Re: Date & number format

Since conventions for writing dates & phone numbers are so variable, I 
would say arrange it whichever way you want. But no matter how you set it 
up, give clear instructions to the users.

Phone numbers, for example, sound like really giant numbers with some 
screen reader setups if there's no punctuation. & some people use spaces to 
separate country & area codes, etc, from the main number. Some people use 
dashes, some use dots. So be specific about what you want (&/or have some 
good processing of the form data after it comes in).

Patrick

At 10:22 AM 12/4/2003, Gemayel, Ziad wrote:

>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

Received on Thursday, 4 December 2003 14:29:26 UTC