[thelist] User perception

the head lemur headlemur at lemurzone.com
Mon Nov 15 10:17:51 CST 2004


This is perhaps a bit of a philosophical question ...
I have this form, that you log into. On the login page are instructions
on what userid/password to use, and on the form input page are
instructions on how to fill out the form.
-------------------------------
No this is a usability issue.

Forms are the most abused pages that pixel mechanics create.
>From Requiring Ever Field to be filled out, using radio buttons and
checkboxes inappropriately, not using drop downs effectively, to trying to
get a life history, and trying to find out if your users wear boxers or
briefs.

The primary use of a form is to get enough information for the company  to
understand a request in a form that the company can use to respond.

Here is a bit I wrote 4 years ago.
http://evolt.org/article/The_Money_Page/20/588/index.html

Having built forms for all sorts of companies selling everything from
catbeds to cars, real estate, there are a couple of guidelines to pass
along.

There are only three fields that should *ever* be required.
email address
name
phone number

Required Information needs to be the first text on the page. Explaining why
we need the information to help the user get their needs met.

The email address should be a no brainer. Considering that a user is using
the internet to make a request, one should reply in kind. The email address
also allows the company to reply to sender in the same way that we talk back
and forth on the list.

Most form scripts allow you to specify the 'user' email address in the
'from' field when it hits the company mailbox. This leverages the power of
the website, expands the reach of the company and hopefully keeps you
employed.

Requiring a name and phone number are problematic, but if properly
explained,
do not represent a deal breaker or abandonment of the form. No form is
perfect, and companies will run into situations that require phone contact.
having a phone number and a name allows them to clear up any confusion and
be courteous by being able to call the customer by name.

Let me repeat............
The primary use of a form is to get enough information for the company  to
understand a request in a form that the company can use to respond.


My first question is why access to the form needs a user/password anyway.
However, since that is the case, my next question is why the login
information is not used to populate the form.

You will have to talk to one of the database folks on the list on how to do
this.
-------------------------------------
 Still users mail/phone
questions about how to proceed, some claiming that instructions are
scarce, and when I say "there's the text answering your question", they
go "oh, ok thanks".
--------------------------------------
If the form still requires explanation to fill it out, it has not been
designed to provide information to the company in a manner that it can act
on. Nor has the design explained the information needed in a simple manner.

All companies 'want' to know everything about their customers, from gender,
geography, age, income, pets, brand of toilet tissue. Management will tell
you that this helps them to service their customers better. Marketing will
tell you that they 'need' this information to better target customers.

The customer 'wants' something.
The company 'needs' to know what the customer 'wants'.

The overwhelming desire to collect information from customers has to be
savagely examined to distinguish between 'need' and 'want'.

What does the company 'need'?
The company needs the customer to make a series of choices, to focus on what
the customer wants, to allow the company to satisfy the customer.

Creating these choices is where pixel mechanics come in.
 It does not matter what you are selling, it does matter that the choices
are clear, and the form elements used support these choices are correct.

Radio buttons are my favorite as you can have a number of them, but there is
only one you can choose.
Milk, Bread, Eggs.

Drop down lists [DDL,s] are second as you can present the range of
available options based on your first choice.

DDL's allow you the ability to have the user focus the request to the
minimum amount of information needed to allow the company to act on the
request.

Text Boxes are used for information you want that cannot be answered from
radio buttons or drop down lists.

Check boxes are at the bottom of the list as the number of available options
in most cases can be handled by a drop down list.  Check boxes also create
ambiguity, in terms of blurring the focus of the form which is to get the
correct information, in a form that the company can act on. Check boxes are
better suited for opinion or value judgments which may create  warm fuzzies
in marketing and management but do not get folks filling out forms to move
product.

When designing forms, try to get the information in one screen. Yes, this
limits the available things that you ask for, but also creates simplicity
for the user as they see you have created a simple easy to use method to
contact the company.

the head lemur

Interviews: http://www.lemurzone.com/pixelview/
blog: http://theheadlemur.typepad.com/
Community: http://www.evolt.org




















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