Re: Form Design Theory

On 18 Nov 2001 05:41:15 GMT, ajsteiner_at_aol.comnospam (Adam Steiner) wrote:

>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).

If he's a lawyer, I'm sure he thinks he knows everything. I say that not knowing your father, but knowing several hundred other attorneys. <g>

>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?).

The book I've found most generally useful is _Designing Visual Interfaces: Communication Oriented Techniques_, by Kevin Mullet and Darrell Sano. If you're targeting a particular platform--say, Windows--you'll also want to track down user-interface guidelines that are specific to the platform.

-- 
Mike Sherrill
Information Management Systems