141
votes
Accepted
Why aren't HTML5 typed number inputs right aligned, and should they be?
Number fields should not always be right-aligned
It often makes sense to right-align numbers when they are being compared to other number fields (e.g. in financial statements). This can help ...
- 40.6k
139
votes
Accepted
Why are calculator screen digits right-aligned?
Screen digits are right aligned to maintain positional consistency between what a number represents (in base 10 that would be units, tens, hundreds, etc.).
E.g. If I were to have 764 and then ...
- 67.7k
84
votes
Accepted
DD/MM/YY or DD/MM/YYYY?
There is no universally good answer to this question, but there are definitely two pros of YYYY:
by showing the two leading numbers you can easily tell e.g. 1911 from 2011,
you know exactly where the ...
- 13.8k
64
votes
DD/MM/YY or DD/MM/YYYY?
As a rule, it's never OK to use a 2-digit year. If you can prove that using a 4-digit year will cause thousands of babies and cute fluffy bunnies to die horribly, that could be an exception to the ...
- 849
50
votes
Accepted
"1 other" or "one other"?
AP style says "spell out whole numbers below 10, and use figures for 10 and above".
Chicago Manual style says spells out numbers below 100, or as an alternative rule to use AP style instead.
...
- 4,582
48
votes
Make user aware that he cannot enter arbitrary values into textbox?
I came up with another way to handle this scenario which is more clear in cases with arbitrary jumps.
1. Show links below the text input to quickly convey how the bidding system works by listing ...
- 15.8k
40
votes
Why are calculator screen digits right-aligned?
Digits are right aligned for similar reasons as you would right align them in a spreadsheet or a table.
i.e. when you see multiple numbers (and they all have a fixed set of decimal places), then it'...
- 70.8k
38
votes
Accepted
If showing an up/down arrow next to a number, should the number still include a sign?
TL;DR; Use one, or the other, but not both.
Consider how you would read this out loud, noting OP has already indicated this is a relative measure:
In the positive case, this is "plus 13" or "an ...
- 636
30
votes
Does adding a click count next to a hyperlink enhance the user experience?
The short answer to the high level UX question here is -- it depends -- so here are a few cases why a company like discourse might choose to put click counters next to their hyperlinks along with ...
- 15.8k
29
votes
Make user aware that he cannot enter arbitrary values into textbox?
I recently was playing around with a new type of pager control that only uses numbers and doesn't require any localization (next, previous, last, first, all function without any words required in the ...
- 15.8k
29
votes
Accepted
How to abbreviate long numbers?
In the English language, a number that has 11 digits is Ten Billion.
You can Round it off to the nearest big number and use an approximation symbol along with it. In this case, it would be:
~23....
- 3,599
27
votes
If showing an up/down arrow next to a number, should the number still include a sign?
/EDIT - This answer was posted before it was clear that the number is a status higher/lower indicator, so the answer content here is less relevant now the question has been updated.
Yes, you still ...
JonW♦
- 37.1k
27
votes
Accepted
What is the clearest way to display "less than"?
If you want sex just say it
If you want sex just say it - You should strive to convey information in the clearest way possible, when possible.
< 2.1 miles is < clear than less than 2.1 miles.
In ...
- 32.2k
25
votes
Accepted
How should horizontal dashboard numbers react on a responsive page?
The best way to cover long numbers on small devices is to use the K, M, B values; such as 10K, 10.51M etc...
As per layout try resizing this codepen, you'll get an idea https://codepen.io/geoffyuen/...
- 16.1k
22
votes
What is the effect of rounding counts of artefacts, like books or courses available?
If you ask me, you can give a rough approximation of the actual quantity. Don't exaggerate too much. Suppose you have 1379 books. You don't say you have 2000 books. That's just too much. Also, you ...
- 620
21
votes
Is there a standard "to left justify text and right justify numeric values."
Yes, this is a "standard". I am >25 too and I know where to look up this guideline :-)
This is guideline 2.3/16 in: Smith S. L., Mosier J. N. (1986) Guidelines for Designing User Interface Software (...
- 446
19
votes
Accepted
Does adding a click count next to a hyperlink enhance the user experience?
According to, literally, the first result when you google discourse click count, Jeff Atwood defends the click counter as a valuable signal for users to determine if a link is worth clicking:
The ...
- 342
18
votes
Accepted
What is the term for a numeric input field of a specific format?
The term used for these format-constrained inputs is masked inputs or mask input.
Here is a demo which includes a broad range of masks (date, time, phone number, etc). If you Google 'masked input' ...
- 40.6k
17
votes
DD/MM/YY or DD/MM/YYYY?
Take this example: 01/02/07.
At first look, it could be anything. Now, let's make it YYYY: 01/02/2007.
Quite a bit of difference, right? This is one of the main reasons for the YYYY format. Very few ...
15
votes
Accepted
Dealing with dozen digit number inputs
Using words isn't a bad idea at all. It's the most 'easy to understand' way for everyone.
You can make a dropdown list after the input, containing:
No unit
Thousand
Million
Milliard
The "no unit" ...
- 2,600
15
votes
How to abbreviate long numbers?
You should put the number in a better place. You have identified that putting it in the small gap between logo and deposit button is not a great solution, and given the nature of the value in the ...
- 1,172
13
votes
Why are calculator screen digits right-aligned?
I don't have any data about this question, neverthless here my thought: Readability is much better for right aligned numbers. Why? Consistency. The Decimal points always stays at the same location, ...
- 756
13
votes
Ideal breaks for long numbers?
4 digits is time-tested chunking for large numbers
3 to 4 digit chunks are easy to read accurately. Perceptually, the eye tends to read words and not letters across a page, and a 3-4 letter word ...
- 40.6k
12
votes
"1 other" or "one other"?
Use numerals for digital purposes
The standard for 'traditional' copywriting is to fully write any number under 10, so one, two, three and so on. However, when it comes to digital interfaces, it's ...
- 9,791
12
votes
If showing an up/down arrow next to a number, should the number still include a sign?
No you should not use the sign alongside that arrow.
"↓ -13" is potentially interpreted as a double negative.
You pick one method to indicate the sign. Either you use + or - (and omitting the + ...
12
votes
How to abbreviate long numbers?
The main factor is "What does the number indicate? and how is it important in this context?"
Here I'm assuming the number here is an account number. It is important here to identify the account ...
10
votes
Why are calculator screen digits right-aligned?
When using right aligned numbers you must note that decimal separators are aligned only if there are equal amount digits after decimal separator:
12 345,90
132 987,9376
Aligning such numbers left ...
- 5,124
10
votes
DD/MM/YY or DD/MM/YYYY?
When you are not dealing with century old events - it will make perfect sense to use YY instead of YYYY.
Even Stackexchange follows the same pattern:
"asked Jan 6 '09"
MM/DD or DD/MM does change ...
- 16.1k
10
votes
DD/MM/YY or DD/MM/YYYY?
Taking into account that this question was asked in the UX section of stackexchange, I would assume that the answer should focus on the user's expectations.
I have personally been working in a large ...
- 209
9
votes
Why aren't HTML5 typed number inputs right aligned, and should they be?
I see two issues off the top of my head with right aligning text in an input type ="number"
When the number selector is not visible it looks quite strange with the number awkwardly floating a bit off ...
- 15.2k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible