is invalid”
I'm not designing anything at the moment but this thought popped into my head earlier. What do you think would be the pros/cons of wording validation errors as:
"This doesn't look like a valid phone ...
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
3answers
134 views
Is Successful Validation useful for step forms
We've been designing a registration form with 5 steps.
The form has many input fields, some required and some not.
The validation is client side and is represented with red text for errors.
I was ...
6
votes
2answers
88 views
Would it be good to only show invalid fields when showing input errors?
It occurred to me that it might be a clever idea to only show the fields with problems when a user makes a mistake on a form. This would be server-side validation, with the assumption that there is ...
5
votes
4answers
378 views
How do we validate our persona?
When we pursue our goal of ease of use for our users we sometimes use personas to test or guide our designs. And that’s all good – because it gives us a feeling of how a user would interpret the ...
5
votes
4answers
230 views
In-Line Form Validation - Checking for numbers in a persons Forename / Surname field
If a user enters numerics in their Forename / Surname field should this trigger the validation - the same as would occur if Alpha characters were entered in a Phone Number field?
I would suggest that ...
5
votes
2answers
165 views
Validation message review about using ! and using short, direct messages
Is is appropriate to put '!' at the end of validation message?
It is good to use short and direct message such as "xxx required" or "Enter xxx" right ?
5
votes
4answers
370 views
Should URL input fields automatically prepend http:// if the user leaves it off?
If I ask a user for a URL, and they type in something like 'www.google.com', should I assume they meant http://www.google.com?
5
votes
5answers
188 views
What alternatives to calendars exist for inputing dates on websites?
Inputing dates is going through changes on the internet, and in web/user interface design as well.
Currently, I'm implementing <input type="date">, as this provides excellent usability on mobile ...
4
votes
3answers
196 views
Norton Safe Web Verification — Impact on User
I have a client who insists on getting their website validated by Norton Security Verification and displaying the seal. However, I am skeptic and do not trust Norton products. I recall an impression ...
4
votes
5answers
419 views
Should we use “please” for validation messages for e-commerce applications
When we build an e-commerce application (most probably a web application), input validation is one of the core concepts of these type of applications. When the validation fails, we need to provide a ...
4
votes
3answers
184 views
validation message placement
Is it better to have the validation message next to the label or the control?
download bmml source – Wireframes created with Balsamiq Mockups
Update:
To be clear, I'm not referring to ...
4
votes
3answers
121 views
When should feedback be in-page and when should feedback be a separate screen?
I've seen feedback/confirmation on a separate screen for example when the user has submitted a form. Then the next screen they see: "congratulations you have successfully..."
Then on other occasions ...
4
votes
2answers
128 views
Validating Phonewords/Vanity Numbers
I am redesigning a system where the user can enter various contact details for associates via a personal details form.
In this form there is a phone number input field.
After a phone number is ...
4
votes
4answers
502 views
UI for multi-select with at-least-one requirement?
I have a field for which the user may select multiple responses, and is likely to be implemented as a drop-down with checkboxes. The user can select one, two, or many from the list of options. We're ...
4
votes
1answer
591 views
What are the best practices of designing a validation message on an iPhone App?
I am working on designing an iPhone app and I need to know which validation message style is the most recommended for the forms included.
I don't prefer to use a pop up window i need something that ...
4
votes
3answers
72 views
Limiting user input - beneficial or user annoyance?
I am coming up with my project's validation framework, including preventative error handling. I have been debating as to whether I should limit user input to prevent errors in cases such as prices or ...
4
votes
1answer
86 views
Survey builder - How to handle users navigating away from questions in invalid states
I'm building an internal survey tool similar to SurveyTalent where users have a panel to edit questions.
I have a requirement to make the question and however many visble answers required.
What ...
3
votes
2answers
432 views
Mark input in forms as required even if all input is mandatory?
I looked up many questions and answers here regarding labeling mandatory input fields. The de facto standard is an asterisk * to mark input as required. Also the common approach is to mark the ...
3
votes
2answers
110 views
Automatically limiting or correcting numeric input field values
The application interface I am working on has an slider to select a number, but offers a text input field next to it. This allows reading the currently selected value, but also supports keyboard ...
3
votes
3answers
123 views
Are user able to accurately identify their persona? Or should the be able to?
We are currently developing Personas for our website and as part of the validation process we wanted to see if usability participants would be able to identify which persona segment they most closely ...
3
votes
1answer
42 views
Describing how to copy an email message to clipboard, visit site, and paste it into textarea?
A customer buys a product from an online store and receives an order confirmation email. My company receives commission for having referred that customer.
We want to pay a bonus to the shopper (i.e. ...
3
votes
2answers
88 views
How to indicate required fields in columns in a table?
In a form indicating which fields are required are often indicated by a asterisk (*). How should I indicate that a column in an editable table contains required fields?
One of the options is to add a ...
3
votes
3answers
71 views
Cross validation messages should be symmetric or asymmetric?
Lets let that there is a form in a popup window which contains the properties that are configurable for a chart and as you go on changing the values for the properties the underlying chart is ...
3
votes
2answers
135 views
Does requiring manual entry with verification, as opposed to selection from a list of options, reduce data entry errors?
My apologies if this question is best suited for another SE site; I looked around and this seemed to be the best fit.
The answer to the question will hopefully be a link or cite research.
I am being ...
