[Sigia-l] Tag separators in text fields - Make the forms smarter

[Cathy Caron]

Why should the user have to figure out what a particular form wants them
to do? We know perfectly well people hate that - they want things to be
"intuitive" - which means to work however they think it should.

 

So an ideal form for tag entries would allow for a variety of ways for
terms to be entered. The form would be coded to look for the common
patterns people might use and then provide feedback. So, the form should
be able to take:

 

cookie, apple pie, chocolate cake, pudding, watermelon

 

or 

 

cookie

apple pie

chocolate cake

pudding

watermelon

 

or 

 

cookie "apple pie" "chocolate cake" pudding watermelon

 

or

 

cookie apple pie chocolate cake pudding watermelon

 

And parse them out to get a list of tags. Now in the last case, the
user's intent wouldn't be entirely clear, so the form would do the best
it could and then ask for feedback. So once tags are entered the form
would say something like:

 

Did I get your list right?

 

cookie

apple

pie

chocolate

cake

pudding

watermelon

 

Now this could have been right, but in this case it isn't. So the user
would need to have an easy way to make corrections, ideally by fiddling
with the feedback list directly.

 

Thoughts?

 

Cathy Caron

The VIA Group

Portland, Maine

 

 

 

 


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