Originally written in response to the Florida vote controversy in the US 2000 presidential election, here are plenty of reasons why you may never know that users are struggling with your form. This article first appeared in January 2001 in UserContinue reading… Why users don’t complain about bad forms
Author: Caroline Jarrett
Designing usable forms: the three-layer model of the form
A version of this paper was first delivered at the 47th Society for Technical Communication Conference in Florida. If you want to create a usable form, it helps to understand the three layers: appearance – what people see when theyContinue reading… Designing usable forms: the three-layer model of the form
Understanding the costs of data capture: paper, automatic and with the internet
Organisations have sometimes been surprised and disappointed when they re-engineer a forms-based data capture process but fail to achieve their anticipated savings. This paper, presented to CIMTECH 1999 and 2000, explains: how capture costs are built up from data entryContinue reading… Understanding the costs of data capture: paper, automatic and with the internet
Market research or usability evaluation?
I am a usability consultant and I believe, and find in practice, that usability evaluation is the best way to find out whether a document works for its users. However, I have frequently been in a position where my clientsContinue reading… Market research or usability evaluation?
Case study: Improving a paper form for the Open University
A large proportion of the costs of dealing with forms comes from sorting out the mistakes that people make when they fill in the form. Back in 1999, I worked with the Open University on their paper Registration Agreement and associatedContinue reading… Case study: Improving a paper form for the Open University
Changing places: the challenges of boundaries and scalability in the workplace
“Changing Places” was a workshop at Queen Mary and Westfield College, University of London in 1999. Our focus was exploring some of the challenges and successes of online collaboration tools in the workplace – at that time, best known under the acronymContinue reading… Changing places: the challenges of boundaries and scalability in the workplace
Book review: Filling out forms
I had a lovely surprise this week: I found my copy of Filling out forms by Wendy Stein, published by New Readers Press in 1979. It’s quite a thin book, almost a pamphlet, and it was hiding between much largerContinue reading… Book review: Filling out forms