[Sigia-l] Form Entry Best Practices

[Christopher Fahey [askrom]]

Hi folks,

Can anyone point me to a concise but detailed overview of best practice on
long web-based form design (registration forms, application forms, etc.)?
I'm looking for thoughts on:

  * Indicating Required Fields
  * Address field formats 
      * zip, zip+4?
      * Separate fields for house number and street?
  * Date field formats - pull downs, free entry?
  * Phone number field formats (multiple fields?
  * Validation best practices:
      * Instant in-page validation
      * Javascript no-reload validation
      * Form-submit page reload validation
  * Where to put instructions and examples
  * Tab order & auto-tabbing
  * Field layout and alignment
  * etc.

37signals made a really nice one from their book:
http://www.peachpit.com/content/images/073571410X/samplechapter/073571410xc.
pdf

I am looking for more like this. Examples of what works and what does not,
preferably with thoughtful "pros and cons" and ideally with research data to
back it up.

I would be particularly grateful for links to innovative and/or rock-solid
javascript and server-side validation and data-cleanup techniques. For
example, stories about how successful an application can separate into
multiple data fields a house number, street name, and apartment number out
of a single address field.

Thanks,

-Cf

[christopher eli fahey]
art: http://www.graphpaper.com
sci: http://www.askrom.com
biz: http://www.behaviordesign.com