Date & number format

Hi everyone,

I am trying to gather feedback regarding two ways of requesting dates and
phone numbers.  I think it is more of a usability issue than an
accessibility issue and probably personal preferences are involved.

First style:
Date (example: mmddyyyy) [       ]
Phone (example: 2121234567) [        ]

This format requires input in one field with no spaces and no punctuation.
It also means less tabbing, but may be confusing to some and thus lead to
errors.

Second style:
Date (example: mm dd yyyy) (enter month as mm)* [  ]  (enter day as dd)* [
]  (enter year as yyyy)* [    ].  The * here means that the text is not
visible, but is placed in the title attribute and therefore is available to
Jaws and Window-Eyes users (I understand that I might be undermining
universal accessibility by considering only Jaws and Window-eyes, but I
would like to focus on the issue of having one input field versus three in
this case).

Phone (enter area code)* [  ]  (enter first 3 digits)* [  ]  (enter last 4
digits)* [  ].  Again, the * here means that the text is not visible, but is
placed in the title attribute.

Thanks for your feedback,

Ziad Gemayel
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Received on Thursday, 4 December 2003 13:26:19 UTC