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Overview

Design efficient, usable and accessible forms

Forms are often the primary means of gathering information from users, and as such, they need to be efficient, usable and accessible. These aspects of form design are crucial to the success of digital products.

Efficient

Designing an efficient form requires a clear understanding of the user's needs, goals, and behaviours.

To design an efficient form:

  • think carefully about the information you need to collect from the user, carry out stakeholder and user research to define the purpose and goals of the form
  • use language that is meaningful and familiar to the users
  • keep the form as short and simple as possible
  • only ask for information that is necessary to achieve the form's goals
  • use a single column form layout
  • create forms using the appropriate form pattern

Usable

A usable form is one that is easy to understand, navigate, and complete.

To design a usable form:

  • use form components consistently
  • make it clear what information is required and how to provide it
  • make sure the size of form fields reflect the size of the expected input
  • provide clear feedback to the user about the progress they are making, any errors they may have made, and what they need to do to correct them
  • group related fields together to make the form easier to scan and complete
  • use logical ordering, for example, start with the user's name and contact information before moving on to other details
  • test with actual users to identify any usability issues and use their feedback to iterate and improve the design

Accessible

Creating accessible forms means designing forms that are usable by everyone, including people with disabilities.

To design an accessible form:

  • use clear, concise and descriptive form field labels
  • avoid using placeholder text as it disappears when the user starts typing and may not be accessible to screen readers
  • provide clear and concise instructions that are easy to understand and avoid using jargon
  • use appropriate input types for fields, such as date pickers or dropdown
  • use menus or predefined options to help users to enter information correctly and reduce the chance of errors
  • make sure the form can be navigated using the keyboard alone
  • where possible, test the form with assistive technologies, such as screen readers, to identify any accessibility issues

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