Questions tagged [forms]
Forms are a collection of input fields and design patterns that collect and process different types of qualitative and quantitative data input from users. Can include the visible user interface components as well as the logic required for controlling aspects of its behavior such as form validation, data retrieval and storing of incomplete forms.
2,866
questions
449
votes
10
answers
190k
views
Why do credit card forms ask for Visa, MasterCard, etc.?
You can tell if it's a Visa or MasterCard based on the number it starts with, i.e. 4 for Visa, 5 for MasterCard. Why do most billing forms request the type of card?
It's not a barrier for bots (to my ...
- 4,013
412
votes
24
answers
193k
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?
- 4,523
365
votes
23
answers
91k
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. ...
- 5,308
345
votes
14
answers
92k
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 ...
- 3,502
184
votes
18
answers
261k
views
Why is it impossible to deselect HTML "radio" inputs?
In HTML, there are currently two types of "checkbox" style controls:
Checkbox: Allows toggling on/off, multiple values can be selected
Radio: Only one value in a group may be selected, does ...
user4487
160
votes
19
answers
67k
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 ...
- 10.4k
134
votes
8
answers
26k
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.
However,...
- 8,311
121
votes
10
answers
65k
views
Splitting credit card number fields into four different inputs
I have previously been using 4 fields for the credit card number, splitting up each set of 4 numbers to make it easier to enter.
I am now thinking about having one field, which inserts spaces after ...
- 2,373
109
votes
12
answers
35k
views
Should form 'Continue' button be disabled if validation is incomplete?
In forms we often see the 'continue' button inactive until all the required fields are complete:
download bmml source – Wireframes created with Balsamiq Mockups
Is this actually a help to the ...
JonW♦
- 37.5k
107
votes
11
answers
35k
views
What is better: yes / no radio, or simple checkbox?
In a very big form on my company's website, there's this tendency to use Yes / No radio buttons combination.
I can think of one argument of not using it, but it is not UX related: we need to ...
- 1,235
102
votes
5
answers
14k
views
Why do dialogs have grey backgrounds?
Most Windows/Mac/Linux dialogs I've seen have grey backgrounds. About-dialogs, settings pages, wizards, confirmation and error dialogs etc.
Is there a reason from a usability perspective or is this ...
- 3,736
101
votes
12
answers
35k
views
Removing placeholder text on focus
Chrome, Safari, and Firefox 15+ remove the placeholder text after the users first key press in the text input field.
Opera, IE, and Firefox 14 and below remove placeholder text immediately after ...
- 3,932
94
votes
12
answers
33k
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 ...
- 4,804
85
votes
16
answers
20k
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.
- 2,347
85
votes
10
answers
165k
views
What is the best UI for multi-selecting from a list?
We have a web form and one of the fields is a multi-select list. Our options are:
List of checkboxes
Listview (select box but allowing multi-select)
Both seem to be a bit ugly and unwieldy when the ...
- 1,361
82
votes
12
answers
23k
views
Should read-only text appear as plain text or in a read-only textbox?
Should I use labels for read-only information, or should I use read-only text boxes to maintain the look of the fields?
It seems to me that if something is in a textbox it implies there is some way ...
- 1,657
77
votes
13
answers
58k
views
What is the best way to deal with very complex forms?
I'm trying to give the best experience to users of a very huge system (like a CRM). It has a lot of forms and much of these have a lot of fields. My doubt is about if I should use a single column form ...
- 1,043
73
votes
9
answers
22k
views
Does a form with continuous save need a "Save" button?
I am designing a web-app with a lot of forms and i was wondering how to improve the filling.
The classical pattern is : fill, fill, fill, Save
Have you experimented a form which auto-save each field ...
- 7,613
72
votes
9
answers
42k
views
Dropdown vs radio button
User have to choose type of food (from 3 or 4 choices) in our application. Default selection is used in 60 - 70% of cases. What will be better: dropdown or radio buttons?
- 885
72
votes
13
answers
20k
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 ...
- 1,417
69
votes
11
answers
18k
views
Submit and Reset button, what's the best order?
In a form with a Submit and a Reset button and the end, what's the best order for the user experience ?
Submit first ?
Or Reset first ?
- 3,134
68
votes
19
answers
44k
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 ...
- 4,653
67
votes
10
answers
25k
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 ...
64
votes
21
answers
24k
views
Boolean switch with a third state
Note: everyone has seemed to have misunderstood this question. Literally, everyone. I am not creating some sign-up form, I am not collecting personal data. The form of which this is a part is used to ...
- 6,819
64
votes
1
answer
50k
views
How long should the debounce timeout be?
When using the debounce() operator for form validation how long should the debounce timeout be?
I currently have mine set to 400 milliseconds but idk if that is too short.
- 743
63
votes
9
answers
11k
views
Adding a "none of the above" option to a list of checkboxes
I am working on a series of complex life insurance forms and trying to optimize using standard conventions...
I have this nasty list of medical diseases and a mutually exclusive option, "None of the ...
- 731
61
votes
15
answers
20k
views
How to tell the users about a unpredictably long process?
I create a website where a user needs to to fill in a form.
After that the form starts to call an API with this input.
Unfortunately the API response is very slow and sometimes user has to wait about ...
- 717
59
votes
9
answers
32k
views
What color for error messages for a form with a red background?
I have a big website with some forms.
There are four background-colours for the form components. One of them is pink/red.
Here the image and the error message:
I can't change the form background-...
- 745
59
votes
10
answers
29k
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 ( ...
- 1,112
59
votes
10
answers
29k
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 and Confirm ...
- 2,616
59
votes
7
answers
71k
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 (required):</...
- 691
58
votes
11
answers
7k
views
Does it make sense to authenticate a user when he/she provides existing valid credentials while registering?
Someone came up with this proposed behavior recently and I haven't been able to find examples of services working the same way. I have to say I don't really like it, but can't put my finger on a ...
- 681
56
votes
13
answers
5k
views
How can I guard against users accidentally sending emails without attachments?
I often dash off emails to people and still I forget attachments. I am using an email client which does keyword sniffing, e.g. if I type 'attachment' or similar it will pop up a warning, but more ...
- 6,224
56
votes
12
answers
13k
views
Can a form be too easy to complete?
I've been working on the onboarding/registration section of my product for some time now.
We've managed to reduce the form to only one text field. Users register via social login (traditional login ...
- 7,925
55
votes
4
answers
46k
views
Character limits on textarea 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, ...
- 9,331
53
votes
11
answers
8k
views
How can I make it extremely clear that the user needs to take one last action?
I am developing a new checkout wizard for my company's website, and I've added a "confirm your selections" panel as the last step in the wizard:
From my perspective as the designer, I feel that I ...
- 677
51
votes
10
answers
43k
views
Alternatives to checkboxes and radio buttons in web-based surveys?
I've been tasked with designing a simple questionnaire design with a lot of different types of questions. I've been taking a lot of web-based surveys myself as well as testing some with users. The ...
50
votes
9
answers
10k
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 ...
- 2,347
50
votes
7
answers
12k
views
Showing "this is secure" on credit card entry screen
Should I show some sort of "this site is secure" puffery (e.g. lock image, or some brief "this site is secure" boilerplate) on my credit card payment screen? If so, what should it look like? If not, ...
- 613
49
votes
12
answers
46k
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 ...
- 2,001
48
votes
9
answers
14k
views
Why do Radio Buttons not fill the entire outer circle?
My question is simple:
Why do most radio buttons not fill their entire outer circle?
Example of standard radio button:
(Unusual) Example of an entirely filled radio button:
Is this for some ...
- 7,413
48
votes
15
answers
9k
views
Slider control when there is no maximum value
I'm trying to design a control where the user can enter a figure that has no maximum value. For example, how many miles that person wants to travel that year.
There's a text field there for direct ...
JonW♦
- 37.5k
48
votes
4
answers
10k
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 ...
- 4,804
47
votes
21
answers
6k
views
Do I really need a login button?
We've been having a discussion in the office surrounding a login page we're developing for a new web application. The web application is in intranet-based application, and is mainly used by users who ...
- 1,240
47
votes
11
answers
33k
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 ...
- 1,684
47
votes
6
answers
9k
views
Should a user be logged in after resetting their password?
Lets assume following flow:
I want to log in
I don't remember password
I click on the "forgot my password" link (email is dispatched)
I check my inbox and click on the link
I type in a new password
...
- 591
46
votes
6
answers
14k
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 ...
- 1,807
45
votes
8
answers
23k
views
Where to put an “add a new item” option
If user doesn't find an item from the list, they should add it using “add a new item” option.
Are there any patterns, guides or best practices showing where to put an “add a new item” option?
- 579
44
votes
8
answers
2k
views
How do we stop users overpaying in financial web forms?
Submitting my online council tax payment last week, I made a mistake. Instead of specifying £X.00 in a freetext payment field, I missed the dot and accidentally entered by £X000!
I'm currently waiting ...
- 17.4k
44
votes
6
answers
16k
views
Should label and field be separated with colon?
When you have a form with fields and captions for these fields, should you do it like that:
Field1: [ ]
Field2: [ ]
or like that:
Field1 [ ...
- 593