I'm re-engineering a registration form on a client's site that is primarily targeted at UK users only. The site provides a post-code look up for easy identification of the end user's postal address. However, not wanting to completely alienate users from outside of the UK, there is a need to gather the country of origin for these edge case users.
In this situation, these users would activate a check-box to reveal a drop-down field containing a list of countries.
Where best to position this check-box? We have considered two options. The first is to place this check-box directly under the text fields where the user enters their postcode (see below)
This feels the most natural but there is a slight concern that such positioning breaks up the natural flow of filling the form. Also, it may be an element of the form users will feel they have to enter - or at least invest some time in reading despite not being of concern to the majority of them.
The observant among you will have notice the 'help' bubble to the right hand side of the image. As the user traverses through the various sections of the form, these 'bubbles' are revealed to inform the user what is needed to be entered and to reassure them what the data is used for. The alternative position for the check box is in the top-right-hand corner of the section as detailed in the screen below
Whilst this solution solves our concern over flow of form entry, it raises some thoughts that it may well be missed by those who need it and, as such, frustrate the end user.
Are we being overly sensitive to have issues with the first option, or is the solution just creating additional more difficult problems?