Re:Web forms design guidelines: an eyetracking study
by NathanKP on Sunday December 06, 2009 @12:00AM
(#979186)
I think that the most brilliant idea in the article is that of not using asterisks to indicate required fields. Instead put the word "Optional" in the field and have it clear when the user clicks on the field. (Screenshots in the article)
Re:Web forms design guidelines: an eyetracking study
by ams6110 on Sunday December 06, 2009 @12:10AM
(#979196)
It's my gut feeling that asterisks are so commonly used to indicate required fields that most users have come to understand their meaning. Nevertheless I also like the "optional indicator in the field" idea, and I also agree with the advice in the article to only ask for required fields. In other words, if a field is optional, give strong consideration to omitting it from the form entirely.
Re:Web forms design guidelines: an eyetracking study
by NathanKP on Sunday December 06, 2009 @12:13AM
(#979203)
If a field is optional, give strong consideration to omitting it from the form entirely.
I totally agree. In that case less is more. You want users to go through a sign up form quickly and be able to get started. You can always provide a settings panel on the other side for adding extra, optional information.
By keeping those fields off the signup form you make things easy and fast for new users.
Re:Web forms design guidelines: an eyetracking study
by roryokane on Saturday December 05, 2009 @11:35PM
(#979169)
These are some helpful conclusions, but I'm not sure how much they can be trusted. The article says they tested with eight participants, each participant filling in two of the four forms. That's a pretty small amount of data to make recommendations on.
Re:Web forms design guidelines: an eyetracking study
by Estragon on Sunday December 06, 2009 @10:04AM
(#979605)
Yeah, I have this thing called a "visual cortex" which provides me with instant feedback on what I'm looking at. If you don't have one, get one! It's incredibly useful.
Re:Web forms design guidelines: an eyetracking study
by daleharvey on Saturday December 05, 2009 @10:00PM
(#979058)
this is a really good study, its nice to have someone sit and think really hard about those seemingly trivial decisions that can really affect a sites usability, like not using asteriks for required fields.
Re:Web forms design guidelines: an eyetracking study
by aresant on Sunday December 06, 2009 @12:56AM
(#979239)
The way to establish "guidelines" IMO is to prove what works the best with A/B testing.
The article provides interesting ideas, but little value in real world application as ultimate business value from form design guidelines should = form completion.
That is a very elegant and simple solution.
I totally agree. In that case less is more. You want users to go through a sign up form quickly and be able to get started. You can always provide a settings panel on the other side for adding extra, optional information.
By keeping those fields off the signup form you make things easy and fast for new users.
So again; this solution is awesome.
More recently, here's a related article on Multiple-user Simultaneous Testing, when and why you'd test with more people and how to actually do that: http://www.useit.com/alertbox/multiple-user-testing.html
Chui Chui loves food, and is very fond of sugared squid!
Good to know!
The article provides interesting ideas, but little value in real world application as ultimate business value from form design guidelines should = form completion.