A presentation on Label placement in forms, at the Technical Communication Summit, the 56th Annual Conference of the Society for Technical Communication, Dallas, US, May 2010. Amongst the time-consuming controversies we look at are left and right alignment, labels aboveContinue reading… Label placement in forms and other time-consuming forms controversies
Author: Jane Matthews
Avoid putting a reset button on your web forms
RESET buttons have been around for many years HTML 2.0 appeared in 1995. At that time, I was working in usability of forms – and I still am. But I didn’t have email or an internet connection. So I thinkContinue reading… Avoid putting a reset button on your web forms
Label placement in forms – and other time-consuming controversies
A presentation on label placement in forms for the Technical Communication Summit in Seattle, April 2010. Amongst the time-consuming controversies we look at are left and right alignment, labels above and below fields, how to handle required fields, colons, andContinue reading… Label placement in forms – and other time-consuming controversies
Search is now normal behaviour – what do we do about that?
What information do visitors search for? What are “good” search results? What are the differences between internal search and external? How do users interact with the Google results page? And what does all of this mean for website design? ReportingContinue reading… Search is now normal behaviour – what do we do about that?
Helping a user choose from a very large list
Sometimes it is necessary for users to select a precise entry from a very large list. For example, one client described the need (for compliance purposes) to have users choose an ‘Occupation’ code from a list of almost 1000. SheContinue reading… Helping a user choose from a very large list
Questions about forms
This selection of questions and answers about forms first appeared on the website to accompany my book (with Gerry Gaffney) Forms That Work: designing web forms for usability. We’d thought of calling the section “Frequently Asked Questions” but we thought weContinue reading… Questions about forms
Can I use an asterix to indicate optional fields?
I was asked recently: ‘Our form has many required fields and few optional fields. We think that we should use an asterisk to indicate the optional fields. Do you agree?’ It makes sense but it is also a bad idea.Continue reading… Can I use an asterix to indicate optional fields?
Using measurements to develop complex websites
If you are developing a complex website whose users will come to it to carry out complex tasks then you’re likely to want to use a range of data to support your decision-making. This was the situation when I wasContinue reading… Using measurements to develop complex websites
Usable forms
How can we design forms that are easier to read? In this presentation to the Media Trust I highlighted problems in both the ‘conversation’ and ‘appearance’ of some typical forms – and shared tips for improving the experience of users.Continue reading… Usable forms
Why we need a ‘qualification brain’: enabling users to navigate a complex curriculum
Why we need a ‘qualification brain’: from product catalogue to dominant narrative – enabling web-enquirers to understand and navigate through a flexible but complex curriculum This paper for the 23rd ICDE World Conference on Open Learning and Distance Education, Maastricht,Continue reading… Why we need a ‘qualification brain’: enabling users to navigate a complex curriculum