Label Placement on Forms

Workshop: Label Placement on Forms and Other Time-Consuming Forms Controversies:

Have you ever found yourself in a discussion about details of forms design: placing labels, required field indicators and so on? Come to this tutorial to learn which arguments are important and which aren't - and what eye-tracking can tell us about the problems.

Who should come?

You need to have some interest in forms and preferably to be working with forms in some way.

What you will learn

• What to think about when deciding where to place labels on forms
• Why you should make a decision about minor details, and then stick to it
• Best practices for required fields indicators
• Tips for making a form look good
• What users really care about when they encounter forms

What this tutorial will be like

Yes, there will be PowerPoint slides - but there will also be frequent opportunities for questions and discussion. You will be encouraged to compare and share your experiences. There will also be some 'try it' exercises where we will compare our own answers with examples with results from previous usability testing.

Detailed outline

About the Speaker

Caroline Jarrett Usability consultant Effortmark Ltd Email: caroline.jarrett@effortmark.co.uk

Caroline Jarrett is the author of "Forms that work: Designing web forms for usability."
"If your web site includes forms, you need this book. It's that simple." Ginny Redish

Caroline specializes in usability of forms and work processes involving forms. She enjoys working on any type of form or questionnaire and says "Government forms are my favorites" How often do you hear that?

Her current practice is about one-third forms design, on paper and on the web, and about two-thirds helping clients with content-rich web sites. This may include improving the information architecture, using search logs to examine patterns of usage, teaching editing skills, actually doing the editing of key pages, and user research about how users explore and use large web sites.

She is co-author of "User Interface Design and Evaluation" (Morgan Kaufmann, 2005) and of "Forms that Work" (Morgan Kaufmann, 2008).

Caroline holds an MA and MBA, and is a Chartered Engineer.