[thelist] clear form code

Ian Anderson ian at zstudio.co.uk
Mon Mar 20 08:58:34 CST 2006


M. Seyon wrote:

> I have spilled ink on my passport application form, rendering it unusable. 
> Cost me an extra week to get back to the passport office, get a new form, 
> get to a "professional" to endorse the new one, etc.
> 
> Does that mean that the passport office form is destructive to usability 
> because it's not inkproof?

I don't think that's a valid comparison. It's more like, imagine the 
passport application form had a "spill ink on this form" button.

> Or does it mean I should be more careful next time, and as a corollary, 
> that sh*t happens?

I don't think I would consider this as a key message of "user centered 
design" :)

> I also use the Reset button - here's one classic case:
> 
> Radio buttons without a default 'none selected' option. I think in practice 
> many, many, many more forms are "destructive to usability" because they do 
> not have such an option for their radio buttons.

Well, that's a different topic again, isn't it. I come from an 
application software background, where UI guidelines stipulate that 
radio buttons must have a default checked state. I don't agree with 
loading a web page without one of each radio button group selected as a 
default, and personally I don't believe that all radio button groups on 
the web need a "none selected" option.

Cheers

Ian

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