forms Articles & Videos

  • Few Guesses, More Success: 4 Principles to Reduce Cognitive Load in Forms

    Four principles of form design — structure, transparency, clarity, and support — minimize users’ cognitive load and improve usability.

  • Less Effort, More Completion: The EAS Framework for Simplifying Forms

    Use the EAS framework — Eliminate first, Automate where possible, and Simplify what remains — to minimize user effort and improve form completion rates.

  • Checkboxes: Design Guidelines

    Checkboxes allow users to select one, some, or none of items from a list. They can be used standalone, in checkbox lists, or nested checkbox lists.

  • 10 Survey Challenges and How to Avoid Them

    Response biases make it difficult to create good surveys. Follow these tips to counteract 10 of the major survey response biases and improve your survey data.

  • Marking Required Fields in Forms

    Using an asterisk to mark required fields is an easy way to improve the usability of your forms. Only marking optional fields makes it difficult for people to fill out the form.

  • 10 Design Guidelines for Reporting Errors in Forms

    Help users recover from errors by clearly identifying the problems and allowing users to access and correct fields easily.

  • Date-Input Form Fields: UX Design Guidelines

    Date-entry fields must be unambiguous and support task completion by using the right design pattern. Small design changes can prevent big user errors.

  • Let Loyal Shoppers Edit Saved Credit Cards

    To eliminate outdated information and make online shopping efficient, let ecommerce users easily update existing payment information directly within the checkout flow.

  • Website Forms Usability: Top 10 Recommendations

    Follow these well-established — but frequently ignored — UX design guidelines to ensure users can successfully complete your website forms.

  • When to Hide Content Behind Forms and When to Give Content Away

    Understand your users’ intents and stage in the sales funnel before you gate content.

  • Slider Design: Rules of Thumb

    Selecting a precise value using a slider is a difficult task requiring good motor skills, even if the slider is well designed. If picking an exact value is important to the goal of the interface, choose an alternate UI element.

  • Preventing User Errors: Avoiding Unconscious Slips

    Users are often distracted from the task at hand, so prevent unconscious errors by offering suggestions, utilizing constraints, and being flexible.

  • Don't Force Users to Register Before They Can Buy

    Optional registration on e-commerce sites simplifies the purchase process and invites users to register when they feel comfortable, rather than forcing unwanted registration.

  • A Checklist for Designing Mobile Input Fields

    When you design an input field for use on mobile devices, check whether it satisfies this list of 14 usability requirements.

  • Don’t Prioritize Efficiency Over Expectations: The Case of Autosave

    Features meant to increase user efficiency by reducing steps can end up hurting users if they do not conform to existing mental models and expectations based on past experiences.

  • Radio Buttons: Select One by Default or Leave All Unselected?

    Select a single radio button by default in most cases. Reasons to deviate or not: expedite tasks, the power of suggestion, user expectations, safety nets.

  • Placeholders in Form Fields Are Harmful

    Labels or sample text inside a form field makes it difficult for people to remember what information belongs in that field once they start data entry.

  • Form Design Quick Fix: Group Form Elements Effectively Using White Space

    Improve the layout of your online forms by placing form labels near the associated text field and by grouping similar fields.

  • HealthCare.gov’s Account Setup: 10 Broken Usability Guidelines

    HealthCare.gov’s account setup process is unnecessarily complex and may have contributed to backend technology failures.

  • OK-Cancel or Cancel-OK? The Trouble With Buttons

    Should the OK button come before or after the Cancel button? Following platform conventions is more important than optimizing an individual dialog box.