In-context descriptions or hints can help clarify what goes inside each form field, and therefore improve completion and conversion rates. There are many ways to provide hints. A common implementation is by inserting instructions within form fields. Unfortunately, user testing continually shows that placeholders in form fields often hurt usability more than help it.
Labels and Placeholders
Labels tell users what information belongs in a given form field and are usually positioned outside the form field. Placeholder text, located inside a form field, is an additional hint, description, or example of the information required for a particular field. These hints typically disappear when the user types in the field.
You might be wondering, "if proximity is such a problem, then why not place the labels inside the text fields?". Don't be tempted. When you place the labels inside the text field as filler text, the label disappears when users input their text and they must remember it as they fill in the field
To achieve WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get), there should be a direct mapping between the goal state (what you want) and the syntax level (what you see). Remember that the syntax level contains the two-dimensional layout of the dialogue elements on the screen. In a WYSIWYG interface, the
Using a 3D representation of a chart distorts and skews the shapes that represent the data, thus making it harder to decipher the quantitative values (and relative relationships between specific data). In a 3D visualization, it becomes much tougher to determine which bar is shortest, even though
Developers Set to Use Bear Market as an Opportunity to Accelerate Ethereum Upgrades
November 2018 will not go down in history as a glorious month in the evolution of cryptocurrency, with all the major digital currencies taking a dive in value, largely as a result of the furore surrounding the Bitcoin Cash hard fork. It prompted even more media drama than usual, partly because it
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A 60-Second Trailer of the 60-Day Report on Cybersecurity
Finally, Hathaway sees this as a unique opportunity for the United States to work with countries around the world, and with organizations on an extremely local level. “We cannot succeed if our government works in isolation,” she added. It requires “leading from the top” from
Image-Focused Design: Is Bigger Better?
Comparing the new Southwest Airlines homepage to its previous design clearly illustrates the advantages and disadvantages of this approach. Like many airlines, before it was redesigned, the Southwest homepage had become cluttered with different promotions and programs. The background image was
placeholders in form fields are harmful
Text Scanning Patterns: Eyetracking Evidence
The layer-cake scanning pattern consists of fixations placed mostly on the page’s headings and subheadings. There are few other fixations on the text in between — that is, until users locate the heading they are interested in; at that point, they usually read the accompanying body text below
Website Logo Placement for Maximum Brand Recall
A left-aligned logo is comfortable for users, but because it’s such a longstanding tradition, this standard is a tempting target to anyone wanting to appear unconventional. Violating this convention seems like an easy way of immediately distinguishing a design from its competitors, and standing
Why User Interviews Fail
First, pilot your interview guide on yourself to learn how you would answer the questions in your interview guide. Even asking yourself your own questions might make it clear that some of your questions don’t work. Second, before you run your interviews with lots of users, recruit one user for a
The Mobile Checkout Experience
Long dropdown lists are especially difficult for mobile users, particularly those on iOS. The iOS picker control (which is used for implementing dropdowns) occupies half the screen and displays only a few items at a time. If the list is long, users have to scroll many times before getting to values
Design Thinking 101
This is the most important part of design thinking, but it is the one most often forgotten. As Don Norman preaches, “we need more design doing.” Design thinking does not free you from the actual design doing. It’s not magic. Milton Glaser’s words resonate: “There’s no such thing as a
StudioPress Theme Spotlight: New Breakthrough Pro
As we continue to showcase a sample of the amazing StudioPress themes now available to WP Engine customers, we’re extra excited to bring you this new StudioPress Theme: Breakthrough Pro, which is the first new theme to be launched since our acquisition of StudioPress in June. Breakthrough Pro
placeholders in form fields are harmful
WP Engine Named A Best Place to Work in Technology for 2019 .
When it comes to facilitating a truly enjoyable and productive workplace, it takes more than just the promise of perks and ping pong. Employees want their workplaces to reflect what they value and expect out of the company they work for: trustworthiness, morality, and the opportunity to grow both in
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When we asked 1,015 UX professionals for their career advice and experience, one respondent claimed to have learned everything about UX from playing Dungeons and Dragons. Although such experience is sure to be good, I think you can learn even more about UX from waiting tables in a restaurant. You
Brand Is Experience in the Digital Age
Brand is a tool for influencing choice. Brand is not made of visuals or words alone — it’s not a logo or a slogan. Nor is it a figurehead, such as Steve Jobs. Those things are simply ways to communicate the brand. Although a figurehead such as Elon Musk or a logo such as McDonald’s golden
Killing Off the Global Navigation: One Trend to Avoid | Nielsen Norman Group
On the WHSmith website, fitting all 12 product categories in a global navigation menu would be difficult, but pushing them all down into a drop-down menu is not the answer. For most sites, explaining the brand offerings is simply too important to be relegated to a secondary menu; even if visitors
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CRM and GDPR Compliance in 2019 for Startups
You can also add opportunities to let subscribers choose what kind of content they choose to receive from you. It’s obvious that people won’t unsubscribe from valuable newsletters and content. But your customers and clients will be gone in a snap if you turn your emails into spam and send them
Resisting and Reducing Enterprise Storage Downtime
Snapshots are images of a system’s state in time. They record the condition that a system is in. The situation that the system is in will include the data that has been stored, installed or deleted applications, created files, videos, images, etc. Snapshots consume very little space, especially
Despite What You Hear, You Don’t Need VC Funding
I moved to the Bay Area to push our product to market during our first year, and I met with upwards of 60 companies. Although many were interested in using our technology, they weren’t always the right customers. In some ways, our lack of venture capital was a blessing because it forced us to
placeholders in form fields are harmful
SEO DIY: Optimize Your Startup’s Website Yourself
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Placeholders in Form Fields Are Harmful | Top 10 Web Design Mistakes of 2002
Top 10 Web Design Mistakes of 2002
Web pages that require horizontal scrolling in standard-sized windows, such as 800x600 pixels, are particularly annoying. For some reason, many websites seem to be optimized for 805-pixel-wide browser windows, even though this resolution is pretty rare and the extra five pixels offer little
Effective Use of Style Sheets
Cascading style sheets (CSS) are an elegantly designed extension to the Web and one of the greatest hopes for recapturing the Web's ideal of separation of presentation and content. The Web is the ultimate cross-platform system, and your content will be presented on such a huge variety of devices
Give Thanks for Good UX
When following driving instructions, people can now search for and add a stop to their route. Google Maps lets users search for a specific place, or tap to see nearby restaurants or gas stations (including the price per gallon of each one). Previously, users had to exit the current route, search
