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Forms checklist #321

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# Forms

## Checklist

### Buttons rather than inputs

- Specify the required attributes (name and value)

### Multistep forms over multiple submit buttons

### Server-side Validation

- Start with server-side validation
- Return an error message for each erroring form element.

### Client-side validation

### Accessibility

### Label every input
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Do not hesitate to provide the most information possible so that the user succeed rather than get into validation issue. Not a good feeling to have.
Therefore you could divide the label into 2 parts, the label itself (e.g Date of birth) and a hint (e.g DD/MM/YYYY basically what you often find in placeholder).
A good practice is also to nest the inline error message inside of the label so that it will be spoken by Assistive tech when focused.


### Use the most simple form control that does the job

### Minimise the number of fields to fill out
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this heading appears to relate to the previous line


### Mark optional fields
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  • Yes ☀️ it is preferred over the * (required) pattern
  • If they are optional, it might be worse to re-evaluate if they are really needed after all and if they might not be getting in the way to conversion


### Size according to the expected input

### Retain focus for every input element

- For preference, enhance it! Make it part of the brand!

### Don't ask users to repeat their email address
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nor password (see "show password" below)


### Provide a "show password" option
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@jpw jpw Aug 20, 2019 •
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"... as a progressive enhancement" ? Hmmm related, should we have a pwd confirmation field and remove it as part of the same PE? Just thinking out loud here.

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Good point! Thinking out loud too: Then maybe two password inputs in raw HTML. When JS available, then enhance to "show password" feature the first one, and turn the other one into a hidden input and sync what is typed in first one so that the BE/FE contract stays the same with or without JS. Sounds like a bit of work already, therefore it (or any better implementation) could qualifiy as a component candidate for the Design system/Global toolkit I believe


### Don't split data fields
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What does this mean please?

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For instance Date: [ ] / [ ] / [ ] (3 fields). Just a guess though


### Avoid dropdown menus
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Use radio buttons for single option and checkbox for multiple options when a decent amount of options are available (below 8)


### Provide examples of input

- Don't use placeholders!
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Use label hints instead as stated above


### Offer help text
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Mostly as hint in labels as stated above


### Masked input
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I thought this to be a good practice until I read something that challenged it. The reasons do not come out from the top of my head atm, therefore I would research that one. Though Estelle Weyl has a great framework agnostic accessible input masking library


### Use appropriate input types

### Explain clearly why you need any private information

### Use autocomplete when useful
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as an enhancement


### Enable auto-filling of personal details
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Yes, and this might be useful to link to? 😁 https://github.com/springernature/frontend-playbook/blob/master/security/secure-markup.md#a-note-on-autofill

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Also in the a11y checklist https://github.com/springernature/frontend-playbook/blob/master/accessibility/accessibility-checklist.md#help-users-make-the-most-of-autocomplete-and-autofill


### Use fieldsets and legends

### Make use of native validation, enhance when necessary
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Excerpt of the Form Design Pattern that may challenge it:

"While HTML5 validation support is quite good, it’s not implemented uniformly. For example, the required attri- bute can mark fields as invalid from the outset, which isn’t desirable. Some browsers, such as Firefox 45.7, will show an error of “Please enter an email address” even if the user entered something in the box, whereas Chrome, for example, says “Please include an ‘@’ in the email address,” which is more helpful.
We also want to give users the same interface whether errors are caught on the server or the client. For these rea- sons we’ll design our own solution. The first thing to do is turn off HTML5 validation:" using the novalidate attribute on the form element.


### Avoid native datepickers

- Controversial.
- Often better to stick with date fields.

## Resources

- https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2018/08/best-practices-for-mobile-form-design/
- https://github.com/cferdinandi/bouncer
- https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/Accessibility/ARIA/forms/Basic_form_hints
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