All of You, Thanks for the great, useful and committed feedback. I learned a few things. It´s not that I didn't know how to do forms, I do it since the dawn of the interactive systems in the seventies, and with success. But ...
Based on my prior experience I was blithely sure that forms are easier for the user to grok in the two-column format: the label to the left of the input., thus: Maiden name [___________________] Place of birth [_____________________________________] Address [__________________________________] Weight [_________] Kg I was also sure that forms with the labels on top of the input fields are something trendy, a product of the higher resolution screens that now allow designers to set labels in a much smaller font. That labels on top let one set a narrow small form in a narrow navigation column, for example. Like a login or search form. But, who reads the labels of a login form? Answer: you don't, I don't, nobody does. Set a login form with the password before the user id and you will get everybody's passwords in the second field no matter the location of your labels: top, left, inside, anywhere. Just be sure to put a clear "Login" title and nobody will read the labels. My forms (my client's) are the exact opposite: many fields with lots of family data with labels that the user needs to read carefully because many are similar and thus require more attention. Some of the forms are public, like this one (paper version): http://www.comfamiliarcamacol.com/Vivienda/ImgVivienda/FORMULARIO%20DE%20POSTULACION%20AFILIADOS%20A%20COMFAMILIAR%20CAMACOL.pdf The content and organization of the forms are already designed, and most of them are fairly well done. We only have to publish an online version. My problem is the size of the smaller font used for the labels above the inputs: I want to display big, readable, labels. The other problem I see with labels on top is that the form container tends to be taller and narrower. This forces the users to scroll more while leaving unused space after the fields in our wider-than-tall screens. In these pages, screen real estate would be better used if the labels were set in their own column, the resulting forms would fit better into the web page space (a 1024 x 768 page less a rather tall header and a local navigation menu). We are not setting several fields in a single row, except for closely related fields like first and second name, because else the form gets too messy. Even if some fields lie below the fold forcing the user to scroll vertically, that was a no-no by 1998 but now it's not such an issue. Users learned to scroll, only I don't want them to have to do it. We are splitting the forms in pages, with a next / prev nav artifact and an "X of Y" progress indication. Also, I'm committed to avoid all the smart behavior that the available technology provides like for example validations in the blur event that might terrify some users. No floating error messages, just simple red text below the related field. Etc ... Again, thanks to everybody. -- Juan Lanus ________________________________________________________________ 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
