----- Original Message ----- From: "Don Habas" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Thursday, April 10, 2008 9:28 PM Subject: [IxDA Discuss] Form Validation Messages - How much is needed?
: I'd like to get some feedback on form validation. In my organization (major insurance company), it is necessary to validate the following fields: : <snop - list of fields> : The question we're struggling with is since most of these fields are very common, how much explanation is needed in the validation messages. For example, do we really need to say that a first name should only contain letters, or is it overkill? (We don't expect 50 Cent to be submitting any forms). : The site is for consumers in the U.S., so we're not concerned about letters in postal codes, etc. I agree with Alexander's general approach, that is to place a message next to the problematic field with a description of what the problem is. I also agree with Jeff's point that you should be explicit about what the problem is. I recommend that you put a general message at the top with a list of each problematic field and its error immediately below it, preferably with each message linking to the error further down. This helps people who have to read/scan with magnifiers, and I've also seen it help other people as well. The general tone of the messages should be "help us to help you". I've seen errors like "oops, you made a mistake" when in fact it was "no, oops, your programmer/developer/specifier made a mistake and forgot that even in the US people may have names like O'Hara or John-Francis." Much better to say: "We're sorry, our system can't process a name with this character in it: ~. Please try again" (or whatever the problem might be). (Irrelevant aside, because you're designing for the U.S.: over here in England we have a town with "!" in its name: "Westward Ho!" That's one to test the address process). Best, Caroline Jarrett ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
