Month: March 2023

In the fifth and last part of our ‘forming a form’ series we have decided to show two forms that are in our opinion, well formed and easy to use. After all, what’s the point in us blogging about how to do it without showing some cracking examples!

The forms below are our examples of well developed forms. The one below from the Alliance and Leicester website is on our list because:

• It has clear formatting with text areas close enough to the labels that you don’t lose track of what text area goes with which label!
• It auto fills 5 out of 7 of the questions cutting down on time required to answer.
• On that note, you are only asked for the bare minimum of information and no identifying personal information.
• It has clear labels. For example, asking for ‘Mortgage Amount Required’ rather than just ‘Mortgage’ (where the user could just be forgiven for answering Yes or No!)
• There are help tips with every question to aid the user through all of the steps.
• It is formatted correctly so if you tab through the questions you go through the form correctly.
• The calculate button is above the ‘reset’! I’ve lost count of the times I have accidentally cleared a form because the ‘reset’ was first!

The form below is from delicious.com and gets our vote because:

• It clearly shows the user that stage of the form they are at.
• There are only three stage so less opportunity to exit the website.
• Clear and clean formatting and a nice and compact form.
• Appears to be asking for the minum amount of information possible and although all fields are ‘required’ they really ARE required for an account!
• There are clear instructions as to what type of password is acceptable.

The only negative point to this is the captcha, I often find these to be relatively illegible and often cause problems during sign ups. Mind you, they can be forgiven as you have to minimise the d*mn spammers somehow!

We’re nearing the end of our series of blog posts discussing various aspects of designing and building web forms. This penultimate post briefly deals with accessibility and validation because a good form is an accesible one and validation because, well, validation comes last!

So without further ado, lets get number four read and onto number five!

Accessibility

People with vision and motions disabilities tend to use their keyboard to navigate a website more than the mouse so your form must be able to handle this. For example, have you ever used the tab key while filling out a form and rather than going smoothly through it you jump from one field to one maybe three fields from where you want to be? This is caused by badly written code (missing or out of sync tabindex). Imagine if you couldn’t use the mouse and had to rely on the keyboard. Wouldn’t it be frustrating to be unable to get to the correct form field? How many times would you try before exiting the page/sale?

There are HTML tags that can aid the accessibility of a form by ensuring that it is written in as linear and legible  a way as possible (see below).

<fieldset>
<label accesskey="L" for="loginname">Login</label>
<input id="loginname" type="text" maxlength="255" value="Enter login" />
<label for="loginpassword">Password</label>
<input id="loginpassword" type="password" maxlength="8" value="" />
<input id="submitbutton" class="button" type="submit" value="Submit" />
</fieldset>

While we have only touched on the issue of accessibility we wanted to highlight that it is a consideration during your form creation process. Ignoring accessibility could be eliminating huge customer base. A great accessible form resource including code examples can be found on this web usability website.

Validation

Form validation can appear irritating to users at times but it’s there for everyone’s good! Imagine signing up to a newsletter and putting in a mis-formed email address such as me@hotmail.co. It would result in no newsletter appearing, an annoyed user and potentially a bad impression of the company.

Form validation really is a necessary evil (going so far as hindering spam form submits). I do think form validation should be kept to a minimum though. For example, let the user choose how they want to be contacted, don’t force them into leaving a phone number when you can initiate contact with an e-mail. Also, don’t insist on users leaving too much identifying personal information such as date of birth, name address etc all in the same form. It makes users very nervous when they have to leave enough personal information for you to apply for a mortgage in their name when all they want is a call back!

Clean validation is a must, highlighting the offending textarea lets the user quickly identify what they need to fix rather than scrolling through the form searching (see below)

Finally, make sure the validation works! I was trying to sign up to a site the other day and it just would not accept my postcode, no matter how I formed it, with and without spaces…nope, it just wasn’t accepting it, needless to say, I am not signed up to the website!

The third part of our form series is to do with the simplicity of the information you are requesting of the user. I read a great article the other day about the length of sentences on blogs. How keeping them keep them shorter than you would normally as this is easier reading on screen. It also mentioned the use of ‘flowery’ language in online writing and how it can takes longer to decipher (slowing the reader from getting to the point of the post). A similar theory can be applied to a forms field label.

By this I mean asking for information that is not specific enough. For example, using something as simple as ‘choose your username’ rather than ‘username’. This will tell the user that you are looking for new information rather than a username that they have had previously and forgotten.

Formatting? What formatting?

In the spirit of keeping the user informed and unconfused, think carefully about the formatting of the actual design. It is worth designing it to tie in with the look and feel or your website design purely for aesthetics and to help focus the users attention on a nicely formatted, welcoming form!

For usability and legibility, keep the form compact with just the right amount of white space. You don’t want the user seeing the field label at one side of the screen then having to use a ruler to determine which textfield corresponds on the other side! Do, however, keep a little padding between each question to separate one from the other.

It’s nice (and accessible) to separate your form into sections on the one page using tags such as this – <fieldset></fieldset>! It keeps information neatly contained in sections and in manageable chunks (see below).

In part one of our ‘forming a form’ series we talked about the hazards of asking for too much information and potentially putting users off. Part two is about the steps (or hoops) you may make a user go through before your user can complete the end goal of submitting the form.

For the purpose of this example, we will be referring to e-commerce websites but the same theory can be applied to the majority of online forms.

Too many stages

A known reason for abandoned carts on an e-commerce website can be attributed to (among other things), a long checkout process. Having the users go from one page to another to another just to complete a purchase. The checkout process should flow as smoothly and quickly as possible to hold the users interest (particularly if it is a spur of the moment purchase).

For every step your user is having to click through, you are presenting them with an opportunity to give up and abandon the purchase.

If you really do need several stages to a form then there are steps you can take to make the user more likely to stay the distance. As per the graphic below, display information at each stage to ensure the user knows how much has been completed and how much they still have to go.

In the case of e-commerce, it is generally possible to offer your users a one page checkout. This asks for all their details in one page and eliminates pages and pages of requested data. In turn, reducing the temptation to abandon the cart (and sale).

Too Much Information

Form abandonment can also be attributed to asking for too much information. Trimming down your forms to gather as little information as possible will help you eliminate excessive form stages. It will also give users confidence that you aren’t just gathering the data for future marketing (‘what’s your favourite colour?’ etc)

For example, in a newsletter signup where the aim is to ONLY send out a generic newsletter, what do you really need for your desired end result?

• Their email? Check.
• Their Name? Maybe.
• Their date of birth? Maybe if you send out birthday greetings…?
• Their contact numbers? Nope….
• and so it goes on.

At PoLR we send out one generic newsletter, no personalisation and definitely no birthday letters! Our aim is to JUST get you to sign up for information that may help you (see the top left of this page). The sample below makes me wonder why, just to get en e-mail newsletter, do they need all the other information. Incidentally, only the email is actually required but this is not stated anywhere in the form.

So, which e-mail newsletter form would you rather sign up to..?

 

Much has been written about children keeping safe online but what about adults or to be more specific, employed adults!?

I was reading an interesting article over at searchenginewatch.com about how Adults Outnumber Teens on Social Networks. It states that the percentage of adults with a social networking site has increased from 8% in 2005 to 35% in 2008. It also states that the main reason for a social networking profile for adults was for social activities rather than business.

Having just finished reading the blogging book ‘Naked Conversations’ one of the points made in the book was the importance of social networking sites and the potential it has to make or break a business’ profile. For example, say an employee went out, was a little ‘silly’ and got photographed and tagged in someone’s open Bebo profile ie for the world to see. This indiscretion would be visible for anyone to see who was researching your company or employees and maybe even more importantly for the employee, it could be seen by a potential employer!

While you can argue that anything done in leisure time is no one’s business but your own, do a quick Google search and you will find a load of reports of employees falling foul of an ill thought out social networking comment regardless of ‘freedom of speech’!

So how do you keep your profiles ‘clean’ and lower the risk of a social faux pas!

1) Keep your profiles closed
Make sure only the information you want to be publicly available actually is. In Facebook for example use the privacy settings correctly and you can make sure only the most basic of fact is publicly displayed.

2) Be wary of friends profiles that are open
Its all too easy to be caught out posting on someone else’s profile without realising they have opened their comments to the world. If you really want to have an electronic complaint keep it to an email rather than the comments section and you are at least minimising the risk of an accidental public whinge!

3) Loose lips sink ships
It goes without saying really but whatever you do, do not publish company sensitive information on your profile! Obvious as it may seem it’s still happened…

4) Be careful of groups
Be careful which groups you join. An employer or client finding you on the ‘I hate my job as a waitress and often spit in customers food’ may seem amusing but will more than likely land you in the Job Centre!

5) Keep control of your profile!
It is all too easy to have passwords remembered on your computer but remember that this makes it all too easy for someone to take over your profile for a ‘joke’ and post amusing profile updates and comments. At this point I should probably apologise to my Fiance for doing just that…or should I? He did leave his Bebo account open, some might say it was his own fault…

To join PoLR’s own Facebook group click up here >>

Browsing the Internet the other day, I was presented with two forms to complete all within 10 minutes of each other. While the first was pretty straight forward and to the point, the second had one aspect that really made me think twice about whether it was worth completing and whether I had the right criteria (more on that later).

The flip side of this though, is that it’s given me an idea for a series of articles on form creation (every cloud ‘n all that…)!

While forms are great for quickly gathering data (with little effort from the business requesting the information itself) there is a fine line between a form’s success and its abandonment. This article aims to briefly describe reasons for form abandonment and further articles (to be published soon) will describe them in more detail.

The main causes of a form to be abandoned before reaching the end goal can generally fall into the following categories:

• Too many steps and therefore more opportunities to leave
• Broken forms
• Asking for too much information
• Unclear steps and the user having to really think about what’s being asked

Another reason I would like to add to this list is; seemingly exclusive options (a relation of ‘Asking for too much information’)

By this I mean options presented to the user that can give a negative effect or feeling of bias (i.e. is it worth them taking the time to fill out the form?). In the example below is a form dropdown that I was presented with while signing up to a funding advice website. The form asked for details of my employment status and the highlighted option is ‘In Prison’. Now, this says two things to me, either they were trying very hard to be politically correct OR there is some kind of quota that needs filled and by not selecting ‘prison’ I’d be at a disadvantage.

I realise that there will have been a great deal of thought that went into the data capture for this form and I would guess that this was a vital statistic that they required. But, what we are trying to highlight is that any extra information requested is an additional thought process the user has to go through before completing the goal and hitting submit. In my case it resulted in taking a screen capture and creating a blog post (breaking up the flow somewhat!), hitting ‘submit’ came after!

Choosing a domain name may seem like the easiest thing in the world to do but after a recent joke domain backfiring on us we thought we would share our experience and offer a few points to consider before anyone else makes an equally daft mistake.

So what are these simple things to consider before committing to a domain name?

1) Is it likely to offend?
PoLR were recently commissioned to design a website for 2 young folk singers. Over our initial meeting (which involved the odd drink or two) the domain name was decided upon. Now, we thought, who wants to use the obvious solution? (their names). So it was decided that www.folkmesenseless.co.uk was the far funkier and fun option! It was funky and fun for all of a few weeks until it was pointed out that humour varies from country to country and the American market for instance, may not find it quite so witty. Ah well, back to the obvious solution then! *sulk*

2) Can it be misread?
We’ve all seen the blog posts with (unintentionally) humorous domains. Who can forget the ‘Pen Island’ company who went for penisland.net or the equally unforgettable PR company,’Who Represents’ with the domain whorepresents.com? This is good for humorous emails between friends but it may not be the way you want your company to be represented online, especially if your company can absolutely not afford being misread for a slightly rude term. An example a while back being Mole Station Nursery having to change their domain completely as it used to read molestationnursery.com.

3) Can it be read and remembered?
Short and sweet is the name of the game here. Say you have a domain name such as www.thisismymassivedomain.com, maybe it’s memorable, maybe it describes what you do but how does it look on a business card and more importantly…will it even fit?

4) Will it belong to you?
Remember, no matter what name you choose make sure the domain registration is in your name and stop any cyber squatters from holding you to ransom for something that should be yours.

And finally, it’s a long shot but should anyone have a use for www.folkmesenseless.co.uk it’s now up for sale!

 

Registering a domain name is something that a lot of people leave up to their web designer or hosting company. PoLR have recently come across a practice that, although slightly unscrupulous, is something that cannot be easily policed as not everyone is aware of the problem. So what is this practice we are referring to?

It is the registering domain names on your behalf but not under you or your company’s name.*

So what does this mean to you?

Well, firstly, think of it this way. You set up your company, work hard to make it work and decide to get a website. The domain is bought on your behalf, website built and then maybe you spend years building your online presence. So what happens if after all this hard work you then decide to then transfer your hosting or site design etc to someone else? If the domain is not registered under your details your previous host could quite easily refuse to pass the domain to you. If this happens and you cannot resolve this through Nominets Dispute Resolution then there is not much you can do short of starting afresh with a new domain. As much of an annoyance this would be it is far preferable to being forceably tied to a company who have effectively held you to ransom for your company’s online identity.

In an attempt to stop anyone else falling foul of this we have a few tips for anyone thinking of registering a domain name through a third party.

1) Ensure that your potential domain registering company does not make a habit of registering domains in their own name by looking up their company using domain name tools If they have hundreds of domain names registered to them alarm bells should ring. Bear in mind though that this is not 100% accurate for example a search for Polr brings back over 100 results whereas PoLR.co.uk actually only have four at the moment (all our own!), make sure you are using the correct companys details in your search 🙂

2) Have it written into the contract that the domain MUST be registered under your details so you have some documentation should it come to dispute resolution. Do not fall into the trap of simply assuming that ‘It goes without saying’ that you would own the domain.

3) Research may take a little time but will be priceless if it stops you from getting into a dispute. Look at their current clients and look up their details in the whoisdatabase. If their clients’ domain names are not registered to each individual client then it may be best to steer clear.

4) If in doubt, but you still want other services from the company such as hosting, register your domain yourself. You can do this easily from any number of sources although names.co.uk are our preference due to their excellent customer service. Any web company can work with a pre-bought name and question the skills of any that suggest otherwise!

Domain registration is not something that should be taken lightly.

Would you let someone register your company name under their address and details? Then why take the chance with your online address?

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* What Nominet say: A small number of Registrars routinely register domain names in their own name without the knowledge or permission of their customer. This breaks the terms of the contract, because it can cause major problems for the intended Registrant. Read More >>

Having a content management system (CMS) built into your website design is one of the most commonly requested requirements from our customers. But what are the benefits of a CMS and why would your business need one?

1) Manage the content yourself
A CMS enables you to update your site’s content as and when you need to. You are in complete control of updates and do not have to wait for your turn in the development queue for your changes to be implemented – changes are instant too. With our CMS your website can be updated from any where and on any computer using a simple administration area and an internet connection of course!

2) Cost free updates!
Along the same lines as point one but worthy of it’s own point is cost free updates. As you manage the content yourself you do not need to pay a third party to do the changes for you. For instance, say your developer had a minimum charge of £35 you could end up paying at least £35 every time you request a change no matter how small. With a CMS you can eliminate these charges and save yourself money.

3) Keeping it fresh and up-to-date
Updating your content on a regular basis shows customers that you company is evolving and will keep them coming back to visit. For example, a news area will allow you to publish all your company’s news and let customers keep up to date with your company’s developments.

4) No technical knowledge required
PoLR’s CMS is so simple to use that you need no technical knowledge at all to update your website. You log in to a secure admin area and navigate to the area you want to update. You are then shown a text area with Word like icons, type in your changes and hit update and that’s it, you updates are immediately viewable on your live website. If you can use Word you can use our PoLR’s CMS.

5) Spread the responsibility
As there is no technical knowledge required and a secure admin area it is possible for you to grant access to whoever you want in your company and allow them to update the content.

Living with your first website design can be like living with that familiar and safe pair of curtains you’ve had hanging in your house for years. They looked fantastic when they first graced your windows and at first you couldn’t resist having the odd sneaky peak to congratulate yourself on your good taste. With something so familiar and comforting, how do you get a fresh pair of eyes to review said curtains and realise you need a spanking new pair!

The web moves at such a remarkable rate that designs and trends are changing on almost a weekly basis. Take for example the Sun Microsystems website, as one of the oldest domains out there we thought it was the obvious choice to demonstrate our point. The first screenshot was the first version of the site I could find (circa 1996) and the second is from today (2008). What if Sun had never renewed their site? What would it have done to their popularity if they had kept the original, basic design? The new incarnation of the site is fresh, interesting, informative, easy to navigate and modern looking. It can easily hold its own against its competitors.

So, to go back to the original point…how do you know that your site needs a facelift and where can you go for help.

An unbiased public opinion

Forums such as the Web Designer Forum allow you to submit your site for review by other forum members. Advice is normally very helpful and will give you unbiased opinions on design and layout. Forums such as SEO Refugee are invaluable sources of honest feedback on the SEO viability of your website and is also well worth a look.

Evaluate the competition

Comparing your website to the competition’s is another way to get a feel for the state of your current site. How does your navigation fare? Is the user directed to where you want them to be? What about the colours and images? Are they fresh and clean? Treat the Sun images above as if they were two different companies. You can tell with a very quick look that the second screenshot is more modern, fresh and more likely to hold the users attention. Put yourself in the browser’s shoes, if you had the option of both sites above, which would you be more likely to stay on?

Family and Friends

I’ve found in the past that family and friends are usually too loyal to offer contructive criticism! I have managed to get round this by starting my opinion request with “I don’t like X about my site, what do you think?” rather than “do you like my site”. Starting by showing you are unsure of the design usually gives those close to you the go ahead to say what they really think!

Get the professional view

Bear in mind though that nothing will beat a professional viewpoint. PoLR provide a free website healthcheck to all potential clients and will give you a straightforward, easy to read report covering all aspects of your website from web design and general feeling of the site to SEO, usability and potential money making avenues to explore.

If you want to make sure your website is fit-for-purpose, please contact us to request your free website healthcheck and see what we can do for you.