I am currently redesigning a portion of an e-learning site; one of the goals is to add an expanded online profile, which will be used when the site adds more social features.
Currently, all profile questions are asked at the account creation step and all are mandatory: age, gender, home town, country and native language; the idea is that this data will help the company analyze usage stats. I'd like to remove the mandatory setting from at least some questions, then move them into a separate "create profile" step. This is my first time working on a profile page, which raises several questions. Ex: ---What information can be made mandatory without creating too big of a roadblock for users? ---When is it best to collect profile information - upon account creation or after users have signed in? ---Where is it better to use pick-lists vs free-text fields? Since many sites have profiles, I imagine all these questions have been asked and answered a thousand times over. Do you guys have any suggestions on good resources to find information like this? I'm looking both for information specific to social features and on a broader level. Thanks! ________________________________________________________________ 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
