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2nd December 2009

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effective form layouts

call me a dork, but i can actually recall wondering on more than one occasion if there’d been any research done about most effective form layouts (when i’m not wondering why my layout looks slightly off in ie6, that is). surprisingly … there has been.

czech it out.

the findings?

  • vertical forms are better
  • left-aligned labels are clearer
  • avoid bold labels
  • color or share grouping labels only if important
  • don’t use asterisks; make optional fields clearer (make value of input “Optional” until user replaces it)
  • important messages need to be SUPER bold or people will go RIGHT to the form
  • real-time tips should be at end
  • justify length of inputs (helps see alert messages)
  • users like progress indicators / knowing how much is left for em to complete
  1. tamaraolsondesigns posted this