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

[Jenifer Wells]

On Jul 16, 2004, at 9:43 AM, H Taylor wrote:
> How many people go through the trouble of filling out a (potentially 
> long) form, only to get to the end and realize that they've filled in 
> every field incorrectly and the only solution is to push a button that 
> wipes out all of their entries so they can start again fresh?

I'm usually with you, and think it more likely that someone will Clear 
instead of Submit by accident rather than by intention, but I do know 
of at least one situation where the Clear/Reset button is useful. A 
business using the UPS site to track their shipments will often use the 
Clear button if their browser remembers the values they filled in on 
the tracking screen, because the UPS site is kind of kludgey, requiring 
each tracking number to be entered in a separate box  (as opposed to 
the FedEx site, which allows you to enter a list in one text area), and 
only giving you space for five numbers per screen (there is a link that 
says Add More Numbers, which adds five more slots with each 
click/reload). So for someone trying to track a 15-30 box shipment for 
a customer using the UPS site, they have two options:
1) Start fresh each time and keep clicking add more numbers until they 
have enough slots, then type in the numbers (3-4 clicks before entering 
numbers); or
2) Use the browser's back button to get back to the screen with 15-30 
slots showing remembered values from the last tracking request, and hit 
Clear (2 clicks before entering numbers).

I know which options my clients used.

Jenifer Wells