Re: Form Design Theory

I have seen two Schools of thought on this one...

1. The form on the screen should mimic a paper form if it has been designed to replace one. This allows the users to feel comformatable when changing between a paper based system and a computer based one. It also helps when the system is not available and the original paper forms have to be used, then the data entered latter.
2. The form should not contain more information than can be fit on one screen at a time. This is why Tabbed forms were invented.

Personally, I like a mix of the two.

First: I feel that tabbed forms have their place, but NOT on a form made for data entry. I have seen the work very efficiently on Option or Configuration type pages, but in my mind the tabbed paradigm just does not fit into any data entry work pattern.

That said, I do feel that users should not have to scroll a form up and down to see all the fields, at least not with a pointing device. Data entry requires that the typist get into 'the zone' to get high data entry speeds and the act of having to remove the hands from the keyboard to scroll down on the page is just wrong.

I like the paradigm where, like mike most paper forms, the data is arranged into various screens of associated fields, and each 'page' can be accessed via a Next/Previous KEY STROKE. I have used PageUp and PageDown keys to do this in the past, and even got very good feedback from a customer once when I suggested that they have custom keycaps made to fit on the function keys that read 'Prev Page' and 'Next page' on F11 & F12. This does kind of fit into a wizard style pattern I guess. I also recommend that an option be available that allows for the entry person to review the entire form of entered data (If they want to) before moving on to the next form. Each field on this review should have a number so if there is an error, a simple keystroke can return them to the page that contains the error.

Just my $.02

"Adam Steiner" <ajsteiner_at_aol.comnospam> wrote in message news:20011118004115.08692.00000373_at_mb-cs.aol.com...
> Hey,
>
> I'm developing a program for my father's real estate law office. He
wants the
> primary form to contain ALL of the information that has to be entered on
one
> long form that you use to scroll down (he has his valid reasons for doing
so).
> However, I'm also developing this product for law offices in general (a
number
> have expressed interest) and I think that this method of having all of the
> information on one form (vs. having tabs on that single form) is a bit
> unordered. Is there a standard way of designing forms - perhaps a rule
that
> says forms should not take up more than one screen in length (and
therefore
> need the scroll down option?).
>
> Thanks,
> Adam
Received on Mon Nov 19 2001 - 17:56:59 CET