[Sigia-l] ""help text" in input fields - bad?" Sigia-l Digest, Vol 65, Issue 2

[MaryEP]

Why not tweet LukeW and ask his option and/or read what he has to say about
web forms at:
http://www.lukew.com/ff/entry.asp?969
http://visitmix.com/Articles/Web-Forms-for-People

As for colored input fields or box outline (which is where my visual mind
went first) - not sure of the exact research out there but as for the now
standard search icon (magnifying glass) see this article
http://www.addicottweb.com/2009/03/style-form-input-fields-with-icons-to-improve-usability/

Also, as I'm not sure how much or what "help text" you wish to include but
you might use the on hover or "tabs feel" to display more info . . .
http://vimeo.com/join
http://www.quintura.com/

-- 
Mary E. Puetz  |  User Experience Consultant

MaryEP at gmail.com
--


On Wed, Feb 3, 2010 at 4:00 AM, <sigia-l-request at asis.org> wrote:

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>   1. "help text" in input fields - bad? (Jayson Elliot)
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> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
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> Message: 1
> Date: Tue, 2 Feb 2010 13:29:54 -0500
> From: Jayson Elliot <jayson.elliot at gmail.com>
> Subject: [Sigia-l] "help text" in input fields - bad?
> To: Forum Interaction Design Ixda <discuss at ixda.org>,   sigia l
>        <sigia-l at asis.org>
> Message-ID:
>        <609469f81002021029m6315c4a8gd5b07fdd72de7856 at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
>
> Does anyone have research to point to regarding the practice of placing
> instructional text in a field that is meant for user input?
>
> For example, on a site like http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ you see "Google
> custom search" inside the search field; or http://www.adobe.com/ writes
> "Search Adobe.com" inside theirs.
>
> I have read articles stating that this can depress overall usage of an
> input
> field, as some users become "blind" to the field if it is not empty, but
> can't find any now that I need them.
>
> Also, what about the use of colored input fields? Do non-white text boxes
> perform less well than standard white HTML input fields?
>
>
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