Forms should be much more than labels and boxes lined up in a column. LukeW offers a very thoughtful overview of some of the styling and layout issues in designing useful forms.
First he summarizes the advantages and disadvantages of label placement next to form elements. Each option for placing the labels—above the input boxes, to the left and left justifed or to the left and right justified—impacts the readability of the form as well as its layout.
Another important usability issue is the action buttons at the bottom of the form. Too many WYSIWYG programs automatically dump a Submit and Reset button at the bottom of the form. They look the same and are right next to each other—it’s too easy to clear the form rather than submitting it. Solution: position the secondary action button at the right, with a more neutral background color (or better, style it as a text link rather than a button).
I just discovered Creating Passionate Users, a blog/website that explores topics similar to my own interests (cognitive science & usability) but in a much more focused & professional way.
We are all passionate about the brain and metacognition, most especially–how the brain works and how to exploit it for better learning and memory. Oh yeah, and how to recognize when someone else (including one of us) is applying brain-based techniques to get you to do something.
“Hacking the legacy brain” is one of their core concepts:
A big part of the learning theory we use in the Head First books is figuring out how to “trick” your brain into thinking that learning Java is as important as watching for tigers. We pay a great deal of attention to what your brain cares about, especially when the concerns (tigers-but-not-java) are in direct conflict with what your mind cares about (java-but-not-tigers).
I’m going to run out and get one of their Head First books–not because I care about learning Java but because I’d really like to see the cognitive science aspect incorporated into a software guide. Now, back to the tigers…
