Hello Alex, Can you describe how people will use the form that you are describing? Is this a form that people will fill in once or one where they fill in data hundreds of times a day?
Second thought - I've done studies with complex forms that are used for heavy data input and users get into a rhythm and what your propose regarding skipping default fields might disrupt that since there will be some hesitation while they think if they need to go to the default field. Skipping fields that could be enterable would seem to violate strong guidelines for keyboard navigation in forms. How do you fill in one of the fields with a default when you need to do that? I don't understand how someone would fill in a default from your description. >From experience observing users tabbing through complex forms like those in a CRM, I think that your idea of skipping common fields that MIGHT need to be changed would result in hesitation that would through off the rhythm of the data entry person and might actually take more time because of extra cognitive load I would just let them tab through the fields. They could jump using shortcut keys in the form (Alt+underlined character) but that requires some thinking time as well, but might work if the changes to default fields aren't required. Chauncey On Fri, Nov 13, 2009 at 4:24 PM, Alan Wexelblat <[email protected]> wrote: > I'm wondering if people have feedback on the use of tab to move from > field to field in a form, in a situation where some of the fields have > likely defaults. > > To expand a little bit: > - the logical flow (how people think about) entering this kind of data > is A-B-C-D-E-F-G. > - in the context of the application I can reliably pre-fill values for > fields C, D, and E. (here "reliably" means >90% of users tested will > want the default values in >90% of the use cases) > > What I'd like to do is have <TAB> move the user from A-B but then from > B-F, skipping the defaulted fields. I know this is going to > inconvenience that 10% of users who want to change the default, but > the alternative seems to be inconveniencing the 90% who have to hit > <TAB> four times to get to the next field they care about. > > Obviously I can build and test both alternatives, and it's really a > simple bit of code difference. What I'm wondering is whether anyone > has data or experience with this kind of breaking the usual shortcut > behaviors? > > TIA, > --Alan > ________________________________________________________________ > 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 > ________________________________________________________________ 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
