Is it a good idea to have forms in a dialog/modal lightbox?

Question

I am working on a banking application ( banker will be the end user ) where the user is required to fill several forms across the application to add various customer details, and as per the framework that we have, all the forms open in a lightbox dialog with no background interaction on click of a button.

Is this an ideal user experience ? Or navigating to a different page ( within the same workspace or context area ) would be a better approach ?

Need some insights on this. Would be great if an example of some application can also be attached.

Thanks !!

Answer 1

The rule for lightboxes is that they should focus the user's attention on a single task or decision, and the user shouldn't need to engage with anything else on the screen outside of the modal window. If either of those conditions are not the case, it's better to use modeless overlays (think of the way you compose an email in Gmail) or just take the user to another page.

Answer 2

Seems to me like using (Material) Steppers that slides horizontally within a single modal dialog could help your users.

Numbered steppers helps with retention since users have an understanding of the different steps ahead of them to complete their task. Also if the validation is executed at a submit buttons that comes after multiple steps, errors hidden in previous (red) identified Stepper will help.