[Sigia-l] "clear" button on web forms

[Dan Linsky]

I believe the intent is that if you are filling out a form and then
decide not to submit it, you could wipe all fields ensure no information
is accidentally sent.

Dan Linsky
Information Architect | Slingshot, LLC.
208 N. Market St., Suite 500
Dallas, TX 75202
(469) 227-3158
 
-----Original Message-----
From: sigia-l-admin at asis.org [mailto:sigia-l-admin at asis.org] On Behalf
Of T. Karsjens
Sent: Friday, July 16, 2004 9:57 AM
To: sigia-l at asis.org
Subject: RE: [Sigia-l] "clear" button on web forms

>Is there a real use for these types of buttons, or is this just 
>something that was made available in the HTML spec, and has since been 
>propagated by web programmers who assume that it must be useful if it's

>part of the spec?

Any web developer worth their salt will tell you immediately that the
cancel/clear/reset button on a web form is utterly useless.  I stopped
putting them on any screens many years ago, as they serve no purpose,
outside of confusing the user entirely.

It also simplifies development, as the programmers do not have to worry
about "button priority" in a form.  If there is only one "submit" button
to
trigger the form action, it means about that the developers can save 10
to
30% of the coding time to support a form.

As far as usability concerns, I would be far more concerned about
placing a
"cancel" button on a form than I am about leaving them off.  I could
enumerate the number of times I have seen users accidentally hit the
cancel
button when they were reaching for the submit.

Now, client server applications might be a different story...

Timothy Karsjens
Almost Human Studios

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