A Bit About Web Forms

Luke Wroblewski has written a concise 2 part article on form design at User Interface Engineering. I recommend reading the entire thing, but the 15 main points are useful enough to include here. Use them as a filter whenever you are going to create forms for your site or application.

1. Don’t hide forms when you want people to complete them.
2. Be explicit about what each form is for.
3. Use smart defaults whenever possible.
4. Don’t treat customers like records in a database.
5. Always present messages in context.
6. Make sure key messages are prioritized visually on each form.
7. Always give people a way to easily recover from errors.
8. Be vigilant about keeping the data people enter into your forms.
9. Explain why you are asking for data that may not seem relevant.
10. When input fields have a high potential for errors, consider providing inline validation.
11. Visually distinguish errors from the rest of a form.
12. Remove any unnecessary inputs.
13. Illuminate a clear path to form completion.
14. Remove secondary actions whenever possible.
15. Emphasize calls to action that lead to success (form completion.).