Latest posts tagged with #FixTheForms on Bluesky
Partial list of alphabetically arranged countries with a white empty circle in front of them; one is shown per line, 38 items are listed; the first list item is ‘Congo’, the last one is ‘Iceland’
#FixTheForms, dear @ec.europa.eu — cause 200+ countries should not be displayed as a radio button list.
@edwardhorsford.bsky.social and colleagues developed a useful alternative almost a decade ago: designnotes.blog.gov.uk/2017/04/20/w...
Screenshot of part of an email. It's on a dark teal/green background. At the top, the text says 'ble A - Proof of identification' in a reasonably legible white font that contrasts adequately with the dark background. The rest is painfully illegible as it is in red text that creates an optical illusion of pulsating text against the background.
In today's episode of #FixTheForms, I got this in a long email about how to do a complex app form. The 'ble A' is not a screenshot error - that's what the email actually says'.
Do we have an abbreviation for 'too illegible / did not read'?
Whole email useless: app had adequate instructions.
In today’s episode of #FixTheForms, a terrific blog post from Tracey Wilson on identifying ownership of content.
Absolutely all of this applies even more to forms, although in my experience identifying the ownership of forms is even harder.
A question in a Home Office survey: To what extent do you agree or disagree that there should not be transitional arrangements for those already on a pathway to settlement? The question is then glossed: Agreeing means supporting no traditional arrangements; disagreeing means supporting transitional arrangements
And if you persevere, you will be rewarded with a #FixTheForms special bonus - a double negative so convoluted that it gets its own explanation - agreeing means no and disagreeing means yes. Of course.
Thanks for getting #FixTheForms and #PlainLanguage into servicestandard.gov.de
and keep going!
(5/n, n=5)
In today's episode of #FixTheForms, I'm delighted to welcome new guidance from the German government on good #FormDesign #GovDesign
Thanks @paulpistorius.bsky.social for all your hard work on this
... a couple of extra points coming up
(1/n, n=5)
A tabled computer on a walnut wooden stool showing a guide on good forms design with examples for ‘Translating conditions into questions’, illustrated by 3 simplified service interface
#FixTheForms, as @cjforms.bsky.social puts it.
In the absence of universal standards within German government for what constitutes good #formDesign, we published 3 new pieces of guidance to address this void.
You find them in the handbook section of the German #ServiceStandard website.
1/X
In today’s episode of #FixTheForms, @pubstr.at battles to give money to an organization that’s reluctant to accept it
Pro tip: if you only do usability testing with ONE bit of your site, choose the bit that allows people to pay you. Then make changes based on what you find.
A web form with fields for first name and last name. The first name field has an angry red border and a firm red prompt "Please enter your first name"
I want to give an organisation money. They presumably want to take my money. So well done for coding so obscure that my mobile device doesn't recognise the data entry fields - so no keyboard, no way forward. Well done, @financialtimes.com #FixTheForms
Had an episode of #FixTheForms about @radiobeartime.com struggling with the Civil Service Pensions website the other day.
Here’s a blog post that sums up some crucial issues and links to a couple of apologies.
Pro tip: Usability testing with a few people can save you from public humiliation
Today’s episode of #FixTheForms is a long-running one: @radiobeartime.com continues to battle with the Capita-outsourced civil service pensions website.
Note the fine detail of “Your reference number is NOT FOUND”
Pro tip: do usability testing and then make improvements based on what you learn
In today’s episode of #FixTheForms, @adamsilverhq.bsky.social points out the problems of toast messages.
Pro tip 1: toast messages - just say no.
Pro tip 2: the existence of a design pattern is not enough to justify using it.
In today’s episode of #FixTheForms, @priyanca.bsky.social battles with a perennial problem: badly-designed and badly-implemented “validation” on names
Pro tip: names can include punctuation or spaces.
In today’s episode of #FixTheForms, @adamsilverhq.bsky.social points out some easy-to-avoid forms design fails in Fizzy by 37signals
Further update on the Companies House episode of #FixTheForms
The statement that I didn’t know I had filed has been rejected as a duplicate.
I don’t know what this means and there is no further information or any link to any help.
I suspect that it means I tried to do the task too early.
Another update on today's episode of #FixTheForms
It's hard to show how baffling the Companies House experience was without dozens of screenshots, but here's a specific example of lack of user-centred design.
My company number has seven digits.
Pro tip: try adding those leading zero for me OR ...
Update on today's episode of #FixTheForms, I was baffled to receive an email from Companies House saying that I had filed a statement when I thought I'd bailed out at the start page.
Sigh.
In today's episode of #FixTheForms, I bravely attempted to file my company statement ahead of the deadline.
Companies House had truly provided one of the most baffling, confusing, and repetitive sets of pages that I've ever encountered on any website ever.
Special prize for useless 4min video.
A form to complete registration for an event on Meetup. It has a single, mandatory field whose label is "First / Last Name" and with hint text that reads simply "Your answer".
This form really should've been simple. It's ONE field. Yet it appears to ask for my first OR last name. Really? Or does it want my name in "<first> / <last>" format i.e. with a slash between the parts? Or has it wrongly used a slash instead of an ampersand? God knows. One for #FixTheForms, perhaps?
In today’s episode of #FixTheForms, @adamsilverhq.bsky.social battles with a button that isn’t sufficiently buttony
Pro tip: make your buttons look like buttons, on-screen or off
Related: we bought a new microwave last year and were delighted to find one that has actual buttons, not a flat screen
In today’s episode of #FixTheForms, @dracos.co.uk battles with a nest of confused sign-in screens
Pro tip: no yes/no questions
www.effortmark.co.uk/no-yes-no-qu...
In today’s episode of #FixTheForms, an accurate and heartfelt plea from @tomski.com that will resonate with all of use who have had to care for someone who has lost capacity (often older relatives) or hasn’t yet got capacity (often babies and young children).
In today’s episode of #FixTheForms, this new page from GDS has a broken link as its only content and lacks the usual form for reporting the problem
#Accessibility #GovDesign
Please could someone on cross-gov report it for me? Thanks
guidance.publishing.service.gov.uk/how-to-publi...
Today’s episode of #FixTheForms is a very exciting one: an example of a definite documented improvement.
In this case, the guidance notes for a complex form were missing their examples. @matteason.me reported the problem and has now discovered that the examples are fixed.
Thanks Matt.
In today’s episode of #FixTheForms, @radiobeartime.com resorts to the Freedom of Information route to getting to grips with his pension
In today’s episode of #FixTheForms, @peterkwells.com accurately points out that errors happen in ALL systems, paper-based and digital
Pro tip: Moving a badly-designed form or process from paper to digital does not magically improve its design. You just create a badly-designed digital one
Today’s episode of #FixTheForms is an especially brilliant one from @xkcd.com that applies to all registration forms and all websites
xkcd.com/3175/
In today’s episode of #FixTheForms, @helivans.bsky.social encounters a common problem with translation
Pro tip: test everything especially in all the languages you offer
In today’s episode of #FixTheForms, a dilemma that’s familiar to many: read the instructions or rush it?
Pro tip, and National Audit Office advice for many years: design the instructions so that people can start straight away, using instructions as they need them as they rush.
#FixTheForms
A screenshot of the Typeform form editor
A screenshot of a logic jump configuration in the Typeform form editor
Screenshot of the Typeform Definition Extractor script in action in the terminal
A screenshot of the outputted JSON file visualised in a tree structure.
#FixTheForms 💖 Designing complex forms is hard and Figma is not fit for purpose! Imagine using Typeform to #prototype in fast iteration loops, THEN 🔥 export the definition (input titles, input types, answer options, validations, logic jumps...) to JSON for use in your apps!
cc @cjforms.bsky.social
