[Wsuug] more form stuff

[Erin Walsh]

1. I didn't think the text was all that subtle.  It was quite  
distracting to me.  For some of the questions I was mid-read of the  
real question, but then when I got to the end of the line I would  
jump over and start reading the help text.  I thought I would just  
get accustomed to it, but it happened repeatedly to the point where I  
want to give up on the survey.  Looking back a second time, perhaps  
the fact the bg of both questions were the same made it worse.  (The  
active bg of the question is the same as the bg of the help text box.)

2. This is a personal pet peeve, but I severely dislike when every  
question is required, and the designer feels the need to mark each  
one with the red asterisk anyway.  Simply tell me they're all  
required.  When I see the red asterisk, I start looking for ones I  
can skip, especially when the form is lengthy such as this.

3.  Perhaps I'm being too tough on him, but several of the questions  
read very similar to me.  I would read the question, then try to go  
read the help text to decipher how the question differed from the last.

4.  Now I know I'm just being picky, but really, if you need full  
sentences of help text for your users to answer the question,  
shouldn't you put your efforts to better questionnaire design?   
Perhaps this would work if you didn't have control over the questions  
themselves, but it seems a bit... much.


erin walsh | product developer | For Rent Media Solutions™
150 granby street, 16th floor | norfolk, va 23510
p:757.351.8444 | f:757.961.4827
erin.walsh at ForRent.com| www.FRMediaSolutions.com


You Have Multiple Marketing Needs... We Have Multiple Solutions!



On Aug 1, 2008, at 1:38 PM, Ryan Brunsvold wrote:

 From our good friend Chris Messina (http://factoryjoe.com) comes a  
form on social networking via Wufoo.

https://bmevans.wufoo.com/forms/how-big-is-your-social-network/

I bring this to your attention because of the multiple, yet fairly  
subtle instructive text that the form provides. I find it really  
helpful, but I'd love to hear any feedback the greater WSUUG  
community has on this approach and it's potential benefits/drawbacks.

Plus, the topic of the form is really fun.

Ryan Brunsvold
UI Developer
For Rent Media Solutions
757.351.7883
ryan.brunsvold at forrent.com



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